Reception
"Grief Counseling" first aired on October 12, 2007 on NBC in the United States. It received a Nielsen rating of 4.1/11. This means that it was seen by 4.1% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 11% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode was viewed by 8.83 million viewers and placed as the 24th most-watched episode for the week in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic.
IGN columnist Brian Zoromski rated "Grief Counseling" 9.5/10, an indication of an "amazing" episode. Writing that the opening sequence "excellently set" the tone of the episode, he found a "ton of great moments", such as Michael's "totally awkward speeches on Ed Truck's death" and his conversation with Dwight over a robot statue. Zoromski saved the most praise for Pam and her pranks, particularly her "completely ridiculous bird funeral... It was all so brilliantly over-the-top it becomes clear that the Scranton office will continue to be enjoyable to watch, as Pam takes over the mocking of the office all on her own, to a hilarious extreme." AOL TV's Michael Sciannamea also lauded Pam and her pranks, especially highlighting her actions during the opening sequence and her song during the bird funeral. Sciannamea assumed that "she feels liberated from Roy (and Jim, to some extent) is allowing her personality and sense of humor to come out even more." He concluded that it was "another solid episode with Steve Carell at his best."
Entertainment Weekly's Abby West expressed praise for an episode that "restored balance and order to our favorite paper-pushers while still nicely forwarding the storylines of TV's plainest super-non-couple." West was also pleased "to have Michael back to his usual insanity", and wrote that Pam "was priceless tonight, from the spot-on reaction shots to the movie-plotlines-as-my-pain gag she started to the almost-believably tender eulogy she delivered for the singing, er, impressionist bird, complete with the most tricked-out pencil-case coffin you've ever seen." Television Without Pity graded the episode with a B–. Michael's monologue about the five stages of grief has also been isolated for praise; Michael Sciannamea called it "the best line of the night," and in 2011, IGN's Cindy White selected it as one of the series' best.
Read more about this topic: Grief Counseling (The Office)
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