Christmas Party (The Office episode)
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| The Office episode |
| "Christmas Party" | |
 Meredith finishes the "Christmas Party" |
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| Episode No. | 16 |
| Prod. Code | 210 |
| Airdate | December 6, 2005 |
| Writer(s) | Michael Schur |
| Director | Charles McDougall |
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The Office Season 2 |
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| List of all The Office episodes... | |
"Christmas Party", alternately titled "Santa Claus is Coming to Scranton", is the tenth episode of the second season of The Office (U.S. version). It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Charles McDougall. It first aired on December 6, 2005.
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[edit] Synopsis
The office staffers hold a "Secret Santa" gift exchange at their Christmas party. Jim got Pam's name for the first time this year, and puts a great deal of effort into getting her the perfect gift. Michael buys a video iPod as his gift, exceeding the $20 limit. He is disappointed by the handmade item he receives from Phyllis and introduces a "Yankee Swap", where someone can choose to steal someone else's gift or open a new one. Jim is left feeling uncertain about the fate of his special present for Pam while the staff guns for Michael's gift. Michael disobeys company policy by buying an obscene amount of alcohol for the Christmas party.
[edit] Deleted Scenes
- Oscar and Creed move a desk, but Creed moves it too far and pins Oscar to the wall.
- Michael talks to the camera about the roles each of the employees plays at Christmastime. Dwight is the monster who puts the star on the tree.
- The party planning committee decorate the tree while Dwight asks people who they're bringing to the party. Phyllis confides to the camera that her new boyfriend is Bob Vance.
- Dwight compares humans to bears opening presents.
- More of the Yankee Swap, including Kelly getting mad at Oscar for not liking her gift, Oscar telling the camera that she got him the same gift last year, Oscar opening Pam's present, and Phyllis storming out of the room.
- Kelly and Toby trade presents. Toby had the "Kelly" nametag, and Kelly had the book of short stories.
- Kevin sings a whole verse of "Christmas in Hollis".
- Dwight explains to the camera that he must remain sober at the party because he is an officer of the law. In the background, Meredith's dancing becomes increasingly animated.
- Ryan tells Toby that he got the book for him. Ryan ended up with Creed's jacket, which he intends to give to a homeless person. Creed tells Oscar that he once had a radio show back in the 1970's.
- Angela says to Kelly, "You behaved very badly tonight."
- Michael explains to the camera that he loves it when people envy the gift you gave someone else.
These scenes last 5 minutes. It would bring the running time from 21 minutes to 26 minutes.
[edit] Trivia
- For a list of songs featured in this episode, see List of songs featured on The Office (US TV series).
- The party part of this episode was filmed over three days. The bowl of egg nog sat out for twelve hours a day, although they would cover it and put it in the refrigerator overnight. However, the cookies and pigs in a blanket became hard and stale, which is why there is very limited eating seen at the party.[1]
- There are a number of firsts in this episode: It is the first appearance of Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration (Phyllis' boyfriend) as well as the first mention of Meredith's drinking problem, which has since become a running gag.
- This episode was nominated for "Best Writing in a Comedy Series" at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to the pilot for My Name Is Earl. It was also one of six episodes submitted for the Best Comedy, which it went on to win.
- According to John Krasinski (Jim), the pencil in the teapot was a mini-golf pencil that Pam playfully threw at Jim.[2]
- During the filming of the Yankee Swap, Phyllis Smith (Phyllis) kept crying between takes in order to help her stay in character.[3]
- When the Christmas ornaments did not break, Angela Kinsey (Angela) improvised stomping on them.[3]
- The day after this episode aired, episodes of The Office became available for download from the iTunes Store. The fact that the episode featured a video iPod was purely coincidental.[3]
[edit] Christmas Gifts
The following is a list of the Christmas gifts that were given amongst the employees for secret Santa. Though not all of the gifts are explicity featured in the episode, Michael Schur clearly wrote them all into the script, (the list was confirmed on the Season 2 DVD commentary for the episode). Many of them can still be seen in the background of certain scenes.[3]
| Secret Santa | Gift | Intended Recipient | Final Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael | video iPod | Ryan | Pam (Dwight)* |
| Dwight | paintballs and free paintball lessons | Phyllis [3] | Michael |
| Jim | teapot and inside jokes | Pam | Dwight (Pam)* |
| Pam | drawing of the office | Meredith [3] | (unknown) |
| Ryan | book of short stories by George Saunders | Toby [3] | Kelly (Toby)* |
| Kevin | footbath | Kevin | Kevin |
| Angela | picture frame | Stanley [3] | (unknown) |
| Oscar | shamrock keychain | Creed | Jim |
| Stanley | customized desk nameplate | Kelly | Toby (Kelly)* |
| Phyllis | knitted oven mitt | Michael | Meredith |
| Meredith | "Cancún" shot glasses | Dwight [3] | Phyllis |
| Kelly | shower radio | Oscar | Creed |
| Creed | old, worn jacket | Jim | Ryan |
| Toby | themed poster of babies | Angela | Angela |
Afterwards, Pam traded the video iPod to Dwight for the teapot, and Kelly traded the book of short stories to Toby for the nameplate.
The themed poster hangs on the wall in Angela's workspace below the large whiteboard calendar. It catalyzed the events of the episode "Conflict Resolution". It also appeared briefly in the episode "Ben Franklin".
The shamrock keychain can be seen briefly in the "Traveling Salesman" episode when Jim tosses his keys to Dwight in the car.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Christmas Party at NorthernAttack.com
- Memorable Quotes From "Christmas Party" at QuotesFromTheOffice.com
