Launch Party
Encyclopedia
"Launch Party" is the fifth (and sixth) episode of the fourth season
of the American comedy
television series
The Office, and the show's fifty-eighth (and fifty-ninth) episode overall. The episode was written by Jennifer Celotta
and directed by Ken Whittingham
. It first aired in the United States on October 11, 2007 on NBC
.
In this episode, Dunder Mifflin prepares for the launch of their new website. Dwight tries to outsell the website, Andy makes a move for Angela, and Michael kidnaps a pizza delivery boy (Kevin McHale).
) doesn't want to go to the launch party, Michael Scott
(Steve Carell
) invites Pam Beesly
(Jenna Fischer
), who makes Jim Halpert
(John Krasinski
) take her place. Only after they reach New York does Jim realize that Michael received an "invitation" to a chat room
, not the actual party. Jim also reveals that he turned down the Corporate job that Ryan accepted. Michael returns to Scranton dejected and attempts to plan a better party. This irritates party planner Angela Martin
(Angela Kinsey
), who has already been in an exceptionally irritable mood. She viciously and patronizingly takes out her frustrations on fellow Party Planning Committee member Phyllis, who quits the committee in frustration.
Dwight Schrute
(Rainn Wilson
) decides to compete against the website to see who can make more sales. Andy Bernard
(Ed Helms
) keeps a running tally of reams sold, blowing an airhorn each time Dwight makes a sale. Irritated by the distraction, Jim and Pam plot a prank. They send Dwight instant messages pretending to be the company's computer system, taunting Dwight when he believes it has achieved self-awareness
. Dwight wins the challenge, but when he gloats to Angela about his victory, she rejects him outright and makes it clear that they are broken up for good. She also asks Pam to set her up with a single friend of hers. Pam, feeling sorry for Dwight, sends another message as the computer acknowledging him as a superior being. Andy later sets up a conference call with some of his old Cornell friends to serenade Angela with Take a Chance on Me
; she doesn't agree to date him, but appears to be somewhat charmed by the spectacle.
Michael finally realizes that Ryan doesn't respect him, and once he gets online for the party's chat room he snaps that Dwight single-handedly outsold DMI and curses at Ryan. But his emotional reactions haven't stopped for the night: he had ordered pizza from two places, one outstanding (Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, which is a real restaurant in Scranton) and one terrible (Pizza by Alfredo, which is fictional). The latter store refused to honor a coupon Michael had, and he ends up taking the teenaged delivery driver hostage (Kevin McHale), with both he and Dwight acting out their frustrations about Ryan and Angela, respectively. After some time, Michael regains his senses and lets the kid go, and then heads up to crash the party in NYC and get some sushi, with Dwight joining him. They get to enjoy a little leftover food, but Michael's most cheered when one of the younger Corporate workers says they liked his rant against Ryan and "It was funny to see Ryan embarrassed by all that", and heads home in good spirits.
. Whittingham had previously directed "Health Care", "Michael's Birthday
", "The Convention", "The Merger
", and "Phyllis' Wedding
". "Launch Party" was written by Jennifer Celotta
, making it the sixth episode written by her.
According to Jennifer Celotta, the idea for the first scene of the episode where the office workers are watching a logo bounce around a television screen, came when the writers were in a room watching the DVD
logo bounce around the television screen, and were arguing about whether it would ever hit the corner.
"Launch Party" received mixed reviews from critics. TV Squad's Jay Black wondered why the writers "feel the need to veer off into increasingly more ridiculous places", especially because The Office is "hailed by critics and adored by fans for its ability to find humor in the smallest pieces of real-life human interaction". Black did say that except for the kidnapping, he "thought tonight's episode was the best of the season." Travis Fickett of IGN
wrote that "Launch Party" was "a very entertaining episode with some terrific moments." Fickett did say that with all the hour-long episodes "things start to feel stretched and some scenes take on a sense of redundancy and certain storylines seem to peter out before they even get going."
The Office (U.S. TV series) season 4
The fourth season of the American television comedy The Office premiered in the United States on NBC on September 27, 2007, and concluded on May 15, 2008. The season consisted of 9 half-hour episodes, and 5 hour-long episodes to comprise the 19 total episodes of material created...
of the American comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
The Office, and the show's fifty-eighth (and fifty-ninth) episode overall. The episode was written by Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
and directed by Ken Whittingham
Ken Whittingham
Ken Whittingham is an American television director.His most notable directorial work includes a number of episodes from each of the television series 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Suburgatory, The Middle, Parenthood, The Bernie Mac Show, Scrubs, Everybody Hates Chris, The Office, My Name Is Earl,...
. It first aired in the United States on October 11, 2007 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
In this episode, Dunder Mifflin prepares for the launch of their new website. Dwight tries to outsell the website, Andy makes a move for Angela, and Michael kidnaps a pizza delivery boy (Kevin McHale).
Plot
Dunder Mifflin is preparing a party for the launch of their new website "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". Since Jan Levenson (Melora HardinMelora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
) doesn't want to go to the launch party, Michael Scott
Michael Scott (The Office)
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell, and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc...
(Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
) invites Pam Beesly
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley....
(Jenna Fischer
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...
), who makes Jim Halpert
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
(John Krasinski
John Krasinski
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor, film director, and writer. He is most widely known for playing Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office...
