Production

This episode was written by executive producer 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...

, who also portrays 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...

 on the show. It was directed by Tucker Gates

Tucker Gates

Tucker Gates is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the J. J. Abrams shows, Alias and Lost, including the very last episode of Alias...

, his fourth directing credit of the series. Michael's screenplay for Threat Level Midnight was the subplot for second season episode "The Client", and has also been referenced to in "E-mail Surveillance

E-mail Surveillance

"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...

", "Product Recall

Product recall

A product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence and to improve or avoid damage to publicity...

", "Money

Money (The Office)

"Money" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixtieth episode overall. It first aired on October 18, 2007, on NBC, and was the last of four consecutive hour long episodes that opened the fourth season...

", "Dinner Party

Dinner Party (The Office)

"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...

", and "Prince Family Paper

Prince Family Paper

"Prince Family Paper" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 85th overall episode. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 22, 2009...

". The idea for the episode came from Steve Carell, who said that he enjoyed the TLM script idea and wanted to do a story centered around it.

Writer Novak cites the episode as the "most conceptually ambitious" in the show's history. More than half the episode consisted of footage from the film. The full film, which has a runtime of 25 minutes, is available on the seventh season DVD and Blu-ray, and was made available on iTunes on February 18, 2011.

David Wallace

David Wallace (The Office)

David Wallace is a character in the American television show The Office and was the chief financial officer of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, before being fired in late 2009 after the company was bought by Sabre. He is portrayed by Andy Buckley.- Character history :David Wallace was...

, former CFO of Dunder Mifflin, and portrayed by Andy Buckley, was originally billed as a guest star for this episode and having a part in Michael's movie. When NBC first aired the episode, Wallace's scenes were not shown. It was revealed by Novak that Wallace was Michael's first choice as Goldenface, but turned it down because "it wouldn't look good to people at Corporate" and Wallace films a talking head interview exclaiming his regret in not taking the role. This scene was deleted due to time constraints. It is possible his scene appears on the Season 7 DVD.

Reception

In its original American broadcast on February 17, 2011, "Threat Level Midnight" was viewed by an estimated 6.41 million viewers and received a 3.3 rating/9% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, decreasing in viewers from the previous episode

PDA (The Office)

"PDA" is the sixteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 142nd episode overall. Written by Robert Padnick and directed by series creator Greg Daniels, the episode was shown on February 10, 2011, on NBC.-Synopsis:Michael and Holly have...

.

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...

 writer Cindy White called the episode "Outstanding" and praised the self-awareness of Michael Scott and Steve Carell's performance. She ultimately said the episode was good enough to be Carell's last episode. Rick Porter of Zap2it

Zap2it

Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

 gave the episode mixed reviews, saying that it "had moments that were a huge amount of fun, both inside Michael's labor of love and in people's reaction to it. But it also felt a little bit clip-showy."

External links

• "Threat Level Midnight" at NBC.com
  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...
  
  
• "Threat Level Midnight" website
• Q&A with B. J. Novak on the episode