The third season of the American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series o ...
'' premiered in the United States on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
on September 21, 2006, and concluded on May 17, 2007. The season had a total of 25 half-hours of material, divided into 16 half-hour episodes, five 40-minute "super-sized" episodes, and two one-hour episodes. ''The Office'' is an American adaptation of the
British TV series of the same name as a
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary.
These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...
portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season stars
Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in ''The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where Ca ...
,
Rainn Wilson
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Em ...
,
John Krasinski,
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
, and
B. J. Novak, with supporting performances from
Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress, known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's ''The Office'' and Trudy Monk on USA Network's ''Monk'', and Tammy Cashman on Amazon Prime Video's '' Transparent'', for which she received ...
,
David Denman
David Denman (born July 25, 1973) is an American actor. He made his film debut in '' The Replacements''. His other feature credits include ''Big Fish'', '' Fair Game'', ''The Nines'', '' Shutter'', ''Smart People'', '' Fanboys'', '' Let Go'', '' ...
,
Ed Helms
Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom '' The Offi ...
,
Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker (born February 19, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for playing disgruntled paper salesman Stanley Hudson in ''The Office'' for nine seasons (2005–2013).
Early life
Baker was born on February 19, 1958 in Chicago, Il ...
,
Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner (born November 29, 1972) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Kevin Malone, a character in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013).
Early life and career
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Baumgartner attended Holy In ...
,
Kate Flannery
Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sh ...
,
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...
,
Angela Kinsey
Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The ...
,
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as writer, as executive producer, and as supporting cast member Tob ...
,
Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office''.
He was a member of The Groundlings and l ...
, and
Phyllis Smith
Phyllis Smith (born July 10, 1951) is an American actress and casting associate. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series '' The Office'' and her critically acclaimed voice role as Sadness in the film '' Inside Out'' ...
.
The season marked the move of main character
Jim Halpert (
John Krasinski) from
Scranton
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
to
Stamford, and also introduced
Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
as
Karen Filippelli
''The Office'' is an American television series based on the British television comedy of the same name. The format of the series is a parody of the fly on the wall documentary technique that intersperses traditional situation comedy segments w ...
, and
Ed Helms
Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom '' The Offi ...
as
Andy Bernard
Andrew Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the NBC comedy television series ''The Office (U.S. TV series), The Office'', portrayed by Ed Helms. He is introduced in Season 3 as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford br ...
—both members of Dunder Mifflin Stamford—as recurring characters. Helms would later be promoted to series regular. The main plot for the early episodes of the season deals with a recurring problem in seasons one and two—the problem of company downsizing—while in the last half of the season, intra-office relationships (specifically those among Pam, Jim, and Karen; Dwight and Angela; and Michael and
Jan Levinson
Janet Levinson (formerly Levinson-Gould) is a recurring fictional character from the US television series ''The Office'', portrayed by Melora Hardin. She is the no-nonsense Vice President of Northeast Sales at the paper distribution company Dunde ...
) also become major plot points.
The third season of ''The Office'' aired on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. (
ET). The season saw its ratings increase from the previous. In addition, it continued the critical praise that had started during the show's second season. The season was released on DVD in a box set containing four discs. While the DVD features all 25 episodes, the episodes "
Traveling Salesmen
"Traveling Salesmen" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of the American version of ''The Office'', and the show's 41st overall. The episode was written by Michael Schur, Lee Eisenberg, and Gene Stupnitsky, and was directed by series ...
" and "
The Return" were condensed into one episode. The set contained commentaries from creators, writers, actors, and directors on some of the episodes, while also containing
deleted scene
A deleted scene is footage that has been removed from the final version of a film or television show. There are various reasons why these scenes are deleted, which include time constraints, relevance, quality or a dropped story thread. A similar o ...
s from all of the episodes. It was released by
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...
.
