--- title: The Office Time Machine Catalogues Every Pop Culture Reference By Year description: The Office Time Machine created by digital artist and director Joe Sabia features all pop culture references on the show by year. canonical: https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-25T11:45:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:08.003Z og:title: This Amazing Video Catalogs Every Pop Culture Reference Ever to Appear on the Office og:description: The culmination of a year and a half of work og:url: https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72877d02aa78f567/698686ff55a8597681a7fe3b/83382407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2134 og:image:height: 1200 og:image:alt: John Krasinski, Co-Star of NBC's Hit Show "The Office," Does His Holiday Shopping at The Grove - December 8, 2005 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Amazing Video Catalogs Every Pop Culture Reference Ever to Appear on the Office twitter:description: The culmination of a year and a half of work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72877d02aa78f567/698686ff55a8597681a7fe3b/83382407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # From the Black Eyed Peas to _Battlestar Galactica_: Every Single Pop Culture Reference Ever on _The Office_ > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=14af1574-1bbe-48f2-84b5-4e55033a8ab0&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 25, 2014 11:45 AM UTC  John Krasinski, co-star of NBC's hit television show "The Office" John Krasinski, co-star of NBC's hit television show "The Office"Chris Haston / NBC / Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 25, 2014 11:45 AM UTC Anyone who’s watched more than an episode or two of _The Office_ knows that the characters — especially boss Michael Scott — like to make pop culture references. But until you see all of these references catalogued and organized in one place, it’s easy to miss just _how_ influential pop culture was on the show’s humor and overall aesthetic — and just how abundant the references really are. That’s where [_The Office_ Time Machine ](http://theofficetimemachine.com/)comes in. Created by digital artist and director [Joe Sabia](http://www.joesabia.co/), the website lets you plug in any year and view a compilation of every pop culture reference from that time period. According to Sabia, throughout the series’ nine seasons, there are around 1,300 references to TV shows, movies, celebrities, catchphrases, holidays and more. The project, which took him a year and a half to complete, intends to “to advocate for copyright reform and highlight the importance of fair use in protecting creators and their art. On the site, Sabia explains that he also hopes to highlight just how much we rely on culture: --- > “” --- Here are a few of the compilation videos: Sabia’s catalog is impressively comprehensive, though there were a few references he was unable to pinpoint: So if you’re able to identify any of those, he’d love for you to [contact him](http://theofficetimemachine.com/). Then, maybe you two could enjoy a _Battlestar Galactica_ marathon followed by a rousing debate over whether or not Hilary Swank is hot. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/"},"headline":"From the Black Eyed Peas to Battlestar Galactica: Every Single Pop Culture Reference Ever on The Office","datePublished":"2014-03-25T11:45:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:08.003Z","description":"Introducing the handy guide to all the show's cultural references, organized by year","url":"https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Television","Internet","NBC","Pop Culture","The Office"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72877d02aa78f567/698686ff55a8597681a7fe3b/83382407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72877d02aa78f567/698686ff55a8597681a7fe3b/83382407.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Krasinski, Co-Star of NBC's Hit Show \"The Office,\" Does His Holiday Shopping at The Grove - December 8, 2005","caption":"John Krasinski, Co-Star of NBC's Hit Show \"The Office,\" Does His Holiday Shopping at The Grove - December 8, 2005","creditText":"Chris Haston / NBC / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/36071/the-office-time-machine/","name":"From the Black Eyed Peas to Battlestar Galactica: Every Single Pop Culture Reference Ever on The Office"}}]}] ```