Reception
"Performance Review" originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 15, 2005. The episode was viewed by 8 million viewers and received a 3.9 rating/9 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 3.9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. An encore presentation of the episode, on June 6, 2006, received 2.5 rating/7 percent share and was viewed by over 4.7 million viewers.
"Miss Alli" from Television Without Pity gave the episode an "A–" rating. Dan Phillips of IGN named "Dwight's First Day Late" as the tenth greatest prank on the show. He noted, "Seeing a disheveled, unshaven Dwight run desperately towards the office in hopes of saving his perfect performance record was enough to land this prank on the list despite its lack of complexity." Diane Holloway of the Austin American-Statesman wrote positively of the episode, and cited it as an example of how The Office, along with My Name is Earl, has "restored the comedy hour to NBC". Michael Sciannamea of Huffpost TV wrote that he "liked the idea of having a continuation of a storyline" from "The Client", but that the subplot of Dwight mistaking a Thursday for a Friday "really didn't go anywhere." He also noted that "Dwight's behavior was over the top again", a fact which "can really be disconcerting." Matt Zoller Seitz of Salon named the entry the ninth best episode of the series, praising the comedic confrontation between Michael and Jan, as well as being a "strong Dwight episode". Furthermore, Seitz praised the cold opening, calling it "a classic Jim prank".
Holloway highlighted Michael's review of Angela, wherein he tells her "You're adequate", as the best line in the episode. TV Fanatic reviewed several of the quotes for the episode. The site ranked Angela's monologue about how much she loves being judged, as well as Jim's revelation that Dwight thinks a Thursday is really a Friday, a four out of five. TV Fanatic awarded the conversation between Stanley and Michael—wherein Stanley tells Michael how to properly listen for subtext in a voicemail—as well as Dwight's frustration that he went out and got drunk with his laser tag team, a five out of five. Wilson later claimed that Dwight's line about laser tag caused "quite a buzz" online.
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Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“But in the reception of metaphysical formula, all depends, as regards their actual and ulterior result, on the pre-existent qualities of that soil of human nature into which they fall—the company they find already present there, on their admission into the house of thought.”
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