Production
The third season of the show was produced by
Reveille Productions
Endemol Shine North America is the American division of Endemol Shine Group that was founded on March 15, 2002 as a merger of Shine Americas, Shine USA, and Reveille Productions.
Endemol Shine North America produces and distributes scripted and ...
and Deedle-Dee Productions, both in association with
NBC Universal Television Studio
Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...
s. The show is based on the British series created by
Ricky Gervais and
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
, who are
executive producers on the show and wrote the third-season episode "
The Convict".
''The Office'' is produced by
Greg Daniels
Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office (Am ...
,
who is also executive producer and
show runner
A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...
. Returning writers from last season include Daniels,
Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...
,
Gene Stupnitsky
Gene Stupnitsky (born August 26, 1977) is a Ukrainian-born American film and television writer and producer. He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He usually works with Lee Eisenberg, with whom he founded Quantity Entertainment.
Life and caree ...
,
Lee Eisenberg,
Jennifer Celotta
Jennifer Ann Celotta (born November 11, 1971) is an American television producer, writer, and director. Among her credits are ''The Office,'' Cobra Kai, Abbott Elementary, ''Malcolm in the Middle'', '' The Newsroom'', ''Greg the Bunny'', '' Andy ...
,
Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...
,
Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as writer, as executive producer, and as supporting cast member Tob ...
, and
B. J. Novak. Joining the writing staff for the second season are
Brent Forrester,
Justin Spitzer
Justin Spitzer is an American television and film writer, producer, and series creator whose credits include ''Scrubs'' and ''Courting Alex''. He worked as a writing assistant on ''Queer as Folk'' (U.S. version) and ''Grounded for Life'' prior ...
, and Caroline Williams.
Season three featured episodes directed by twelve different directors.
Ken Kwapis
Kenneth William Kwapis (born August 17, 1957) is an American film and television director, screenwriter, and author. He specialized in the single-camera sitcom in the 1990s and 2000s and has directed feature films such as '' Sesame Street Presen ...
,
Ken Whittingham
Ken Whittingham is an American television director.
Some of his directing credits include ''American Housewife'', ''Gilmore Girls'', '' Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', '' Ugly Betty'', '' Still Standing'', '' Community'', '' Yes, Dear'', ''30 Rock ...
, Daniels,
Randall Einhorn
Randall Einhorn (born December 7, 1963) is an American television cinematographer, director, and producer, best known for his work on ''The Office'', '' Wilfred'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Survivor''.
Early life and career
Bo ...
,
Tucker Gates
Tucker Gates is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the ABC series '' Alias'' and '' Lost''. He has also directed episodes of '' Bates Motel'', '' Weeds'', '' Carnivàle'', '' Point Pleasant'', '' Hu ...
,
Jeffrey Blitz
Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, screenwriter and producer best known for the documentary '' Spellbound'' (2003), ''The Office'' (2007 - 2010), the fiction film '' Rocket Science'' (2007) and ''Comedy Central’s'' ''Review'' (2014 ...
, and
Harold Ramis
Harold Allen Ramis (; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russell ...
all directed multiple episodes. The remained only directed one episode for the season. Gordon, Kwapis, Whittingham, and Daniels had all previously directed episodes during
seasons one and
two
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
.
The season also featured guest directing courtesy of
Joss Whedon and
J. J. Abrams
Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker and composer. He is best known for his works in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote and produced such films as '' Regarding Henry'' (1991), '' F ...
.
While ''The Office'' was mainly filmed on a studio set at Valley Center Studios in
Van Nuys,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
,
["The Dundies" ommentary track ''The Office'' Season Two (US/NBC Version) VD 2006, Los Angeles, CA: ]Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
. the city of
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
, where the show is set, was also used for shots of the opening theme.
The series was renewed before the airing of the second-season episode "
The Carpet". Series star
Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
noted that "It is rare in this business to hear news of a pickup so early", but that
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
was very pleased with how well the show was doing.
