The Deposition (The Office)

Infobox Television episode
Title =The Deposition
Series =The Office


Caption =Michael is asked a difficult question during "The Deposition"
Season =4
Episode =8
Airdate =November 15, 2007
Production =04012
Writer =Lester Lewis
Director =Julian Farino
Guests =
Episode list =List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes
Season list =
Prev =Survivor Man
Next =Dinner Party

"The Deposition" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series "The Office", and the show's sixtieth episode overall. Written by consulting producer Lester Lewis and directed by Julian Farino, the episode originally aired in the United States on November 15, 2007 on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). "The Deposition" was the last original episode of the show to air before the show went on hiatus due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike.cite web|url=http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/early-victim-of-strike-office-originals-end-next-week
title=Early Victim of Strike: ‘Office’ Originals End Next Week
author=Brian Stelter
publisher=The New York Times
date=2007-11-07]

Jan and Michael travel to New York City for the deposition of Jan's lawsuit against the company. While Michael originally intends to be a witness against the company, he ends up defending the company. Meanwhile, Kelly gloats to Pam after Darryl beats Jim in a game of ping pong, prompting Jim to spend the entire day practicing in the conference room.

ynopsis

After his girlfriend Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) sues her former employer Dunder Mifflin for wrongful termination, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) finds himself forced by Jan to be a witness against his employer. The deposition goes well for Jan at first, as she claims that she was terminated due to discrimination over her breast augmentation. But, the tide of the deposition turns when Michael learns that Jan gave him a scathing performance review after they had begun dating. While Michael learns he was never a contender when interviewing for Jan's former position at the corporate office, he defends the company anyway. Jan and Michael drive home, clearly angry at each other over the events of the day. Back at the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of Dunder Mifflin, Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) repeatedly loses to warehouse foreman Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) at ping pong, prompting Darryl's girlfriend Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) to gloat to Jim's girlfriend Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) over her boyfriend's superior skills. Unable to tolerate Kelly’s insults, Pam builds a makeshift ping pong table in the conference room for Jim to practice against other office employees. Throughout the day, Jim practices against his coworkers, eventually discovering Dwight Schrute's (Rainn Wilson) prowess at the game. When Jim and Darryl have a rematch, Jim again loses to Darryl. Fed up with Kelly's continued taunting, Pam challenges her in a game of ping pong, but the two are pathetically incompetent players. Jim and Darryl, embarrassed, decide to play ping pong in the conference room. The episode concludes with Dwight playing a high-intensity game of ping pong against his cousin Mose Schrute (Michael Schur).

Production

"The Deposition" was the first episode of "The Office" to be written by Lester Lewis. Lewis also works for the show as a consulting producer. The episode was the second of the show to be directed by Julian Farino. Farino also directed the second season episode "Back from Vacation". "The Deposition" was the last original episode of "The Office" to air in 2007 due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.cite press release |title=11-15-2007 9:00 PM "The Office" — "The Deposition" |publisher="NBC Universal Media Village" |url=http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20071115210000.html |accessdate=2008-06-13] cite news |first=Nellie |last=Andreeva |title=NBC renews series, announces premieres |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3if908f8e7990b715738fd1460067e3828 |publisher="The Hollywood Reporter" |date=2008-02-14 |accessdate=2008-02-14] The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike at 12:01AM Eastern Standard Time on November 5, 2007. [cite news |first=Michael |last=Cieply |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Writers Begin Strike as Talks Break Off |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/05/business/media/05strike.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |work= |publisher="The New York Times" |date=2007-11-05 |accessdate=2008-04-11] cite news |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975364.html?categoryid=2821&cs=1 |title=WGA goes on strike |accessdate=2008-01-19 |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=2007-11-04 |publisher="Variety"] Filming of "The Office" immediately halted on that date, as Steve Carell, who is a member of the WGA, refused to cross WGA picket lines."TV Guide" Staff. cite news |title="Office" Closing: Carell, Others Won't Cross Picket Line |url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Wga-Post-Strike/Office-Closing-Carell/800026773& |work= |publisher="TV Guide" |date=2007-11-07 |accessdate=2008-06-13 ] Members of Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West voted to end the 100-day strike on February 12, 2008.cite press release |title=Writers Guild Members Vote to End Strike |publisher="Writers Guild of America, West" |date=2008-02-12 |url=http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2775 |accessdate=2008-02-13] Writers were allowed to return to work on the same day.cite news |first=Cynthia |last=Littleton |coauthors=McNary, Dave |title=It's official: WGA strike is over |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117980829.html?categoryid=13&cs=1 |publisher="Variety" |date=2008-02-12 |accessdate=2008-02-13] The WGA allowed for show runners to return to work on February 11,cite news |first=Cynthia |last=Littleton |coauthors=McNary, Dave |title=Showrunners back to work Monday |url=http://www.variety.com/VR1117980626.html |publisher="Variety" |date=2008-02-10 |accessdate=2008-02-13] in preparation for the conclusion of the strike. The show runner for "The Office", Executive Producer Greg Daniels, returned on the February 11,cite web |url=http://www.wga.org/subpage_member.aspx?id=2529 |title=Pencils Down Means Pencils Down |accessdate=2008-05-25 |publisher="Writers Guild of America, West"] while the show's writers returned to work on February 13. "The Office" finally returned with original episodes on April 10, 2008, with the episode "Dinner Party". Executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels stated that one of the main purposes of "The Deposition" was to add on to the tension building between Michael and Jan. This tension would finally end its build-up with the splitting of Michael and Jan in the episode "Dinner Party". [cite web |url=http://www.tube-talk.com/2008/03/interview-with-rainn-wilson-and-greg.html |title=Interview with Rainn Wilson and Greg Daniels of "The Office" |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Biller |first=Jennifer |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=Tube Talk] The scene where Michael pushes Toby's lunch tray off the table was not scripted. The crew was doing one last take of the scene and actor Paul Lieberstein suggested that Steve Carrell push his food off the table. [cite web|url= http://www.nbc.com/Comic-Con/video/clips/the-office/279939/ |title=Panels The Office |publisher=National Broadcasting Company |accessdate=2008-07-26] The ping pong game between Dwight and Mose was made using Computer-generated imagery. Rainn Wilson and Michael Schur mimed the actions of a ping pong game, and during the stages of editing and post-production the ping pong ball was added in as an effect. [cite web |url=http://thescrumbrandon.com/v1/2008/05/01/podcast-xix-michael-schur/ |title=Podcast XIX:Michael Schur |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Larkins |first=David |coauthors=Jeremy Sawatzky |date=2008-05-01 |work= |publisher=]

