E-mail Surveillance
Encyclopedia
"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. Written by Jennifer Celotta
, and directed by Paul Feig
, the episode first aired in the United States on November 22, 2005 on NBC
.
In the episode, the company tech support employee gives Michael the ability to read his employees' e-mails, causing him to find out that Jim is throwing a party that Michael was not invited to. Meanwhile, Pam begins to suspect that Dwight and Angela might secretly be having a relationship.
Michael Scott
(Steve Carell
) initially mistakes the company's tech support employee, Sadiq (Omi Vaidya
), for a terrorist. Later, after Michael realizes he is wrong, Sadiq fulfills Michael's request to set up a system to monitor his employees' e-mails. When everyone in the office finds out, Jim Halpert
(John Krasinski
) worries that Michael will discover the party he is throwing that night, to which Michael is not invited. Inevitably, Michael notices and tries to get Jim to admit that he's having a party, while Jim acts nonchalantly as if nothing is happening. In order to keep Dwight Schrute
(Rainn Wilson
) from exposing the party, Jim tells him that it's a surprise party for Michael.
Pam Beesly
(Jenna Fischer
) notices some things that lead her to suspect that Dwight and Angela Martin
(Angela Kinsey
) are dating. However she discreetly abandons her suspicions when she asks Phyllis Lapin
(Phyllis Smith) if she noticed any office romances and Phyllis guessed that Pam meant her and Jim. Jim and Pam bond when she sees Jim's room for the first time and looks through his high school year book.
After ruining an improv class, Michael decides to crash Jim's party, much to the staff's dismay (and Dwight's naïve delight). Michael awkwardly tries his hand at karaoke but Jim then joins in, easing the tension considerably. The documentary crew catches Angela and Dwight making out in Jim's backyard.
Shortly after Michael arrives, the popular video game Call of Duty 2 is seen on the TV Screen.
. Feig had previously directed episode "Office Olympics
", "Halloween", and "Performance Review
". "E-mail Surveillance" was written by Jennifer Celotta
.
When filming the scene with Michael in the improv class, Ken Jeong
, who played Bill, said that "they (the crew) would shoot the scenes as scripted the first few takes, and then we would improvise after that." For example "the scene where I (Ken Jeong) say 'Good job' to Michael and he says 'Nice job, Bill... not' was improvised." Omi Vaidya, who played Sadiq, said that he enjoyed shooting the party scenes because they got to drink real beer
and play the Xbox 360
, which hadn't been released at the time. Vaidya said that "it was like being at a real party with everyone from The Office except that we had to shoot a few scenes while we were chatting and relaxing."
. This means that 3.9 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and nine percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. "E-mail Surveillance" was watched by 8 million viewers.
"E-mail Surveillance" was generally popular with critics. James Fan of NorthernAttack called Pam "the superstar" of the episode, and that "watching her operate as she attempts to get to the bottom of the Dwight/Angela situation is just too much fun." TV Squad's Michael Sciannamea said that "E-mail Surveillance" was "a solid episode", and that even though "Michael's vulnerabilities were again exposed", in the end "you walk away from the episode feeling good that he did make it to Jim's party." M. Giant from TelevisionWithoutPity.com graded the episode with an "A-". In a poll done by Office fansite OfficeTally.com, viewers ranked "E-mail Surveillance" as the eighth most popular episode out of the twenty-two episodes of season two.
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 fifteenth episode overall. 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 Paul Feig
Paul Feig
Paul S. Feig is an American director, actor and author. Feig is known for playing Mr. Eugene Pool, Sabrina's science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as well as Tim a camp counselor on the hit kids movie Heavyweights...
, the episode first aired in the United States on November 22, 2005 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 the episode, the company tech support employee gives Michael the ability to read his employees' e-mails, causing him to find out that Jim is throwing a party that Michael was not invited to. Meanwhile, Pam begins to suspect that Dwight and Angela might secretly be having a relationship.
Plot
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...
