The Office : The Office through the years

Season 1 was good but the show was finding it's feet still.

Seasons 2 and 3 and just about 4 were simply amazing some of the best episodes of any tv show ever put out there.

But boy did this show start declining rapidly into unrealistic farce from then on. That season with James Spader was horrendous.

The final season salvaged things slightly but by then the damage had been done.

The finale few episodes were excellent though thank God and very heartwarming.

The most touching phrase I've ever heard occurred in those last episodes "i wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them"

It fits my life for the past 5 years perfectly.

I disagree with your season 1 assessment it cherry picked ideas from the original which fell flat for the most part. The original ideas such as the basketball game were much better when they gave up on following the UK version closely things really started to fly.

I only thought the pilot episode from season 1 was following the British version too closely. It was almost a scene for scene remake just not as good.

If you had never seen the British version of the show it wouldn't be an issue of course.