Reception
"Ben Franklin" received 5.0/13 in the ages 18–49 demographic of the Nielsen ratings. This means that five percent of all households with an 18 to 49 year old living in it watched the episode, and 13 percent had their television tuned to the channel at any point. The episode was watched by an estimated audience of 10.1 million viewers. "Ben Franklin" is one of only a handful of other episodes of The Office to reach over 10 million viewers, the others being the show's pilot episode, "The Injury," "Traveling Salesmen," "The Return," and "Stress Relief," of which the latter reached over 20 million viewers.
"Ben Franklin" received mixed, but mostly good, reviews from critics. IGN's Brian Zoromski wrote that "The Office was in truly excellent form this week." Zoromski went on to credit the "great progression" in the Jim-Pam-Karen love triangle and Michael being "his completely inept self" as parts of the episode that made it "one of the best Office episodes this season". Michael Sciannamea of TV Squad was less enthusiastic about the episode, writing that although it was "solid", "not much happened here other than the Jim-Karen-Pam triangle." Abby West, of Entertainment Weekly, praised the love triangle, saying "The Pam/Karen confrontation was as uncomfortable as I could possibly hope for. It's so gratifying to see Pam's armor cracking." West also praised the work of the supporting cast.
Read more about this topic: Ben Franklin (The Office)
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