) initially mistakes the company's tech support employee, Sadiq (Omi Vaidya
Omi Vaidya
Omi Vaidya is an Indian American actor who is best known for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam or "The Silencer" in the 2009 Bollywood film, 3 Idiots. In addition, Vaidya has directed two short films and worked as an editor on others. He has also appeared in a number of television programs and...
), for a terrorist. Later, after Michael realizes he is wrong, Sadiq fulfills Michael's request to set up a system to monitor his employees' e-mails. When everyone in the office finds out, 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...
) worries that Michael will discover the party he is throwing that night, to which Michael is not invited. Inevitably, Michael notices and tries to get Jim to admit that he's having a party, while Jim acts nonchalantly as if nothing is happening. In order to keep 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...
) from exposing the party, Jim tells him that it's a surprise party for Michael.
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,...
) notices some things that lead her to suspect that 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 dating. However she discreetly abandons her suspicions when she asks Phyllis Lapin
Phyllis Lapin
Phyllis Margaret Vance is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. She is played by Phyllis Smith.-Biography:...
(Phyllis Smith) if she noticed any office romances and Phyllis guessed that Pam meant her and Jim. Jim and Pam bond when she sees Jim's room for the first time and looks through his high school year book.
After ruining an improv class, Michael decides to crash Jim's party, much to the staff's dismay (and Dwight's naïve delight). Michael awkwardly tries his hand at karaoke but Jim then joins in, easing the tension considerably. The documentary crew catches Angela and Dwight making out in Jim's backyard.
Shortly after Michael arrives, the popular video game Call of Duty 2 is seen on the TV Screen.
Production
This episode was the fourth episode of the series directed by Paul FeigPaul Feig
Paul S. Feig is an American director, actor and author. Feig is known for playing Mr. Eugene Pool, Sabrina's science teacher, on the first season of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as well as Tim a camp counselor on the hit kids movie Heavyweights...
. Feig had previously directed episode "Office Olympics
Office Olympics
"Office Olympics" is the third episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's ninth episode overall. Written by Michael Schur, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired in the United States on October 4, 2005 on NBC.In the episode, Michael...
", "Halloween", and "Performance Review
Performance Review
"Performance Review" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fourteenth episode overall. It was written by Larry Wilmore and directed by Paul Feig...
". "E-mail Surveillance" 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...
.
When filming the scene with Michael in the improv class, Ken Jeong
Ken Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong , also known as "Dr. Ken," is an American comedian, actor, and physician. Currently, he appears as Ben Chang on the NBC comedy series Community.-Early life and medical career:...
, who played Bill, said that "they (the crew) would shoot the scenes as scripted the first few takes, and then we would improvise after that." For example "the scene where I (Ken Jeong) say 'Good job' to Michael and he says 'Nice job, Bill... not' was improvised." Omi Vaidya, who played Sadiq, said that he enjoyed shooting the party scenes because they got to drink real beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
and play the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, which hadn't been released at the time. Vaidya said that "it was like being at a real party with everyone from The Office except that we had to shoot a few scenes while we were chatting and relaxing."
Reception
"E-mail Surveillance" received 3.9/9 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 3.9 percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and nine percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. "E-mail Surveillance" was watched by 8 million viewers.
"E-mail Surveillance" was generally popular with critics. James Fan of NorthernAttack called Pam "the superstar" of the episode, and that "watching her operate as she attempts to get to the bottom of the Dwight/Angela situation is just too much fun." TV Squad's Michael Sciannamea said that "E-mail Surveillance" was "a solid episode", and that even though "Michael's vulnerabilities were again exposed", in the end "you walk away from the episode feeling good that he did make it to Jim's party." M. Giant from TelevisionWithoutPity.com graded the episode with an "A-". In a poll done by Office fansite OfficeTally.com, viewers ranked "E-mail Surveillance" as the eighth most popular episode out of the twenty-two episodes of season two.
External links
- "E-mail Surveillance" at NBC.com