Grief Counseling (The Office)
| "Grief Counseling" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 4 |
| Directed by | Roger Nygard |
| Written by | Jennifer Celotta |
| Production code | 303 |
| Original air date | October 12, 2006 |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Grief Counseling" is the fourth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 32nd overall. The episode was written by co-executive producer Jennifer Celotta and directed by Roger Nygard, making it Nygard's only series credit. It first aired on NBC in the United States on October 12, 2006.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is overcome with grief when he learns about the death of his former boss Ed Truck. Michael spends the rest of the day attempting grief counseling for the mostly grief-lacking office. Meanwhile, in Stamford Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) embark on a quest for a particular brand of potato chips.
The outdoor scenes were filmed during the summer, although the cast had to pretend like it was in the middle of winter; this included wearing coats. "Grief Counseling" earned a Nielsen rating of 4.1 with an 11 percent share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and was watched by 8.83 million viewers. The episode was viewed favorably by most television critics; Pam's pranks and the bird funeral were a particular source of praise, as was Michael's monologue on the five stages of grief.
Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is informed by Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) that his former boss Ed Truck has died. Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) and Phyllis Lapin (Phyllis Smith) console Michael after he breaks the news to a mostly unmoved staff. Later, Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) tells Michael that Truck, heavily inebriated, was decapitated in a truck accident. Michael summons the staff to a primitive grief counseling session involving a collapsible Hoberman sphere ball, in which Michael tells members of the staff to give stories of deceased love ones. This leads to the staff telling stories about losing loved ones based on death scenes in movies (Million Dollar Baby, The Lion King, and Weekend at Bernie's) with Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) saying he would elaborate more on his story, but it would take about an hour and a half to do it.
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