The Office's 15 Worst Episodes, Ranked

It's hard to believe there was ever a time before "The Office," the hit NBC mockumentary about the employees of a struggling paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The series ran for nine seasons and carved its own niche in the pop culture zeitgeist, coining popular phrases — "That's what she said!" — and giving us characters and romances that continue to resonate with TV audiences today (including the recent "The Paper" spinoff).

Who can forget when Michael Scott (Steve Carell) burned his foot on a George Foreman grill? Or the "Dinner Party" episode in which a weary Michael clashes in painfully awkward fashion with his girlfriend (and former direct superior), Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin)? Or how about the moment in "Casino Night" when lowly Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) finally reveals his feelings for receptionist Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer)? At the height of its popularity, "The Office" dominated as the de facto sitcom of the mid-2000s and remains one of the best workplace comedies of all time.

Still, even the greats stumble on occasion, and "The Office" is no exception. For every five or six great episodes, there's a stinker. Here's our ranking of the 15 worst "Office" outings ever.

Michael Scott's lack of self-awareness resulted in some of the greatest episodes of "The Office," as he continually put himself in embarrassing situations with hilarious results. Still, sometimes the character's actions crossed the line and veered into painful awkwardness, making for an incredibly difficult-to-watch experience.

Enter "Scott's Tots," a bizarre, even cruel episode centered around a flimsy premise that ultimately falls flat. Michael returns to visit a group of high school seniors he promised — 10 years earlier — to pay college tuition for if they graduated, only to reveal he can't actually afford to do it. Eventually, he agrees to help pay for laptop batteries, a small consolation that fails to ease the students' disappointment.

Michael makes plenty of blunders throughout his tenure at Dunder Mifflin, but his actions are typically of the lovable-idiot variety and carry very little consequence. His behavior in "Scott's Tots" feels indefensible; the emotional stakes are too real, crossing from awkward comedy into genuine heartbreak with very little payoff. Even for diehard fans, there's little to recommend about the episode.

"The Office," for the most part, enjoyed smooth sailing for seven glorious seasons. Sure, there were a few bumps here and there, but overall, the comedy provided weekly entertainment for everyone who tuned in during its incredible run.

That all changed when Carell departed after the seventh season, leaving a massive void the showrunners failed to fill over the final two years, despite what Fischer says. Arguably, the biggest mistake was pushing Ed Helms' volatile Andy Bernard to the forefront in an attempt to replicate Michael's bumbling aloofness. Unfortunately, the writers never fully cracked the character, leaving Helms scrambling in episodes like "Couples Discount," where Andy, returning after a three-month work hiatus, behaves in a petty, entitled, and shockingly cruel manner. This is a far cry from the genial persona he suddenly adopted when he assumed control of the Scranton branch. Moreover, the episode derails major character arcs, including Erin's, while the jokes feel more mean-spirited than humorous.

"Couple's Discount" sets up the final stretch of the series, clearing the path for character resolutions, though we wouldn't fault viewers for skipping it.

Season 9's "Vandalism" sees Pam attempting to identify the person who defaced her warehouse mural, leading to a childish revenge scheme. Meanwhile, Angela (Angela Kinsey) and Robert Lipton (Jack Coleman) host a birthday party for their son, forcing Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) into awkward small talk with the senator, who is also his closeted lover. Oh, and Darryl (Craig Robinson) and Jim bicker over cleanliness.

Notorious for the continued (and forced) appearance of the boom mic operator, Brian (Chris Diamantopoulos), who breaks protocol to assist Pam when she is attacked by warehouse worker Frank (Brad William Henke), "Vandalism" is "The Office" at its absolute worst. Manufactured drama, cheesy storylines, and an uneven tone result in a bland 30 minutes that waste far too much time on unnecessary plot points. Aside from Pam and Dwight's (Rainn Wilson) brief partnership — a reminder of their strange but endearing relationship — there's nothing of interest here.

Many of the holiday-themed "Office" episodes rank among the series' best, with "A Benihana Christmas" emerging as Carell's personal favorite. This is not the case for "St. Patrick's Day," which sees Michael stuck at work with Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) on the holiday because he's too afraid to tell her he wants to go home. Elsewhere, Jim struggles to re-acclimate to his job after a long paternity leave and must deal with his co-workers' St. Paddy's Day shenanigans.

Where episodes like "A Benihana Christmas" found unique ways to build character arcs around festive events, "St. Patrick's Day" is oddly empty. Nothing of consequence happens, and the plot feels like wheel-spinning in the middle of the bland Sabre arc. Michael veers wildly between his normal, competent-but-insecure manager persona and his chaotic, needy-goofball schtick, and never finds proper balance between the two. Just a few episodes prior, he had shown competence leading his team amidst the changing leadership, so his antics here feel like a giant step backward for the sake of comedy.

