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The fourth season of the American television comedy ''The Office'' premiered in the United States on NBC on September 27, 2007, and concluded on May 15, 2008. The season consisted of 9 half-hour episodes, and 5 hour-long episodes to comprise the 19 total episodes of material created. ''The Office'' is an American adaptation of the British TV series of the same name, and is presented in a mockumentary format, portraying the daily lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictitious Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. The season was interrupted and shortened due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, in which the writers and some actors of ''The Office'' went on strike; although 30 half-hour episodes had been ordered, only 19 were actually filmed. Several of the finished episodes were condensed into hour-long episodes, resulting in only 14 episodes being aired. Season four marked the departure of Karen Filippelli (Rashida Jones) as a regular character, although she appeared for a few seconds in the first episode, "Fun Run" and in the sixth episode, "Branch Wars", as the regional manager of the Utica branch. Relationships again emerged as the main theme of the season, with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesley's (Jenna Fischer) rising, and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Jan Levinson's (Melora Hardin), as well as Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin's (Angela Kinsey) declining. Technology was another prevalent theme as the office staff struggled with initiatives introduced by Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) to modernize the company. The fourth season of ''The Office'' aired on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. (Eastern) in the United States. The episode marked a slight drop in ratings compared to the previous two seasons. Critical reception to the season continued to be largely positive. The season was released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment in a four-disc box set in the Region 1 area on September 2, 2008. The DVD set contains all 19 episodes, as well as commentaries from creators, writers, actors, and directors on some of the episodes. It also contains deleted scenes from all of the episodes, as well as bloopers and other promos. ==Production== The fourth season of the show was produced by Reveille Productions and Deedle-Dee Productions, both in association with Universal Media Studios. The show is based upon the British series created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom are executive producers on both the US and UK versions. ''The Office'' is produced by Greg Daniels,〔 who is also an executive producer and the show runner. All the writers from the previous season returned, with the writing staff consisting of Daniels, Michael Schur, Lester Lewis, Mindy Kaling, B. J. Novak, Paul Lieberstein, Lee Eisenberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Jennifer Celotta, Brent Forrester, and Justin Spitzer. Schur, Lieberstein and Celotta were co-executive producers; Kaling, Eisenberg and Stupnitsky were producers; Novak and Lewis were supervising producers; and Forrester was a consulting producer. This season featured 19 half-hour segments which were combined and aired to produce 14 distinct episodes, directed by 11 directors. Greg Daniels, Craig Zisk, Ken Whittingham, Paul Lieberstein, Jason Reitman, Joss Whedon, Paul Feig, Julian Farino, Jeffrey Blitz, Randall Einhorn, and Tucker Gates each directed episodes during the season, with Feig and Whittingham directing multiple episodes. Although ''The Office'' was mainly filmed on a studio set at Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, California, the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the show is set, was also used for shots of the opening theme.〔Marchese, John. (Scranton Embraces ''The Office'' Infamy ) ''The New York Times'', retrieved April 16, 2008〕 Originally, NBC ordered a full season of 30 episodes. After 12 episodes were filmed, production was suspended due to the effects of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on November 5, 2007. Filming of ''The Office'' immediately halted on that date, as Steve Carell, who is a member of the WGA, refused to cross WGA picket lines.〔''TV Guide'' Staff. 〕 Members of Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West voted to end the 100-day strike on February 12, 2008, and writers were allowed to return to work on the same day. The WGA allowed for show runners to return to work on February 11, in preparation for the conclusion of the strike. The show runner for ''The Office'', Greg Daniels, returned on February 11,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pencils Down Means Pencils Down )〕 and the show's writers returned to work on February 13.〔 The duration of the strike resulted in a script of a Christmas-themed episode being discarded, as production of the episode was due to start the week that the strike began. The basic premise of the Christmas episode, which revolved around the German folk character Belsnickel, was later purposely recycled and reused in the ninth season entry "Dwight Christmas". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Office (U.S. season 4)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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