Health Care (The Office episode)
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| “Health Care” | |||||||||
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| The Office episode | |||||||||
1-03.jpg/250px-TheOffice(US)1-03.jpg) Dwight in his temporary workspace in "Health Care". |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3 |
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| Written by | Paul Lieberstein | ||||||||
| Directed by | Ken Whittingham | ||||||||
| Guest stars | Charlie Hartsock | ||||||||
| Production no. | R1105 | ||||||||
| Original airdate | April 5, 2005 | ||||||||
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| List of The Office (U.S. TV series) episodes | |||||||||
"Health Care" is the third episode of the first season of the American version of The Office. Written by Paul Lieberstein, who also portrays Toby Flenderson, and directed by Ken Whittingham, it first aired on April 5, 2005 on NBC.[1] The episode follows Regional Manager Michael Scott as he is given the task of choosing a new and inexpensive health care plan. He immediately hands it off to an enthusiastic volunteer in salesman Dwight Schrute. Dwight ruthlessly cuts nearly all benefits in the new plan, angering the rest of the office staff.
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[edit] Synopsis
Corporate Manager Jan Levinson-Gould gives Michael the task of picking a new and inexpensive health care plan. Unwilling to upset his employees, Michael gives the job to Dwight, who cuts practically all benefits. When cornered by the employees, Michael tells Dwight to alter his plan. He also promises a surprise at the end of the day. Dwight hands out anonymous illness forms as Michael tries and fails to find a suitable surprise for his employees. When Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly write false and imaginary diseases on their forms, Dwight demands to interview every employee to find out who is responsible.
When Jim locks Dwight in the meeting room, Dwight calls Jan for permission to fire him. Jan finds out that Michael passed along his health care plan duties. When Michael's attempt at a surprise of ice cream sandwiches falls flat, he then promises that the surprise is still coming. Dwight reads the diseases aloud to find out which are real, with embarrassing results. He finally picks a plan that eliminates benefits to the point where Oscar Martinez likens it to a pay decrease. The employees wait for Michael's surprise, which he awkwardly never delivers.[2]
[edit] Production
"Health Care" marked the first episode written by writer/actor Lieberstein,[3] who would go on to write several other episodes. It also marked the first episode directed by Whittingham, who would go on to direct five other episodes.
Continuing from the previous episode "Diversity Day" that differed from the series premiere "Pilot", "Health Care" used original writing for the majority of the episode. Two elements, though, are borrowed from the original British series. Dwight and Michael's argument over whether the area that Schrute is given to choose a new plan is an office or simply a workspace is very similar to the argument between Regional Manager David Brent and Assistant to the Regional Manager Gareth Keenan in the original series' Episode Two, Series One. Later, the scene in which Jim locks Dwight in his workspace almost directly mirrors a scene from the original series' Christmas special, in which salesman Tim Canterbury does the same to Gareth.
The episode was rebroadcast on March 29, 2007 as part of an "HR Nightmares" marathon. Included in the rebroadcast was a brief interview with Human Resources Representative Toby, who explains that after the events of the episode, he changed the health care plan to an HMO, but Michael thought he picked a "homo".
[edit] Reception
IGN praised the episode, and even put Jim and Pam's prank of creating fake diseases as ninth in its "Top Ten Moments from The Office".[4] Ricky Gervais, the creator of the original series, stated that, in comparison to the original series, "It is as good. I love the fact that, apart from the first one, the scripts are all original. You've gone back to the blueprint of what the characters are and you've started from there, as opposed to copying anything."[5] Because of poor reception among both viewers and critics, the season was cancelled in Australia before "Health Care" was even able to be released.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ The Office Episodes Pazsaz Entertainment, retrieved February 27, 2008
- ^ The Office: Health Care WHO TV - Des Moines, retrieved February 27, 2008
- ^ About The U.S. Version of The Office BBC, retrieved March 2, 2008
- ^ Goldman, Eric & Zoromski, Brian (2006-09-20), The Top 10 Moments from The Office, IGN, <http://tv.ign.com/articles/733/733879p1.html>. Retrieved on 1 March 2008
- ^ Ricky Gervais Defends American OfficeCelebrity Spider, retrieved March 23, 2008
- ^ Smith, Bec (2005-06-29), 'Office' closes after 2 airings on Aussie Ten, <http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000969507>. Retrieved on 2 March 2008
[edit] External links
- "Health Care" at NBC.com
- The Office Revisits a "Health" Scare Jenna Fischer's blog at TVGuide.com
- "Health Care" at IMDB.com
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