The Office (BBC)

(S01E04) Not counting the Christmas specials, this episode is my hands-down favorite. There are so many glorious (and musical) moments that perfectly capture the spirit of The Office, I find hard to believe it's all contained in less than half an hour. This is why I always choose to show Episode 4 when I am attempting to drag another ignorant innocent into a state rabid fandom. It'd be wrong for me to paraphrase the really good moments because every single word is important for the joke. So, I'm going to be doing a lot of quoting. Consider this fair warning.

(S01E03) The thing I really like about this episode is how all the events leave a terrible taste in my mouth. It's bitter and frustrating and everything good that happens dies a slow and painful death. Brilliant.

The episode starts off with Tim explaining to the camera that it's his 30th birthday and his mother woke him up (I love that he lives with his parents) to give him his present, HatFM, a radio to wear on the head! Meanwhile, David's all excited for the annual pub quiz (it's like Trivial Pursuit with a lot of people... at a bar) and calls up his quiz buddy, Chris Finch (the guy that indirectly made an appearance in the last episode). Finch tells him a joke over the phone, which Brent simultaneously repeats for the cameras. "What's black and slides down Nelson's Column?" Brent repeats, before pausing for an answer. "Winnie Mandela?..."

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E02) In the very beginning of this episode, we saw David Brent showing a hot, new, female employee (whom we'd later know as Donna) around his office. To work his humor, he pretended to throw his office answering machine out the window, jokingly frustrated with all the messages. As he started to set it back down, the machine slipped out of his hand and fell on the floor, clattering next to the trash can. The sheer seamlessness of this brief moment (and Brent's frantic mumbling) still throws me into hysterics. I love it when a moment looks so organic that I can't tell if it was improvised, accidental, or geniusly scripted.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of your favorite shows, in order, every week.

(S01E01) In the beginning, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant decided to create a mockumentary comedy about the painful emptiness of office life. And it was good.

The Office debuted in England in 2001 and later aired on BBC America, where I promptly fell in love with the show. I think I was watching Monty Python's Flying Circus on BBCA when a commercial popped up, promoting the premiere of The Office. It featured a scrawny fellow named Gareth (played by Mackenzie Crook, who would later be the wood-eyed pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean) talking about office relationships. He had a horrible bowl haircut and dark circles under his eyes, and yet I thought he was the most hilariously adorable thing I had ever seen. At that moment, I promised myself to watch. Little did I know I would soon have a new favorite show.

I suggest you American-version fans rent or buy the DVDs and watch along. You might even notice that this episode bears a striking similarity to the American pilot. That's because a large portion of the US script was pulled out from this episode word-for-word (save for a few Americanizations, like changing "Camilla Parker-Bowles" to "Hillary Rodham-Clinton").

The big finales are finally over. Though we have a few cool premieres starting in the coming weeks, from Rescue Me (5/30) to Deadwood (6/11), let's face it -- TV isn't the same after May sweeps. The question that's floated around the TV Squad headquarters in the past couple of months has been, "what else can we review for the readers?" Enter "Retro Squad."

Starting this coming Sunday, we're going to take you back in time just a little bit. Remember all of those great shows that are no longer airing, either from being cancelled or ending long runs and taking a bow? Or maybe you remember the first seasons of shows still on the air? Of course you do; it's what makes you one of the millions of fans of these cult-classic shows. Well, we're going to bring them back to you, one episode at a time, every week. Read on for the exciting details.