Jim's return from a prolonged hiatus is also wasted, and it never connects to the main plot. Rather than explore the tension of his character's situation, his subplot merely dissolves into the background.

Another Andy-centric episode, "Get the Girl," sees our bumbling Cornell University grad impulsively play hooky from work and drive to Florida to win Erin back.

Uh, okay.

Though it was written as a big romantic gesture, Andy's decision is cringey and completely disconnected from the grounded version of the character to which we've grown accustomed. His actions come across as obsessive and needy rather than charming.

Erin, for her part, is trapped in a bizarre storyline involving an elderly woman who is far too quirky and nonsensical to take seriously.

If that weren't enough, with Andy out of the picture, Nellie (Catherine Tate) walks into his office, sits down, and declares herself the manager. Somehow, this works. While Dwight initially has strong objections, and Jim tells her that she's stepping into Andy's office, no one actually stops her. It's one of the most logic-breaking moments of the entire series.

Poor Andy Bernard. The once-promising "Boner Champ" of the Cornell University a cappella group Here Comes Treble just can't seem to catch a break in the episode of the same name. First, his former crew arrives at the office Halloween party and barely acknowledges him; his solo performance is overshadowed by a visit from Cornell rival Broccoli Rob (Stephen Colbert); and then he discovers that his parents have lost all their money.

And yet, we don't care. Despite the showrunners' attempts to make Andy relatable, his entire schtick comes across as insufferable. His obsession with Cornell (a humorous gag in previous seasons), combined with his insecurity and constant emotional meltdowns, is more pathetic than endearing. Somehow, the writers bottled all of the characters' worst traits into a loud, obnoxious episode that devotes a good chunk of its runtime to Here Comes Treble's nonstop singing.

Elsewhere, Jim makes an impulsive decision to drop $10,000 on his new business venture, leading to an out-of-character (and very public) argument with Pam. Oh, and Dwight stumbles upon an anti-anxiety pill and tries to find the coworker who's taking it, resulting in a weak rehash of Season 2's "Drug Testing."

"Angry Andy" is the culmination of poor writing, questionable character development, and a complete lack of fresh ideas. Jim and Pam had served as the de facto "Office" power couple, but by Season 8, everybody appeared to be dating or infatuated with a co-worker. Nearly every conflict in this episode involves dating, breakups, jealousy, or emotional meltdowns, making the Scranton branch feel less like an office and more like a high school cafeteria. In other words, it's a soap opera disguised as a comedy, and leagues away from earlier seasons that focused on the day-to-day office environment with a little romance sprinkled in for fun.

Anyway, "Angry Andy" once again sees the beleaguered Andy Bernard dealing with the repercussions of his sudden departure to Florida. He returns to find Nellie occupying his title and desk, a move championed by Robert California (James Spader) due to his sexual attraction to her. Humiliated, Andy begins having sexual performance problems, and it's up to his co-workers to help him find his groove.

Because that would totally happen in a professional workplace.

Fans of "The Office" already know that the show started off on the wrong foot. Aside from a few notable moments of hilarity, the early episodes were often clunky and surprisingly mean-spirited. None of the characters are fully developed, including Michael Scott, who feels more akin to Ricky Gervais' pompous British incarnation, David Brent, than the lovable idiot seen in later seasons.

And so it goes with "Hot Girl," the episode that introduced Amy Adams as Katy, a purse saleswoman who arrives at the office only to endure a flurry of advances from the male staff. As the first season's final episode, it's fairly underwhelming, thanks to a paper-thin plot and a colder tone more in line with the original U.K. version (which you can stream on BritBox). Everyone tries their best, but many of the jokes and characterizations fall flat, thus making "Hot Girl" a massive disappointment.

"The Office" always walks a fine line between grounded comedy and absurdist humor. Veer too far in either direction and everything collapses, as is the case with "Christening," an episode that wastes a great setup — the christening of Jim and Pam's daughter, Cecelia — by leaning into broad, over-the-top sentimentality and chaos, clashing with the show's usual tone.

Michael, in particular, makes baffling decisions that feel disconnected from his established character logic. At one point, he impulsively joins a church youth group on a bus trip to Mexico, only to immediately get cold feet — a prime example of the writers struggling to find meaningful material for him in the later seasons. The scenes of Michael and Andy getting swept up in the day's religious fervor drag on and lead nowhere. The jokes are weak, the pacing is slow, and most of the humor relies on embarrassing antics with no real payoff.

Add in a subplot where Jim briefly panics after thinking Angela has taken his baby, and you have another cringey late-series entry that simply doesn't work.

Gimmicky, bland, and entirely unnecessary, "Gettysburg" is "The Office" running on fumes. Again, is it too much to ask for the simplicity of the early seasons, when the office antics felt more grounded and relatable? Nothing meaningful, funny, or character-driven comes out of "Gettysburg," and the whole affair winds up as an idea in search of a joke.

