WUPHF.com

"**WUPHF.com**"
"WUPHF.com"
The Office episode
Episode no.	Season 7; Episode 9
Directed by	Danny Leiner
Written by	Aaron Shure
Cinematography by	Matt Sohn
Editing by	Rick Weis
Production code	709
Original air date	November 18, 2010
Guest appearances
	Kathy Bates as Jo Bennett (voice); Jack Coleman as Robert Lipton;
	Kathy Bates as Jo Bennett (voice); Jack Coleman as Robert Lipton;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Viewing Party"	Next →; "China"
	The Office (American season 7)
	List of episodes

"WUPHF.com" is the ninth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 135th episode overall. Written by Aaron Shure and directed by Danny Leiner, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on November 18, 2010. It resolves two long-running plot threads: Ryan's WUPHF.com project and Dwight and Angela's contract to have a baby. This episode received positive reviews and was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Comedy.

Synopsis[]

Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) has gotten Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson), Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker), Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), and Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) to put in funding for WUPHF.com (introduced in "The Whistleblower" as a cross-portal messaging system). While Ryan touts a planned "investors ski weekend", Michael learns that there is already an offer to buy out WUPHF.com and Ryan only has nine days of funding left before his venture collapses. Ryan's subsequent sales pitch falls apart when he reveals that the potential buyer is Washington University Public Health Fund, since the investors deduce that they only want to purchase the company for the domain name, because it is the acronym for the fund. Though the others demand that WUPHF.com be sold, Michael stands by Ryan, and since Michael owns over 50% of WUPHF.com, his decision stands. Pam tells Michael that Ryan has never viewed Michael as either his mentor or a best friend, and is now using Michael's unrequited affection for him to make him support WUPHF.com beyond reason, but everyone will lose their money if they do not sell, not just Michael. Michael takes this in, and is silently hurt when Ryan talks his way out of having dinner with him and blithely supports Michael's theoretical plan to get a second mortgage for more WUPHF.com funds. Despite this, he still does not agree to a sale, and instead lists his erstwhile protege's flaws right in front of a surprised and visibly wounded Ryan, then points out all his talents and that he believes in him. Taken aback by Michael's faith in him, Ryan at last makes a sincere effort to make WUPHF.com a success without additional investor funds. Ultimately forced to accept defeat, he sends Michael a message that he is going to sell WUPHF.com, to Michael's relief.

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) creates a hay festival in the parking lot for the Thanksgiving holiday. His effort going toward the festival distract him from fulfilling a request for sex from Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) per their contract. A frustrated Angela meets a charming, friendly man (Jack Coleman) (A.K.A. State Senator) who is attending the festival with his young son (Griffin Gluck). Angela is pleased to meet someone who laughs at her jokes rather than at her, and approves when he asks if he can call her sometime. She is still more pleased when the man reveals he is a widower. Dwight appoints himself the "Hay Festival King" in the meantime, revealing that the entire purpose of the festival was to exorcise the memories from his childhood days when his family had competing hay festivals and he never was elected king for them. He arrives at his and Angela's warehouse rendezvous point to see their procreation contract has been stamped VOID, and looks stricken. Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner), meanwhile, gets lost in the hay maze and panics.

Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) is in the midst of a record sales streak; he claims that his sales skills have been sharpened at home by convincing baby Cece to eat baby food. However, Kevin and Angela inform Jim that Sabre instituted a commissions cap for the year and Jim maxed out his returns. Jim talks to Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods) about it, but Gabe insists that he cannot change the policy. Unmotivated to work, Jim chats with his coworkers and makes fart noises, irritating both Gabe and Pam. He finally fills his time by editing the intro to Jo Bennett's (Kathy Bates) audio autobiography so that it addresses Gabe. He then calls Gabe on his desk phone and sets up the receiver next to a playback of the edited autobiography, prompting Gabe to listen to the entire audiobook.

Production[]

Jack Coleman (seen here in 2008) guest starred in this episode.

"WUPHF.com" was written by co-executive producer Aaron Shure, his fifth writing credit on the series, and directed by Danny Leiner, his first Office directing credit. In a deleted scene, Michael seeks advice from Toby while the HR representative is having a webchat with his daughter; when Michael overhears Sasha talking about Toby's ex-wife's new boyfriend, Michael forgets he wanted help dealing with Ryan, and laughs at Toby's misery at the news.^{[citation needed]}

Reception[]

In its original American broadcast on November 18, 2010, "WUPHF.com" was viewed by an estimated 7.28 million viewers and received a 3.8 rating/10% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, improving from the prior week's episode.^[1]

For his work on this episode, Aaron Shure was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy.^[2]

References[]

^ Seidman, Robert (November 19, 2010). "Thursday Final Ratings: $#*! My Dad Says, 30 Rock, Outsourced Adjusted Down; The Office Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
^ Seidman, Robert (December 8, 2010). "2011 Writers Guild Awards Nominees Include 'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Breaking Bad,' 'Dexter,' 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Mad Men'". TVbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2010.

External links[]

"WUPHF.com" at NBC.com
"WUPHF.com" at IMDb

[1] Seidman, Robert (November 19, 2010). "Thursday Final Ratings: $#*! My Dad Says, 30 Rock, Outsourced Adjusted Down; The Office Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.

[2] Seidman, Robert (December 8, 2010). "2011 Writers Guild Awards Nominees Include 'Boardwalk Empire,' 'Breaking Bad,' 'Dexter,' 'Friday Night Lights' and 'Mad Men'". TVbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2010.

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Season 7	"Nepotism" "Counseling" "Andy's Play" "Sex Ed" "The Sting" "Costume Contest" "Christening" "Viewing Party" "WUPHF.com" "China" "Classy Christmas" "Ultimatum" "The Seminar" "The Search" "PDA" "Threat Level Midnight" "Todd Packer" "Garage Sale" "Training Day" "Michael's Last Dundies" "Goodbye, Michael" "The Inner Circle" "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager" "Search Committee"
Season 8	"The List" "The Incentive" "Lotto" "Garden Party" "Spooked" "Doomsday" "Pam's Replacement" "Gettysburg" "Mrs. California" "Christmas Wishes" "Trivia" "Pool Party" "Jury Duty" "Special Project" "Tallahassee" "After Hours" "Test the Store" "Last Day in Florida" "Get the Girl" "Welcome Party" "Angry Andy" "Fundraiser" "Turf War" "Free Family Portrait Studio"
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