) take her place. Only after they reach New York does Jim realize that Michael received an "invitation" to a chat room
Chat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
, not the actual party. Jim also reveals that he turned down the Corporate job that Ryan accepted. Michael returns to Scranton dejected and attempts to plan a better party. This irritates party planner Angela Martin
Angela Martin
Angela Noelle Martin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by American actress Angela Kinsey. She is an original character, and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
(Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey
Angela Kinsey is an American actress. She currently appears as the uptight accountant Angela Martin on the hit NBC television series The Office.-Personal life:...
), who has already been in an exceptionally irritable mood. She viciously and patronizingly takes out her frustrations on fellow Party Planning Committee member Phyllis, who quits the committee in frustration.
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
(Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Dietrich Wilson is an American actor and comedian. He is primarily known for his role as the egomaniacal Dwight Schrute on the American version of the television comedy The Office...
) decides to compete against the website to see who can make more sales. Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
(Ed Helms
Ed Helms
Edward Paul "Ed" Helms is an American actor and comedian known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, as Andy Bernard on the US version of the sitcom/mockumentary The Office and for his role as Dr. Stu Price in The Hangover films.- Early life :Helms was born and raised...
) keeps a running tally of reams sold, blowing an airhorn each time Dwight makes a sale. Irritated by the distraction, Jim and Pam plot a prank. They send Dwight instant messages pretending to be the company's computer system, taunting Dwight when he believes it has achieved self-awareness
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to reconcile oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals...
. Dwight wins the challenge, but when he gloats to Angela about his victory, she rejects him outright and makes it clear that they are broken up for good. She also asks Pam to set her up with a single friend of hers. Pam, feeling sorry for Dwight, sends another message as the computer acknowledging him as a superior being. Andy later sets up a conference call with some of his old Cornell friends to serenade Angela with Take a Chance on Me
Take a Chance on Me
"Take a Chance on Me" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in 1978 as the second single from their fifth studio album, simply called The Album. The song has been featured on a number of ABBA compilations such as ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits.-History:The working title of "Take a...
; she doesn't agree to date him, but appears to be somewhat charmed by the spectacle.
Michael finally realizes that Ryan doesn't respect him, and once he gets online for the party's chat room he snaps that Dwight single-handedly outsold DMI and curses at Ryan. But his emotional reactions haven't stopped for the night: he had ordered pizza from two places, one outstanding (Alfredo's Pizza Cafe, which is a real restaurant in Scranton) and one terrible (Pizza by Alfredo, which is fictional). The latter store refused to honor a coupon Michael had, and he ends up taking the teenaged delivery driver hostage (Kevin McHale), with both he and Dwight acting out their frustrations about Ryan and Angela, respectively. After some time, Michael regains his senses and lets the kid go, and then heads up to crash the party in NYC and get some sushi, with Dwight joining him. They get to enjoy a little leftover food, but Michael's most cheered when one of the younger Corporate workers says they liked his rant against Ryan and "It was funny to see Ryan embarrassed by all that", and heads home in good spirits.
Production
"Launch Party" was the sixth episode of the series directed by Ken WhittinghamKen Whittingham
Ken Whittingham is an American television director.His most notable directorial work includes a number of episodes from each of the television series 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, Suburgatory, The Middle, Parenthood, The Bernie Mac Show, Scrubs, Everybody Hates Chris, The Office, My Name Is Earl,...
. Whittingham had previously directed "Health Care", "Michael's Birthday
Michael's Birthday
"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...
", "The Convention", "The Merger
The Merger (The Office)
"The Merger" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 16, 2006, as a special 40-minute episode on NBC.In this episode, the Scranton and Stamford branches are merged...
", and "Phyllis' Wedding
Phyllis' Wedding
"Phyllis's Wedding" is the sixteenth episode of the third season of the U.S. version of The Office. It aired on February 8, 2007 on NBC.It was written by Caroline Williams and directed by Ken Whittingham....
". "Launch Party" was written by Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta is an American television producer and writer. Among her credits are Home Improvement, Malcolm in the Middle, Greg the Bunny, Andy Richter Controls The Universe and The Office...
, making it the sixth episode written by her.
According to Jennifer Celotta, the idea for the first scene of the episode where the office workers are watching a logo bounce around a television screen, came when the writers were in a room watching the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
logo bounce around the television screen, and were arguing about whether it would ever hit the corner.
Reception
"Launch Party" received a 5.2 Nielsen Rating and an 8% Share. The episode was watched by 8.91 million viewers and achieved a 4.7/11 in the key adults 18–49 demographic."Launch Party" received mixed reviews from critics. TV Squad's Jay Black wondered why the writers "feel the need to veer off into increasingly more ridiculous places", especially because The Office is "hailed by critics and adored by fans for its ability to find humor in the smallest pieces of real-life human interaction". Black did say that except for the kidnapping, he "thought tonight's episode was the best of the season." Travis Fickett of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
wrote that "Launch Party" was "a very entertaining episode with some terrific moments." Fickett did say that with all the hour-long episodes "things start to feel stretched and some scenes take on a sense of redundancy and certain storylines seem to peter out before they even get going."
External links
- "Launch Party" at NBC.com