The Office: Top 10 Cold Opens

Honorable Mentions:

Sleepy Michael: In the cold open for the Season 5 finale, Company Picnic, Michael falls asleep after eating an entire family size Chicken Pot Pie, and the entire office make a plan to get out of work early. It’s only 1pm, but everyone changes the clocks around the place, especially inside Michael’s office and car, to make it look like it’s 5pm. Then they wake Michael up with laughter and noise and sure enough, he thinks it’s already 5 and lets them all leave. A highlight of this is Dwight, who agrees to be a part of this because he has a meeting with a horse doctor later in the day. He even makes a lame joke about it and then laughs at it himself, which is funny because, well, have you seen the way he laughs?

Sabre: The cold open for Season 6’s Sabre, has the office receive a box from Sabre, Dunder-Mifflin’s new owner. Michael thinks the box is for the office and promptly opens and distributes the items in it to everybody, which includes a fax machine, a printer and a scanner. There’s a great scene where Michael and Dwight test out the new scanners with newfound joy. When Michael realizes it’s not for them but for a new worker named Gabe, Michael has everyone put everything back in the box, which according to Dwight, was opened like an ape. Somehow they manage to put it all in, only for Michael to find his phone was accidentally left in the box. The highlight? When Michael has to tell the office the bad news, Dwight gets in a great line that always gets me to laugh, just because of the way he delivers it.

Michael: Due to circumstances beyond my control–
Dwight: [Michael’s] impulsivity and inattention to detail

Lip-Dub: The Season 7 premiere, Nepotism, had a lip dub performance by the entire cast for a cold open. ‘Nuff said.

Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager: This is the name of the episode from Season 7, which sees Dwight become manager until they can find a permanent one. The office seems to take care of itself even without anyone in charge, much to Jim’s amusement. And then he gets a call from Jo to become acting manager, and Jim being Jim, declines the offer. Which he soon realizes is a huge mistake once Dwight gets the same call and accepts. The cold open turns from good to great in one moment, when Dwight calls Mose. Dwight simply says, “Mose, you’ll never guess where I’m at right now.” Mose apparently does guess right because he just starts screaming in joy, which even surprises Dwight.

Creepy Michael: In Season 2’s The Carpet, Pam’s on vacation and Ryan’s the temporary receptionist. Jim can’t stop looking his way as he misses Pam and can’t wait for her to get back the next day. Ryan doesn’t know why Jim keeps looking at him but he’s not creeped out by it. Why? Because it’s nothing compared to the way that Michael stares at him from his office. Long-time fans will know that Michael has always had this hidden man-crush on Ryan, and the way he looks at Ryan…he would’ve looked scary if we didn’t know what Michael Scott was really like.

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