For every week over nine seasons, the small town of Scranton, New Jersey drew our undivided attention to the whacked-out hijinks the employees of paper supplier Dunder-Mifflin were involved in. The Office, which ran on NBC from 2005-2013 is one of the best and most watched comedy sitcoms of all time, and it is all due to the strength of its misfit collection of screwballs who weren’t always the best at handling politics of a workplace.
It was the main reason America came back every week to check in on what the manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his misfit group of salespeople would do next. From the sometimes friendly rivalry between Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), to Michael drowning in problems that he made for himself, show creator Greg Daniels never disappointed in adapting Ricky Gervais‘ and Stephen Merchant‘s show and characters. Which ones were the best?
9 Creed
John Creed was always there – just lurking. They could go five episodes without giving him a line, but when he finally did speak, audiences really listened to the unconventional wisdom of the hipster from a bygone era of the 60s.
There was always some doubt whether Creed was 100% all there mentally as his non-sequiturs would often take viewers into unlikely and sometimes uncomfortable places, but he was essentially harmless, and he cracks the top 10 just because he’s cool like that.
If you’re not on board with Rashida Jones in any role, then you may need to recalibrate your human quality rating index (or HQRI). As Karen, she is such a natural fit just like in everything she does. We love her in I Love You, Man, Parks and Recreation, Angie Tribeca, and in the pilot episode of the recent smash Prime Video show Silo.
Smart, beautiful, funny – these are the things that draw people to you and Karen is the one that fans could easily see as Mrs. Jim Halpert in an alternate universe.
8 Darryl
Just remembering the charismatic Craig Robinson in the role of Darryl Philbin makes you smile and hungry for some Pizza Hut? The multi-talented performer always kept it real and never allowed the folks upstairs to look down on the loading crew below.
And if you crossed him, he would most likely stare you into submission or let you make a fool of yourself trying to overcompensate for his massive stature. He always let the game come to him, and audiences really like that.
7 Erin
She’s the Mary Tyler Moore of the 21st century. Ellie Kemper‘s smile could launch a thousand ships and that alone puts her firmly within the top ten. Erin was a definite starter kit for the hugely successful, and equally radiant and positive, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Erin is the face you want to see smiling behind the front desk when you walk into a mundane and tedious job. Not that selling paper is mundane with Michael Scott as your boss, but you get the point.
6 Andy
Did you say Cornell University? It may be the easiest school to get into in the Ivy League but don’t tell that to Andy Bernard. Ed Helms named Jim “Big Tuna” before he flew away with The Hangover franchise, but he still made time for the craziness in Scranton.
Though he wasn’t a day one OG on the show, he quickly rose up the ranks of fan favorites and our list with his oblivious and unfounded bravado and lack of agency.
5 Michael
What!? Yes, the main man, the head honcho, the big cheese, in this spot because even though he cracked viewers up like none other on the show, this is a ranking of likability, and we can’t with good conscience put the hilarious boss any higher when his mantra is, “That’s what she said!”
Even as beautifully goofy as he is, as well as artfully unaware and stupid, Michael will have to settle for this spot. He made The Office what it is, but he’s not the most likable character on the show.
4 Kevin
C’mon, you love the big lummox and you know it. There are plenty of characters on the show who seem to carry on without contributing anything in the way of sales or relationships, but Kevin’s lovable bear routine and unusually odd thought process elevate him to this lofty rank.
If we were to rank the characters by whom we would most want to grab an adult beverage and shoot the shit with, Kevin would be very near the top of the list. To us, that’s the equivalent of likable.
3 Dwight
If you’ve ever had your stapler molded into a block of Jell-O, then you probably understand why the horribly misunderstood Dwight Schrute clocks in among the top three of this comprehensive list. Between his issues with being obsessive and compulsive, his need for authority and order, and a water torture-like relationship with Angela, he still managed to give us that glimpse into the camera just right.
It was always like the perfect scratch for that impossible-to-reach itch. Through it all, he remained loyal and sometimes uncomfortably subservient to Michael, and fans of the show still love him for that. Carry on, Mr. Schrute!
2 Jim
Let’s do a little alliteration wordplay in encapsulating Mr. Jim Halpert, shall we? He was a pencil-necked paper pusher who perpetually pined for Pam. The most endearing and likable aspect of The Office was always the “will they or won’t they” relationship between Jim and Pam.
For all nine seasons we watched the moppy-haired prankster do just enough to stay close to his forever after who was sitting mere feet away from him every day. If you like John Krasinski in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, remember that he was Jim Halpert, the irresistible paper peddler way before he became a CIA operative. Plus, he was the absolute best at the fourth wall glimpse that was the signature of the show.
1 Pam
Did we give it away? Shoot. The beacon of light in an always funny, but occasionally toxic and misogynistic workplace, Pam’s light never, ever dimmed. She exuded kindness and love from day one until her final scene. Never wanting to hurt anyone, she managed to rise above the intra-office politics and cliques and kept her eye on her prize.
That prize ended up being a marriage to Jim and a beautiful baby and family. Compassion always equals likability and Jenna Fischer‘s Pam had it in spades. We’ve never felt more comfortable with a number-one ranking than with Pam in The Office.
