This is a definitive ranking of all nine seasons of The Office.

For most fans, it might be a difficult choice between which Steve Carellless season of The Office is worse than the other. Well, honestly, neither season is that bad. There were still some great episodes that seized the opportunity to capitalize on the talent of the ensemble cast. Anyone who believes that Steve Carell was the sole reason for the success and quality of The Office simply turned a blind eye from every other character. What made The Office so awesome was that the writers and developers managed to turn a bland environment, the American office, with realistically grounded situations and real-life conflicts that would be boring into a colorful, genuine, sincere, and unique series by inserting characters that are relatable, likable, flawed, and redeemable. But, as many fans will admit, even with Steve Carell, the magic couldn't last forever, and with his loss, the writers obviously took a serious hit with Steve Carell's decision to leave since his raw talent was a backup plan when storytelling hit a brick wall.

No. 9

For this reason, season 8 had a tendency to forget about what made The Office amazing. In scenes when Michael Scott would refer to his unintentional women's clothing as "bisexual" (obviously attempting to describe unisex), there was an awkward silence that gives the audience the chance to catch their breath and speculate why a particular moment was so funny. With season 8, the jokes (sometimes, failed jokes) just raced by so quickly that it seems like the writers were trying to compensate for Carell's absence. Although there were great episodes, Season 8 just seemed like a sad shadow of what used to be.

#8

Just as obvious as season 8 being at the bottom, neither season that doesn't feature Steve Carell are superior to any other season, but, for the final season of The Office, the series summoned the original writers and showrunner, Greg Daniels, for the series final run, and for that, it might not have been a great season of The Office, but it was indeed a superb farewell season to the end of an era, in which almost every storyline set in motion long ago was wrapped up in the season finale, which was, thankfully, absolutely perfect. Like season 8, various episodes proved that the ensemble cast could still function at a hilarious quality, but the ninth season returned to the decidedly high elevation of stakes for the characters, which produced an emotional season that bid farewell to such an amazing show.

#7

Three episodes into the first season, The Office began to realize its own tone and style that was different and unique to the U.K. original...unfortunately, there were only three episodes left. No, season length shouldn't be considered when evaluating quality, but with such a weak, bland, and inauspicious pilot episode (which actually left the impression on most television critics that the series would ever become anything, and the series almost got canceled before the premiere of the second season) But, it was in those three episodes that us fans were introduced to storylines that would invigorate us throughout the majority of the series, and this season was the weak initiation to the amazing series.

#6

The strongest point of the sixth season was the astonishing amount of color that was introduced to the show's tone and writing. After five seasons, the writers knew that it was time to raise the stakes in tone, style, and insanity. Unfortunately, the storytelling just wasn't entirely compelling because they didn't raise the stakes for the characters. Too many plot points such as the merge with Sabre, Jim's run with being co-manager of the office (which serviced the canon of the series in almost no way considering its abrupt ending), and other new strides just weren't as compelling and didn't serve up situations that could have been as hilarious if the stakes had of been raised.

#5

Thankfully, The Office returned to form for the final season of Steve Carell. Some claim that the stakes hadn't been raised highly enough for season 7, but in my humble opinion, they were just high enough for us to enjoy the final episodes of the legendary Michael Scott. Imagine if the events that had transpired in seasons 3 and 4, with Roy attacking Jim, Dwight and Angela breaking things off, and Jim and Pam's tumultuous path to romance had been occurring. If Michael Scott had of abruptly disappeared during heated and uncomfortable times (at least, more uncomfortable than the usual climate with Michael Scott constantly commenting on how gay Oscar is or how old Phyllis is), then the world just wouldn't fit right. Michael Scott awkwardly referred to himself as the the staff of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton's "daddy," which was somewhat creepy for some characters, but then again, the aged and experienced Michael Scott watched and attempted to support all of his employees while they chased after their dream. Now that those stories are over, it was the perfect time of for Michael Scott to go in the legendary episode, "Goodbye, Michael," in which we laugh at Michael's attempts to collect himself on his final day, and cry at his unique and heartfelt goodbye to the staff that had been his family for all these years.