Michael's Birthday
Encyclopedia
"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.
(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".
. 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. Saturday Night Live
alumna Nancy Walls
, who played Carol Stills, is actually Steve Carell's wife.
. 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.
"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". "M. Giant" of Television Without Pity graded the episode with a "A".
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 twenty-fifth episode overall. Written by Gene Stupnitsky
Gene Stupnitsky
Gene Stupnitsky is a film and television writer. He usually works with Lee Eisenberg.In television, he wrote for the NBC comedy series The Office from seasons 2 to 6, and served as a co-executive producer and directed two episodes with Eisenberg, "Michael Scott Paper Company" and "The Lover"...
and Lee Eisenberg
Lee Eisenberg
Lee Eisenberg is a film and television writer. He usually works with Gene Stupnitsky.-Life and career:In television, he wrote for the NBC comedy series The Office from seasons 2 to 6, and served as a co-executive producer and directed two episodes with Stupnitsky, "Michael Scott Paper Company" and...
, 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,...
, the episode first aired in the United States on March 30, 2006 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...
. "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 ScottMichael 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...
) is excited to be celebrating his birthday, and tries to get the employees excited with him. Unfortunately for Michael, 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...
) seems to be the only one joining in; the rest of the employees are more concerned about Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone
Kevin Jaye Malone is a character in the United States television series The Office. He is played by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK series is Keith Bishop.-Biography:...
(Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television actor, best known for playing Kevin Malone on The Office.-Personal life:...
), who is awaiting his results from his skin cancer
Skin cancer
Skin neoplasms are skin growths with differing causes and varying degrees of malignancy. The three most common malignant skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma, each of which is named after the type of skin cell from which it arises...
screening. 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,...
) and 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...
) 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 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:...
) are less subtle than they think they are being when discussing their secret relationship within earshot of Ryan Howard
Ryan Howard (The Office)
Ryan Bailey Howard , played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office , but his role is significantly expanded and he is a main character.-Character profile:Little is known about Ryan's...
(B. J. Novak
B. J. Novak
Benjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
). 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
Nancy Walls
Nancy Ellen Carell is an American actress best known for her comedic work on Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show.-Early life:...
) 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 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 the first season episode "Health Care". "Michael's Birthday" was written by Gene Stupnitsky
Gene Stupnitsky
Gene Stupnitsky is a film and television writer. He usually works with Lee Eisenberg.In television, he wrote for the NBC comedy series The Office from seasons 2 to 6, and served as a co-executive producer and directed two episodes with Eisenberg, "Michael Scott Paper Company" and "The Lover"...
and Lee Eisenberg
Lee Eisenberg
Lee Eisenberg is a film and television writer. He usually works with Gene Stupnitsky.-Life and career:In television, he wrote for the NBC comedy series The Office from seasons 2 to 6, and served as a co-executive producer and directed two episodes with Stupnitsky, "Michael Scott Paper Company" and...
.
The ice skating scenes were shot in an actual rink. According to 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,...
, 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
Blades of Glory
Blades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 by DreamWorks and MTV Films...
, but the writers decided that there was no reason for Pam to be a good skater, so they had Pam lean on Jim. Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
alumna Nancy Walls
Nancy Walls
Nancy Ellen Carell is an American actress best known for her comedic work on Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show.-Early life:...
, who played Carol Stills, is actually Steve Carell's wife.
Reception
"Michael's Birthday" received 4.0/10 in the ages 18–49 demographic in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. 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.
"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". "M. Giant" of Television Without Pity graded the episode with a "A".
Cultural references
- Dwight gives Michael a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton PenguinsWilkes-Barre/Scranton PenguinsThe Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are the American Hockey League affiliate of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. They play in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza...
jersey with the words "From Dwight" on the back.
External links
- "Michael's Birthday" at NBC.com