| "The Carpet" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 14 |
| Directed by | Victor Nelli, Jr. |
| Written by | Paul Lieberstein |
| Cinematography by | Randall Einhorn |
| Editing by | David Rogers |
| Production code | 2012[1] |
| Original air date | January 26, 2006 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"The Carpet" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's twentieth episode overall. It was written by Paul Lieberstein and directed by Victor Nelli, Jr. The episode first aired on January 26, 2006 on NBC. The episode guest stars Ken Howard as Ed Truck, and David Koechner as Todd Packer.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, a disgusting "thing" – implied to be human feces – is left in Michael Scott's (Steve Carell) office, and Michael tries to discover who did it. While his carpet is being replaced, he uses Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) desk, forcing Jim to move away from Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) into the annex.
"The Carpet" is the first and only episode to feature Howard as Truck. However, the death of the character would serve as the main plot for the third season episode "Grief Counseling". The episode received largely positive reviews from television critics. Upon its original broadcast, "The Carpet" earned a Nielsen rating of 4.6 in the 18–49 demographic, being viewed by 8.6 million viewers. At the time of its release, it was the second most-downloaded episode of a television show on the iTunes store.