The second season of the American situation comedy television series, The Office, premiered in the United States on NBC on September 20, 2005, and ended on May 11, 2006. The season had 22 episodes, including its first 40-minute "super-sized" episode. The Office is an American adaptation of the British TV series, and is presented in a mockumentary format, documenting the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season stars Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and B. J. Novak, with supporting performances from Melora Hardin, David Denman, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nunez, and Phyllis Smith.
Beginning with "The Dundies", the second season further explored the threat of company downsizing. It also introduced new characters while developing those who had been less fleshed out the previous seasonâÂÂespecially that of Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). Michael Scott (Steve Carell) soon starts a relationship with his boss Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin), and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) relationship becomes one of the focal points of the season. Their compatibility becomes more obvious as Jim's feelings for Pam continue to grow, while she struggles with her relationship with warehouse worker Roy Anderson (David Denman).
Season two of The Office aired on Tuesdays in the United States at 9:30 p.m. from September 20, 2005, to December 6, 2005. The timeslot changed to Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. from January 5, 2006, to May 11, 2006. The season was a ratings success, bolstered by Carell's success in the 2005 film The 40 Year Old Virgin. The season also received widespread acclaim from critics. The second season was released in a four-disc DVD boxset in Region 1 on September 12, 2006, and in Region 2 on January 28, 2008. The DVD set contained all 22 episodes, as well as commentaries from creators, writers, actors, and directors on some of the episodes, while also containing deleted scenes from all of the episodes. It was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
The second season of The Office was produced by Reveille Productions and Deedle-Dee Productions, both in association with NBC Universal Television Studios. The show is based on the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant (who also serve as executive producers of the American version). This season was produced by Greg Daniels, who also served as its showrunner. Returning writers included Daniels, Larry Wilmore, Michael Schur, Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein, and B. J. Novak. New writers for the season included story editors Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, consulting producer Jennifer Celotta, and series star, Steve Carell, who wrote the season finale, "Casino Night".
In total, eight different individuals directed the season's 22 episodes. Four of those directorsBryan Gordon, Ken Kwapis, Ken Whittingham, and Danielshad directed episodes during the show's first season. For Dennie Gordon, Paul Feig, Victor Nelli, Jr., and Charles McDougall, season two marked their directorial debuts on the show. In contrast to the previous season, which had been shot in an actual office building, this season of The Office was mainly filmed on a studio set at Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, California.
Despite low ratings from the first season of the show, NBC renewed The Office for a second season. Originally, six episodes were ordered, but NBC later ordered an additional seven. In early November, NBC again expanded the season by ordering three more episodes, before ordering a full season of 22 episodes in January 2006.
The Office employed an ensemble cast. Most of the main characters, and some supporting ones, are based on characters from the British version of The Office. 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 featured a large cast size, many of whom were known for their improvisational work.
Halfway through the season, eight of the show's recurring guest stars were promoted to series regulars and credited just after the main titles and before the writers and producers.
The season premiere, "The Dundies" was viewed by 9.0 million viewers, a drastic increase from the first season finale "Hot Girl", which was viewed by only 4.8 million viewers. As the season progressed, the success of Carell's hit summer movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin and online sales of episodes via the iTunes store helped the show to garner viewers. The increase in viewership led NBC to move the series to the "Must See TV" Thursday night in January 2006, where ratings continued to grow. The season hit a ratings peak with the twelfth episode, "The Injury", which was viewed by 10.3 million viewers. The season finale, "Casino Night"âÂÂwhich was also the show's first forty-minute-long episodeâÂÂwas viewed by 7.6 million viewers.
By the end of the 2005âÂÂ06 season, The Office tied with 20/20 as the 67th most-watched show of the year. It averaged eight million viewers, and scored a 4.0/10 in the Nielsen ratings, meaning that on average four percent of households were tuned in at any given moment and ten percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into the program. The show received dramatic gains in viewers from the previous year, up forty percent in total viewers and up sixty percent in viewers ages 18âÂÂ49. A year-end report by NBC noted, "The Office was the fastest-growing series on television this season versus last ... The Office grew by 60 percent this season in adults 1849 (to an average 4.0 rating from a 2.5 the prior season)."
The second season of The Office was released largely to critical acclaim and commercial success. Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk wrote that the British version "can't hold a candle to the American" version during this season, due to the show coming "into its own, becoming the best half-hour show on TV." Furthermore, Rizzo wrote that the season was filled with "fantastically real characters" as well as "one of the best-handled romances in TV history". Eric Goldman of IGN noted that season two transformed The Office "from a very funny show into a truly brilliant show". Goldman praised the world-building of the season, writing that it "does a wonderful job of developing the rest of the staff of Dunder-Mifflin , something the UK version could never do to this extent". He ultimately gave it a ten out of ten score. Josh Wolk, an Entertainment Weekly television critic, said that the show has "perfecting workaday moments so hilariously and relatably awkward that it makes viewers both laugh and cringe".
The season was also a commercial success. Midway through the season, a deal was made with Apple to offer the show's episodes for download through its iTunes store. This action, in turn, led to many fans buying the series before the DVD set was released. For some time, "The Carpet", the season's fourteenth episode, was the second most-downloaded episode of a television show in the store, and by early January 2006, episodes from The Office occupied ten of the twenty slots in the iTunes list of most popular downloads. In 2006, after the release of the DVD, the second season was the seventeenth highest selling DVD on Amazon that year.
The second season of The Office received five nominations at the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, and won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Other nominations included Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Steve Carell, Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Michael Schur (for the episode "Christmas Party"), and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series for both "Christmas Party" (edited by David Rogers) and "Booze Cruise" (edited by Dean Holland). Carell also received the Television Critic's Award for Best Individual Achievement in Comedy, and the show received the Television Critic's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. For the episode "Michael's Birthday", Ken Whittingham won the award for Outstanding Director in Comedy Series at the NAACP Image Awards. At the 2007 Writers Guild of America Awards, The Office received the award for Best Comedy Series, and Carell won the award for Episodic Comedic Writing for the episode "Casino Night". The Office was also honored as a recipient of a Peabody Award in 2006, honoring the show for excellence in radio and/or television broadcasting.
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The second season of The Office was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment as a four-disc Region 1 DVD box set on September 12, 2006. The set includes all 22 episodes presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound and optional English and Spanish subtitles. The release also included an array of bonus materials, including audio commentaries for 10 episodes, as well as deleted scenes from every episode of the season. Additional special features include the "Faces of Scranton" music video, a series of fake Public Service Announcements, the "Steve on Steve" featurette, a blooper reel, the "The Accountants" webisodes, and a promotional spot for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
denotes a "super-sized" 40-minute episode (with advertisements; actual runtime around 28 minutes).<br/> Information on individual episode ratings can be found in the "Episodes" section.