The Office's enduring popularity seems to be only growing since it last aired in 2013. The form of escapism it offered proved to be relevant to viewers of every generation, from baby boomers to gen Z. In fact, 20-year-old Billie Eilish is also a huge fan, having watched the show 14 times mostly on her iPhone.

“Every time I watch it, I understand something new, because I started at [age] 12. And I honestly, if you asked my parents, most of the things that — this makes me sound so stupid — but the most of the things that I know are because of ‘The Office,'” she told in an interview with Variety. Billie also called the sitcom her “safe space,” as she says, “it takes me away from the reality of my life.” And this is something most fans of The Office can relate to easily.

Today, it’s hard to imagine The Office facing its impending doom right on its six-episode first season airing on NBC back in 2005. Nobody could ever think that there would be more. Michael Schur, a writer on that first season who would go on to create some very successful TV shows of his own, revealed: “There was a moment when we were shooting the last episode, where the cast was sort of huddled outside, and everyone was a little bit glum because it was our last week of shooting. Even though the show wouldn’t air for months, everyone kind of felt like, there’s no way this ever works.”

What happened next was unprecedented. Against all odds, NBC renewed The Office, banking on the track record of creator Greg Daniels (famous for The Simpsons and King of the Hill) and on Steve Carell becoming a full-on film star in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Emily VanDerWerff explains the enduring popularity of The Office in a piece for Variety: “a little gray and drab, a little like being devoured whole by a week of Mondays. It takes place in a world where you wear a tie to work, drive every day to a dull office park, where the closest thing to excitement is playing a prank on a coworker.”

In contrast to today, where people are constantly pressured to find that perfect job that fulfills their dreams and values, The Office feels like everything but that. “This contrast makes The Office feel like it takes place in a weirdly bygone era, where our lives are not our jobs and our jobs are not our passion. The series even takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a small city in the middle of the country, exactly the sort of place hollowed out by recession and corporate restructuring in the 21st century,” VanDerWerff writes.