Few shows mastered the art of cringe comedy the way The Office did. Michael Scott's horrifying attempts at humor and levity in the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin were almost impossible to watch at times. What was even crazier was the fact that viewers simply couldn't turn away, as evidenced by the ratings. While The Office always had its moments, it was at its cringiest in the first season and the pilot was the best example of that.
Debuting on NBC in 2005, The Office was the American version of a British comedy created by Ricky Gervais. It was set in a fictional paper supplier that always seemed to be on the verge of going under. The denizens of the Scranton branch were a bunch of oddballs who were bogged down in the minutia of the day-to-day realities of office life in the United States.
But Dunder Mifflin in Scranton was even worse than most offices thanks to the man in charge. Michael Scott was a salesman turned manager who set the tone for everything that happened there. Make no mistake, Michael was a good man who genuinely cared about everyone who worked for him. And by all accounts, he was also an exceptionally talented salesman, as well.
The problem was that Michael said and did things that were beyond insane. In Season 2, Episode 12, Michael injured his foot when he stepped into an operational George Foreman Grill. He kept it beside his bed so that he could wake up to the smell of bacon cooking every morning. The only thing crazier than that was his response to the whole situation, which was basically the norm for Michael, and the show.
This all goes back to Season 1, Episode 1. As with most sitcoms, it laid the groundwork for everything that was to come by introducing viewers to the characters and the setting. And it did so with an incredibly high cringe factor. Michael spent part of the episode touring around the office, partially introducing the new temp Ryan Howard to people. It was a series of awful jokes and bad impressions that no one outside of maybe Dwight laughed at.
Easily the hardest moment of the episode happened when Michael decided to prank Pam. Everyone knew that layoffs were coming, so there was concern. Michael called Pam into his office, then quite convincingly pretended to lay Pam off. Inexplicably, he did this in an attempt to impress Ryan, a theme that continued to pop up throughout the series. Not surprisingly, Pam did not take this gag particularly well, leaving Ryan and the audience to stew in the moment.
The first season just got more difficult from there. In Episode 3, Michael put Dwight in charge of picking a new health plan to avoid being the bad guy. It went terribly. The episode ended with Michael trying to avoid delivering on a surprise he'd promised but didn't have while the staff stared at him and slowly walked away. The cringe factor toned down as the series progressed but it's hard to forget how those early episodes made Michael into the man he was.