[ It had previously, and erroneously, been advertised that the show would finish its run at the end of March 2006. Fischer later explained that while the season would end—actually in May—the show would continue.]
Season overview
Notable ongoing subplots from the third season and beyond include:
* Jim Halpert's transfer to the Dunder Mifflin Stamford branch
* Michael Scott's up-and-down relationship with Jan Levinson
* The introduction of Stamford-based employees Andy Bernard and Karen Filippelli
* Pam Beesly calling off her wedding to Roy Anderson
* The closing of the Stamford branch and subsequent merger with Scranton
* Jim's new romance with Karen Filippelli
* Ryan Howard's promotion to salesman
* Dwight Schrute competing with Andy to be Michael's right-hand man
* David Wallace's search for a new Vice President of Sales
Cast
''The Office'' employs an ensemble cast. All of the main characters, and some minor ones, are based on characters from the British version of ''The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series o ...
''. While these characters normally have the same attitudes and perceptions as their British counterparts, the roles have been redesigned to better fit the American show. The show is known for its large cast size, many of whom are known particularly for their improvisational work.
Main
* Steve Carell
Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in ''The Office'' (2005–2011; 2013), NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, where Ca ...
as Michael Scott, Regional Manager of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton Branch. Loosely based on David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary ''The Office'', portrayed by the show's co-creator, co-writer and co-director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of ...
, Gervais' character in the British version, Scott is a dim-witted and lonely man, who attempts to win friends as the office comedian, usually making himself look bad in the process.
* Rainn Wilson
Rainn Percival Dietrich Wilson (born January 20, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, podcaster, producer, and writer. He is best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'', for which he earned three consecutive Em ...
as Dwight Schrute, who, based upon Gareth Keenan
Gareth Keenan (born 17 April 1971) is a fictional paper salesman on BBC's comedy ''The Office'', portrayed by Mackenzie Crook. Gareth is a self-important team leader proud of his alleged Lieutenant status in the Territorial Army. He spends his d ...
, is the Assistant to the Regional Manager, although the character frequently fails to include "to the" in his title.
* John Krasinski as Jim Halpert, a sales representative and prankster, who is based upon Tim Canterbury
Timothy Canterbury is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom ''The Office'', portrayed by Martin Freeman. He is a sales representative at the Slough branch of Wernham Hogg Paper Merchants. He has a self-deprecating and ironic sense of humour.
...
, and is in love with Pam Beesly, the receptionist.
* Jenna Fischer
Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer (born March 7, 1974) is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Pam Beesly on the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...
as Pam Beesly, who is based on Dawn Tinsley. She is shy, but is often a cohort with Jim in his pranks on Dwight.
* B. J. Novak as Ryan Howard, who for the first two seasons is a temporary worker
Temporary work or temporary employment (also called gigs) refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes ...
, but is promoted to sales representative in this season.[
]
Starring
* Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin (born June 29, 1967) is an American actress, known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's ''The Office'' and Trudy Monk on USA Network's ''Monk'', and Tammy Cashman on Amazon Prime Video's '' Transparent'', for which she received ...
as Jan Levinson
Janet Levinson (formerly Levinson-Gould) is a recurring fictional character from the US television series ''The Office'', portrayed by Melora Hardin. She is the no-nonsense Vice President of Northeast Sales at the paper distribution company Dunde ...
, Michael's boss and love interest.
* David Denman
David Denman (born July 25, 1973) is an American actor. He made his film debut in '' The Replacements''. His other feature credits include ''Big Fish'', '' Fair Game'', ''The Nines'', '' Shutter'', ''Smart People'', '' Fanboys'', '' Let Go'', '' ...
as Roy Anderson, Pam's ex-fiancé and a warehouse worker.
* Ed Helms
Edward Parker Helms (born January 24, 1974) is an American actor and comedian. From 2002 to 2006, he was a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. He played paper salesman Andy Bernard in the NBC sitcom '' The Offi ...
as Andy Bernard
Andrew Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the NBC comedy television series ''The Office (U.S. TV series), The Office'', portrayed by Ed Helms. He is introduced in Season 3 as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford br ...
