Michael's Birthday

"Michael's Birthday"
The Office episode
Gifts shared on "Michael's Birthday"
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 19
Directed by	Ken Whittingham
Written by	Gene Stupnitsky Lee Eisenberg
Production code	219
Original air date	March 30, 2006
Guest stars
Nancy Walls
Episode chronology
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List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes

"Michael's Birthday" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's twenty-fifth episode overall. Written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, and directed by Ken Whittingham, the episode first aired in the United States on March 30, 2006 on NBC. "Michael's Birthday" was watched by 7.8 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews from critics.

In the episode, Michael is disappointed when only Dwight celebrates his birthday. Meanwhile, Kevin spends the day waiting to find out if he has skin cancer.

Plot

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is excited to be celebrating his birthday, and tries to get the employees excited with him. Unfortunately for Michael, Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) seems to be the only one joining in; the rest of the employees are more concerned about Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), who is awaiting his results from his skin cancer screening. Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) sneak out to buy gifts for Kevin.

When Michael finds out about Kevin's predicament, he gives Kevin his condolences, but subtly remains bitter that Kevin is ruining his birthday fun. Dwight and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) are less subtle than they think they are being when discussing their secret relationship within earshot of Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak). After goofing around at the store, Jim and Pam return to the office.

To "make Kevin feel better", Michael takes the employees out ice skating. At the rink, he also runs into his real estate agent Carol Stills (Nancy Walls) and her children. He entertains them, which makes Carol smile. Kevin gets the word that his screening results are negative, to the relief of everyone except Michael, who believes that negative means he does have cancer, and who reacts for the first time with genuine concern and compassion for Kevin. The gifts are passed out to Kevin and Michael, and the episode ends with Pam recalling that she had fun with Jim and it was a "good day".

Production

This episode was the second episode of the series directed by Ken Whittingham. Whittingham had previously directed the first season episode "Health Care". "Michael's Birthday" was written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg.

The ice skating scenes were shot in an actual rink. According to Jenna Fischer, Steve Carell used to play hockey, and the writers had been looking for a reason to use Carell's ice skating skills in an episode. Fischer had also learned to skate in preparation for the movie Blades of Glory, but the writers decided that there was no reason for Pam to be a good skater, so they had Pam lean on Jim.^[1] Saturday Night Live alumna Nancy Walls, who played Carol Stills, is actually Steve Carell's wife.^[2]

Reception

"Michael's Birthday" received 4.0/10 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratings. This means that 4.0 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and ten percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. "Michael's Birthday" was watched by 7.8 million viewers.^[3]

"Michael's Birthday" received mostly positive reviews. Michael Sciannamea of TV Squad wrote that the episode was "simply the best one yet", and that it "was so brilliant and so right on that I can't give it any higher praise". Sciannamea went on to write that "the scenes at the ice rink were hysterical" and The Office "is the best sitcom on TV".^[4] "M. Giant" of Television Without Pity graded the episode with a "A".^[5]

Cultural references

• Dwight gives Michael a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins jersey with the words "From Dwight" on the back.

References

1. ^ Fischer, Jenna (2006-03-30). "The Office Celebrates Good Times". TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting={F35390A6-2471-4CE3-A248-567B1E3A2664}. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
2. ^ Interview: Steve Carell (January 11, 2006). The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC.
3. ^ Tan, Jeannie. "The Office Nielsen Ratings". OfficeTally. http://www.officetally.com/the-office-nielsen-ratings/3/. Retrieved 2008-07-06. 
4. ^ Sciannamea, Michael (2006-03-30). "The Office: "Michael's Birthday"". TV Squad. http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/03/31/the-office-michaels-birthday/. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 
5. ^ Giant, M. (2006-03-30). "MICHAEL'S BIRTHDAY". Television Without Pity. http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/the_office/michaels_birthday.php. Retrieved 2008-08-04. 

External links

• "Michael's Birthday" at NorthernAttack.com