Written by Jon Vitti and directed by Ken Whittingham, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on November 11, 2010.
The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) helps Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) with CeCe, much to her husband Jim's (John Krasinski) chagrin.
After taking turns raising and lowering the volume, Michael retreats to Gabe's bedroom, hoping that his employees will follow him there.
Oscar Martinez asks Jim to change the channel back to Glee, but discovers that Erin had neglected to record the episode.
Once alone, Andy drinks the entire bottle of the supplement, which makes him intoxicated, prompting him to admit his jealousy to Phyllis Vance.
Becoming irritated that no one joined him in walking out on Gabe, Michael goes outside and pulls the cable connection, causing it to turn off, just as the show inside was nearing its end.
As he leaves the party, Michael brings Gabe into the joke by threatening to kill him and his family if he breaks Erin's heart.
Jim notes that the Scranton Strangler car chase, witnessed in the episode's cold opening, is on the same level as "Balloon Boy" and Michael Jackson's funeral.
Abrams is played by Kevin McHale, who appeared in the season four episode of The Office, "Launch Party", as the pizza delivery boy.
[6] In its original American broadcast, it was viewed by an estimated 7.15 million viewers and received a 3.6 rating/10 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49.
He compared it to the earlier seventh season episode "Sex Ed", writing that both featured "a Michael story wherein a large collection of unfortunate behaviors is capped off with a moment of sincerity"; however, McNutt criticized this narrative structure, calling it "a bit cheap".
[8] Despite this, he felt that Dwight's subplot "was successful in that it stayed true to the office dynamic", and that the actual viewing of the Glee episode was a "highlight" because it showcased the characters "fall[ing] into some really fun (and familiar) tropes.