Everyone over age 15 who’s ever watched television has heard of The Office. Sure, that’s a sweeping generalization, and one that we certainly can’t back up, but we’re willing to bet that if someone took a survey, the findings wouldn’t be too far off that statement. The Office is widely considered not just an essential comedy, but one of the best television shows of all time.
It’s also one of the most-watched shows of all time. Despite not having been on Netflix since 2021, The Office is still one of the platform’s best-performing shows in its history, and with it being available for United States audiences exclusively on Peacock, a streaming service with significantly fewer subscribers than most of its top competitors, the mockumentary series still remains one of the most popular streamed shows. So we ask, will this ever end?
Who is Re-Watching The Office?
The Office viewers (like viewers of any show) fall into two separate camps: first-time watchers and re-watchers. The re-watchers can be broken down even further into those who re-watch on occasion (say when they’re in the mood or at a certain time of year for holiday episodes) and only stream, at most, a few episodes; those who re-binge the entire series on occasion; those who re-binge the series regularly (say once or twice a year); and those who re-binge the series chronically (over and over and over).
It’s hard to know the exact numbers on each of those re-watch categories – streaming platforms don’t collect hyper-specific data like that (or at least they don’t release it publicly). But we know from Reddit threads, talking to our friends and family, and falling into one of those categories ourselves that the show is still being consumed by audiences in those ways. For some, it’s a comfort show. For others, it’s a necessary laugh at Christmas or on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s hard to know exactly why people are still watching The Office – we just know that they are.
Steve Carell in ‘The Office’
The Show Somehow Has Staying Power
What’s more fascinating is that The Office hasn’t been canceled. Many viewers – both first-time and re-watchers alike – have pointed out certain episodes and lines that are problematic in retrospect, and multiple writers and stars have said that the show wouldn’t work for a reboot because the main character – Michael Scott (Steve Carell) – couldn’t be written in today’s climate. He’s inherently too offensive, and he wouldn’t be funny.
So what is it? Are there enough viewers re-watching the series to regularly keep it in the top 50 streaming titles (not just series – movies, too)? Is it still so relevant that younger audiences see it as a Godfather or a Forrest Gump of television – something that every fan of the medium needs to see at least once? Is it not so problematic that viewers are able to forgive its missteps in the name of historic comedy, or are its die-hard fans so protective that they’ll never let it leave the zeitgeist?
We don’t have a crystal ball, and therefore we cannot say with certainty whether The Office will remain popular in perpetuity, but if history tells us anything, it’s likely going to stay popular for at least some time. And we’re not complaining.
The Office is streaming now on Peacock.