, a preppy salesman with anger issues, who is transferred from the Stamford branch.
* Leslie David Baker
Leslie David Baker (born February 19, 1958) is an American actor. He is known for playing disgruntled paper salesman Stanley Hudson in ''The Office'' for nine seasons (2005–2013).
Early life
Baker was born on February 19, 1958 in Chicago, Il ...
as Stanley Hudson, a grumpy salesman.
* Brian Baumgartner
Brian Baumgartner (born November 29, 1972) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Kevin Malone, a character in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013).
Early life and career
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Baumgartner attended Holy In ...
as Kevin Malone
Kevin Malone is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Office''. He is portrayed by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the UK TV series is Keith Bishop, who shares Kevin's lack of communication skills, musical int ...
, a dim-witted accountant, who is based on Keith Bishop.
* Kate Flannery
Kate Destiny Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress. Following her early theatre work, Flannery had her screen breakthrough playing Meredith Palmer on the NBC series ''The Office'', which won her two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Sh ...
as Meredith Palmer, a promiscuous
Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by ma ...
supplier relations representative.
* Mindy Kaling
Vera Mindy Chokalingam (born June 24, 1979),Additional archive on June 25, 2015. known professionally as Mindy Kaling (), is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer. She first gained recognition starring as Kelly Kapoor in the N ...
as Kelly Kapoor
Kelly Rajanigandha Kapoor is a fictional character from the American television series ''The Office'', portrayed by Mindy Kaling. She is the customer service representative at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin from seasons 1 to 8. Followin ...
, the shallow and talkative customer service representative.
* Angela Kinsey
Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The ...
as Angela Martin, a judgemental accountant, who serves as Dwight's love interest.
* Paul Lieberstein
Paul Bevan Lieberstein (born February 22, 1967) is an American actor, screenwriter, television director and television producer. A Primetime Emmy Award winner, he is best known as writer, as executive producer, and as supporting cast member Tob ...
as Toby Flenderson, the sad-eyed human resources representative.
* Oscar Nunez
Oscar Nunez (born November 18, 1958), sometimes credited as Oscar Nuñez, is a Cuban-American actor. He is best known for his role as the Dunder Mifflin accountant Oscar Martinez on NBC's ''The Office''.
He was a member of The Groundlings and l ...
as Oscar Martinez, an intelligent accountant, who is also gay.
* Phyllis Smith
Phyllis Smith (born July 10, 1951) is an American actress and casting associate. She is best known for playing Phyllis Vance in the television series '' The Office'' and her critically acclaimed voice role as Sadness in the film '' Inside Out'' ...
as Phyllis Vance, a motherly saleswoman.
Recurring
* Rashida Jones
Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress.
Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...
as Karen Filippelli, a saleswoman transferred from the Stamford branch, who serves as Jim's new love interest.
* Creed Bratton
Creed Bratton (born William Charles Schneider, February 8, 1943) is an American actor, singer and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC sitcom '' ...
as Creed Bratton, the office's strange quality assurance officer.
* Craig Robinson as Darryl Philbin, the warehouse supervisor.
* Andy Buckley
Andrew P. Buckley Jr. (born February 13, 1965) is an American actor and financial analyst best known for his role as David Wallace on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' from 2006 to 2013.
Early life
Buckley was born in Salem, Massachusetts, ...
as David Wallace, Dunder Mifflin's CFO.
Reception
Ratings
The third-season premiere "Gay Witch Hunt
"Gay Witch Hunt" is the third-season premiere of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the show's twenty-ninth episode overall. Written by executive producer and show runner Greg Daniels and directed by Ken Kwapis, the episode ...
