Anybody who loves “The Office” surely knows about the show’s fantastic opening scenes. They’re sharp, funny, and always well punctuated. I recently rewatched most of the series and after a while, I started to pay closer attention to these scenes in an attempt to learn something from them. In doing so, I began to keep track of my favorite cold opens from the show, categorize and rank them, and think about how and why they work so well.

I’ve broken my ranked list into three categories: My all-time favorites (or what I consider to be the “best” ones from a writer’s perspective), my favorite Jim and Dwight pranks, and some honorable mentions. Without further ado, here’s what I came up with.

My All-Time Favorite “Office” Opening Scenes

1. Fire In The Office (Season 5, Episode 14 “Stress Relief: Pt. 1”)
2. The DVD Logo Hits The Corner of The TV Screen (Season 4, Episode 3 “Launch Party”)
3. The Office Tricks Michael Into Thinking It’s 5:00PM (Season 5, Episode 28 “Company Picnic”)
4. Michael Shouts ‘Nooo’ When Toby Returns (Season 5, Episode 9 “Frame Toby”)
5. Stanley Doesn’t Notice Anything (Season 7, Episode 6 “Costume Contest”)

The thing I love most about a great cold open is how it functions as a story all its own, independent from the rest of the episode. I think that’s what truly makes these scenes so impactful, memorable, and effective. Some of these opening scenes manage to condense what could quite reasonably have been the plot for an entire episode (or at least a solid B plot) into a single scene.

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