"Michael's Birthday" | |
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The Office episode | |
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 19 |
Directed by | Ken Whittingham |
Written by |
Gene Stupnitsky Lee Eisenberg |
Production code | 2019 |
Original air date | March 30, 2006 |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Guest appearance(s) | |
"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. The episode guest stars Nancy Walls as Carol Stills.
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 disappointed when only Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) celebrates his birthday. Meanwhile, Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) spends the day waiting to find out if he has skin cancer.
The ice skating scenes were shot in an actual rink; Carell's talent at hockey was the reason the writers decided to set the episode there. 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. "Michael's Birthday" was watched by 7.8 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Michael Scott (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 to cheer him up.