" received a 5.7/9 in the Nielsen ratings, meaning that on average 5.7 percent of households were tuned in at any given moment and 9 percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into the program.[ The premiere was watched by 9.1 million viewers, and marked a slight increase from the second season premiere " The Dundies".] At the onset of the season, the show began to eclipse the viewership of its lead-in program, ''My Name Is Earl
''My Name Is Earl'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on the NBC television network from September 20, 2005, to May 14, 2009, in the United States. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Television and starred Ja ...
''. The season hit a low with the nineteenth episode "The Negotiation
"The Negotiation" (originally titled "Labor Negotiation") is the nineteenth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the show's forty-seventh episode overall. The series depicts the everyday lives ...
", which was viewed by 6.74 million viewers. The season finale, " The Job" was viewed by 7.88 million viewers, also an increase from the second-season finale " Casino Night". By the end of the 2006–07 season, it placed 68th, a one-place slip from the previous season. Despite this, the show's third season was slightly more watched than the previous: it averaged 8.3 million viewers, and scored a 4.1/11 in the Nielsen ratings, meaning that on average 4.1 percent of households 18–49 years old were tuned in at any given moment and 11 percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into the program. The series also ranked as the 28th-most watched series in the 18–49 demographic.
Reviews
The third season of ''The Office'' was met with critical acclaim. Review aggregator website Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave the third season of the show an 85 out of 100 rating, which translates to the status of "universal acclaim". Travis Fickett of IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
felt that "In its third season ''The Office'' continued to be one of the smartest, funniest and most likable shows on television." ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' writer Meeta Agrawal praised the show for separating the action between Jim in Stamford and the rest of the characters in Scranton, a feat that he notes "could have been disastrous" to other shows.[ Furthermore, he argued that the effort made the audience "appreciate he characterseven more".][ Ultimately, he gave the season an "A−".][Agrawal, Meeta (August 31, 2007).]
The Office: Season 3
" ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
''. Retrieved on January 27, 2008. Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
called the season "an outstanding year for the Scranton crew" and praised the "unbelievably funny 21 episodes in between" the opener and the finale as reasons as to why it was "a great stand-alone season from easily one of the funniest shows on TV."
The third season was the first season to feature hour-long episodes, with "A Benihana Christmas
"A Benihana Christmas" is the tenth and eleventh episodes of the third season of the American comedy television series ''The Office'', and the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth episodes overall. It was written by Jennifer Celotta and directed by H ...
" and " The Job".[ ''The Office: Season Three'' Disc 4] While the following season would be criticized for its overuse of hour-long episodes, both of season three's longer episodes received favorable reception. While season three did indeed feature mainstream songs in its soundtrack, many of the songs were decades old. Daniels later explained that "our songs are not about the show's identity as a whole. Each song reflects personal elements of a character, or the emotions of the character at the time."
Awards
The third season of ''The Office'' received seven nominations for Primetime Emmys
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 2007, honoring the best in U.S. prime time television programming at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ...
, and won the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode "Gay Witch Hunt", as well as the award for Outstanding Single-camera Picture Editing For A Comedy Series for the episode "The Job". ''The Office'' was also nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, with the award going to '' 30 Rock''. Other nominations included Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Steve Carell for his portrayal of Michael Scott, Outstanding Supporting Actor for Rainn Wilson for his portrayal of Dwight Schrute, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Jenna Fischer for her portrayal of Pam Beesly, Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for Ken Kwapis for directing the episode "Gay Witch Hunt", and another nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...
for the episode "The Negotiation".[
]
Episodes
In the following table, "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of Americans who viewed the episode on the night of broadcast. Episodes are listed by the order in which they aired, and may not necessarily correspond to their production codes.
denotes a "super-sized" 40-minute episode (with advertisements; actual runtime around 28 minutes).
denotes an hour-long episode (with advertisements; actual runtime around 42 minutes).
DVD release
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Office (American season 3), The
2006 American television seasons
2007 American television seasons