The premise sees Andy taking his coworkers to Gettysburg in the hopes of inspiring them to work harder. He also longs to impress them as their new boss. During the trip, Dwight attempts to prove to Oscar that the Battle of Schrute Farms was a real event and winds up discovering a very different "truth" about his beloved family history. Back in Scranton, Robert California asks the employees who stayed behind to come up with a big idea and somehow walks away believing Kevin is a creative genius.

Aside from Gabe's impromptu Abraham Lincoln impersonation, there's really nothing of merit to the episode. But, hey, at least we got to see our beloved characters visit Gettysburg.

"The Office" got off to a rocky start, despite the presence of early gems like "Diversity Day." Initially, Michael was presented as a jerk with no redeeming qualities. He's smug, greasy, and very much in line with Ricky Gervais' David Brent, for better or worse. The other characters fare no better, serving mostly as pale imitations of their British counterparts. The episode leans heavily into awkward cruelty — especially in the way Michael treats Pam — without the warmth or underlying humanity that eventually made the show a pop culture sensation.

Visually, the episode is drab and lifeless, perhaps hewing too closely to a realistic office setting, and the mockumentary approach feels stiff. It's little wonder that many viewers tapped out early, casting doubt on whether the series would even make it to a second season. Thankfully, Carell's breakout success in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" prompted NBC to give the show another shot, leading to the creative overhaul that would define its later years.

And hey, despite its clunky design, the pilot is still worth a look to see where the show started, even if the original approach is practically unrecognizable from the hit series it would become.

Ah, the dreaded clip episode. Every long-running show does it at some point — a simple (and lazy) way to produce a new installment while delivering little to no new content. "The Banker" follows investment banker Eric Ward (David Costabile), who arrives at Dunder Mifflin to evaluate the company's finances, giving the writers an excuse to recycle old footage from earlier, better episodes.

For the duration of the episode, Toby answers a series of questions from Eric that lead to flashbacks of moments when Michael Scott & Co. were irresponsible with money, destroyed property, or otherwise abused the privileges afforded them by corporate. And while it's somewhat fun to revisit classic moments from earlier seasons, surely there was a more clever way to integrate "The Banker" into the show's overarching narrative, which involved Jim and Michael's co-managing subplot by that point.

After Pam and her ex-fiancé Roy broke things off for good in Season 3, Roy vanished for several seasons... only to return in Season 9 as a more mature and successful version of himself, much to the dismay of Jim and Pam. As we discover during Roy's wedding to someone else (to which Jim and Pam were inexplicably invited), Roy sings and plays the piano (!), owns a nice house, and apparently runs a lucrative gravel company — details that leave our once-stable couple reeling over their suddenly shaky relationship.

Jim, meanwhile, has secretly signed on to start a new business venture despite Pam's objections, beginning the long, unpopular storyline of their devolution. Viewers are then forced to endure numerous episodes of the pair arguing and drifting apart. Essentially, "Roy's Wedding" marks the tonal decline of the final season — full of forced sentimentality, unfunny B-plots, and characters who act out of step with who they used to be.

Andy discovers he might be related to Michelle Obama. Hilarious, right? Like, isn't that ridiculous? That's the crux of "Andy's Ancestry," another weak Season 9 entry that once again pushes our patience for Andy to the breaking point. By this point, the character had lost any semblance of charm crafted in previous seasons, leaving a smug caricature who's more obnoxious than endearing.

Eventually, Andy discovers that Nellie fabricated the lie about his family lineage, and he retaliates by digging up dirt on his coworkers. Pam and Nellie make up a bunch of nonsense, and the joke dies real quick — Season 9 in a nutshell. Even Jim's sports marketing subplot fails to conjure any real interest, while another bit sees Dwight teach Erin the Dothraki language to impress Andy's parents. (Really, you might be better off skipping Seasons 8 and 9 altogether, though the series finale is strong.)

Finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't highlight "Jury Duty," the most needless "Office" episode ever produced. Its biggest crime is the assassination of Jim's character. Originally the moral compass of the show and the everyman viewers cheered for on a weekly basis, Jim was inexplicably downgraded to a supporting role with nothing to do in the final few seasons. Then, when given the spotlight, he was either lying to Pam about his new job opportunity or making smug comments about the office that made him far less likable than before.

In "Jury Duty," Jim lies to his coworkers about his time as a juror: He was dismissed relatively early and opted to stay home to help Pam with their kids. Dwight notes irregularities in his story and eventually forces him to admit the truth. It's a low-stakes storyline without any notable payoff, and the antics Jim and Pam employ throughout — including drawing fake pictures they claim were done by their kids — feel entirely out of character.