Reception

"The Deposition" received a 5.1 Nielsen Rating and a 8% Share. The episode was watched by 8.86 million viewers and achieved a 4.8/11 in the key adults 18 to 49 demographic, meaning that 4.8 percent of all people 18 to 49 watched the episode, and 11 percent of all people 18 to 49 watching television at the time watched the episode. [cite web|url= http://entertainmentnow.wordpress.com/2007/11/02/broadcast-tv-ratings-for-thursday-november-15-2007|title=Broadcast TV Ratings for Thursday, November 15, 2007|publisher=Your Entertainment Now|accessdate=2007-11-16] Rick Porter of Zap2It.com praised the writing of the episode, as well as the acting of Mindy Kaling and Jenna Fischer. Porter also praised the final scene of the episode, when Jan and Michael drive home after the day. Porter stated "I don't know whether to laugh or turn away in shame from that final scene, though, as they bicker about what to eat while they're driving home. It was like watching two friends fight -- fascinating and incredibly uncomfortable at the same time." [cite web |url=http://blog.zap2it.com/ithappenedlastnight/2007/11/deposition-day.html |title=Deposition day at "The Office" |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Porter |first=Rick |coauthors= |date=2007-10-15 |work= |publisher=Zap2It.com] Christine Fenno, of "Entertainment Weekly", stated "'The Deposition' was a simmering slow cooker of corporate intrigue, flavored by Michael Scott's ridiculousness, with spicy smack talk on the side." Fenno, like Porter, also praised the acting of Jenna Fischer, saying that she "stole the low-key opening scenes". [cite web |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20160554,00.html |title="The Office": Half Witness |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Fenno |first=Christine |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher="Entertainment Weekly"] Travis Fickett, of IGN, stated that "this happens to be the best episode of the season and one of the best episodes of the series. It's almost as if the writers planned it this way - to emphasize their importance and remind us how much we'll miss them when they're gone." Fickett went on to praise the acting between Steve Carell (Michael) and Paul Lieberstein (Toby). [cite web |url=http://tv.ign.com/articles/835/835842p1.html |title="The Office": "The Deposition" Review |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Fickett |first=Travis |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=IGN] BuddyTV Senior Writer Oscar Dahl stated that the episode was an oddity among the series, saying “The Deposition” was an atypical episode of "The Office", one that basically put the character of Michael Scott on trial and humiliated him over and over again." [cite web |url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/the-office/the-office-the-deposition-13864.aspx |title="The Office": "The Deposition" |accessdate=2008-07-09 |last=Dahl |first=Oscar |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=BuddyTV]

References

External links

* [http://www.nbc.com/The_Office/episodes/season4/4012/ "The Deposition"] at NBC.com