Survivor Man

Infobox Television episode
Title =Survivor Man
Series =The Office


Caption =Michael in the forest trying to be a "Survivor Man".
Season =4
Episode =7
Airdate =November 8, 2007 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1031475/ "The Office" "Survivor Man"] IMDB, retrieved May 20, 2008]
Production =4011
Writer =Steve Carell
Director =Paul Feig
Guests =
Episode list =List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes
Season list =
Prev =Branch Wars
Next =The Deposition

"Survivor Man" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series "The Office"—the show's fifty-ninth episode overall. Written by Steve Carell, who also acts on the show as Regional Manager Michael Scott, and directed by Paul Feig, it originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company on November 8, 2007. [ [http://www.celebrityspider.com/news/november07/article110207-3.html Michael Goes on a Survival Adventure Next Week on "The Office"] Celebrity Spider, retrieved May 20, 2008] The episode aired during NBC's week of "green episodes", which lasted from November 4, 2007 through November 10, 2007. [ [http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20071029nbc12 "Survivor Man"] Futon Critic, retrieved May 20, 2008]

In the episode, Ryan excludes Michael from a company nature excursion, prompting Michael to try to prove to himself and his peers that he can survive in the wild. Dwight drops Michael off in the middle of a local wooded area and contrary to Michael's wishes, stays behind to monitor Michael. Meanwhile, Jim spends the day as boss, but his plan to incorporate multiple birthdays into one combined event ends up alienating the entire office against him.

Plot synopsis

Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) invites the regional branch managers and Dunder Mifflin Scranton Human Resources representative Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) to a corporate wilderness retreat, but does not invite Michael Scott (Carell). To show that he is capable of surviving in the wilderness, Michael leaves Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) in charge of the office and instructs Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) to abandon him deep in the forest. Contrary to Michael's wishes, Dwight stays behind and surreptitiously monitors his condition from a distance. Michael proves to be completely incapable of living out in the wild by himself. Dwight is forced to come out of hiding to save Michael when he tries to eat wild mushrooms.

Jim's plan to consolidate three employee birthdays into a combined birthday party encounters several complications, and his constant adjustments incur the ire of Party Planning Committee chair Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey). Later, Jim discovers that no one likes his idea for a combined party, realizing the depth of his error when Phyllis Vance (Phyllis Smith) mistakenly refers to him as Michael, and he returns to the original plan of having separate parties. Michael and Dwight return in time for the lighting of Creed Bratton's (portrayed by the actor of the same name) birthday cobbler, with Michael expressing that he no longer has any desire to return to the wilderness and Jim expressing his relief that Michael has returned to run the office.

Production

"Survivor Man" is the second episode written by Steve Carell. Carell also wrote the second season finale "Casino Night". The episode is the fifth episode directed by Paul Feig, and his first since the second season episode "E-mail Surveillance". "Survivor Man" is the second episode to feature birthdays as a plot line, but the episode includes a continuity error. The first season episode "The Alliance" also features birthdays and states that Meredith Palmer's (Kate Flannery) birthday is the first after a month without any office birthdays. "Survivor Man" contradicts this statement, where four birthdays occur in the same month with Meredith's last. The episode was the next to last episode to be aired before the effects of the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike halted production. The episode's title and plot share a similarities to "Survivorman", a television show in which the host is placed in the wilderness with little or no supplies for survival.

Reception

"Survivor Man" received a 4.9/7 in the Nielsen Ratings, meaning that 4.9 percent of households were tuned in at any given moment and seven percent of all televisions in use were tuned in to the program. The episode was watched by 8.29 million viewers and achieved a 4.3/10 in the ages 18–49 demographic. [cite web|url= http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-thursday-november-8-2007|title=Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, November 8, 2007|publisher=Your Entertainment Now|accessdate=2007-11-09] Travis Fickett of IGN stated that "Overall, this isn't a terrific episode, but holds up the show's usual standard. Steve Carell is hilarious as usual. Watching him attempt to make shelter and clothing out of his suit over the span of only a few hours is great fun." Fickett also stated that a good portion of the humor in the episode came from in-jokes that required previous knowledge of the series, specifically pointing out the parallel comparison between Michael and Jim's lives. [ [http://tv.ign.com/articles/834/834102p1.html "The Office": "Survivor Man" Review] IGN, retrieved May 18, 2008] Like Fickett, Christine Fenno of "Entertainment Weekly" praised the episode's comparison between Michael and Jim. Fenno also went on to praise other points of the episode, stating she also enjoyed the overall episode for its "just outdoorsiness with Michael and Dwight, and infighting among the rest of the staff." [ [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20159365,00.html "The Office": Green With Envy] Entertainment Weekly, retrieved May 20, 2008] Oscar Dahl, a Senior Writer for BuddyTV, stated that "What seems like a one and done episode without much character work at first turns into much more by the end." Dahl went on to praise the episode, stating that it was "lighter" in comparison to Carell's previous episode "Casino Night". [ [http://www.buddytv.com/articles/the-office/the-office-episode-47-survivor-13544.aspx "The Office": Episode 4.7, "Survivor Man" Recap] BuddyTV, retrieved May 20, 2008]

References