text: the carpet " the carpet " is the fourteenth episode of the second season of the american comedy television series the office , and the show 's twentieth episode overall . it was written by paul lieberstein and directed by victor nelli , jr . the episode first aired on january 26 , 2006 on nbc . the episode guest stars ken howard as ed truck , and david koechner as todd packer . the series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the scranton , pennsylvania branch of the fictional dunder mifflin paper company . in this episode , a disgusting " thing " – implied to be human feces – is left in michael scott 's ( steve carell ) office , and michael tries to discover who did it . while his carpet is being replaced , he uses jim halpert 's desk , forcing jim to move away from pam beesly ( jenna fischer ) into the annex . " the carpet " is the first and only episode to feature howard as truck . however , the death of the character would serve as the main plot for the third season episode " grief counseling " . the episode received largely positive reviews from television critics . upon its original broadcast , " the carpet " earned a nielsen rating of 4 . 6 in the 18 – 49 demographic , being viewed by 8 . 6 million viewers . at the time of its release , it was the second most - downloaded episode of a television show on the itunes store . synopsis when someone leaves a disgusting substance on the carpet in michael scott 's ( steve carell ) office , he spends the day at jim halpert 's ( john krasinski ) desk , relegating jim to the back room ( referred to as the " annex " ) to suffer kelly kapoor 's ( mindy kaling ) constant chattering . she asks jim to hook her up with ryan howard ( b.j. novak ) . jim continues to yearn for pam beesley ( jenna fischer ) , but her groom - to - be , roy anderson ( david denman ) , is in the office replacing the carpet along with darryl philbin ( craig robinson ) , and jim is unable to speak with her . as the day wears on , michael becomes convinced that what happened to his office is a hate crime and an act of terrorism . believing it to have been perpetrated by someone in the office , he begins to lose his faith in his employees , whom he considers his friends . michael tries talking to his former boss ed truck ( ken howard ) , who tells him that he does not need to have his employees be his friends . but his mood changes drastically when he finds out the prank was carried out by his obnoxious friend todd packer ( david koechner ) . michael instantly finds the joke hilarious , and his faith in his friends is restored . at the end of the day , jim is cheered up when he finds that all seven of his voicemail messages were left by pam throughout the day . jim is seen driving home , and pam 's voicemails act as a voice - over , closing out the episode . production " the carpet " was written by paul lieberstein , who portrays toby flenderson on the series , making it his third writing credit after the first season entry " health care " and the second season episode " the client " . the episode was directed by victor nelli , jr . the episode is the first and only to feature howard as ed truck . however , the death of the character would serve as the main plot for the third season episode " grief counseling " . actress kate flannery later revealed that , for the old 80s picture of michael and ed , carell had to wear a mullet wig . before the episode aired , the cast and crew received news that the show would be renewed for a third season . jenna fischer ( pam ) noted that " it is rare in this business to hear news of a pickup so early " , but that nbc was very pleased with how well the show was doing . it had previously , and erroneously , been advertised that the show would finish its run at the end of march 2006 . fischer explained that while the season would end – actually in may – the show would continue . the exact nature of the substance that is deposited on michael 's carpet is never explicitly made clear . fischer only described it as " soft [ ... ] smelly [ and ] brown " . in fact , the circumstance in which the substance is viewed by the camera is still ambiguous ; television without pity reviewer m. giant noted that the viewer only gets " the merest out - of - focus blair witch glimpse " of the substance . fischer also noted that one of the more interesting aspects of the episode was the " you [ the audience ] finally see pam and roy getting along . " she explained that this was because roy and pam returned from " a romantic vacation in the poconos . " deleted scenes include : dwight schrute ( rainn wilson ) believing that a higher power brought michael to his desk , angela martin ( angela kinsey ) and kevin malone ( brian baumgartner ) speculating on the culprit , jim unable to handle kelly 's chattering , jim eating lunch by himself in his car , michael being unable to complete a sale , michael stealing a crumpet from dwight , dwight and angela having a secret conversation in the kitchen , and jim asking toby flenderson ( lieberstein ) how he handled kelly 's loquaciousness . cultural references michael compares that the circumstances of the episode to the components for an audition tape for fear factor , an american sports dare reality game show . michael later bothers stanley hudson ( leslie david baker ) with an impression of the popeye cartoon character j. wellington wimpy . dwight makes repeated calls to rock 107 , a scranton radio station that plays classic rock . michael compares darryl and roy 's work to extreme makeover : home edition , an american reality television series providing home improvements for less fortunate families and community schools . reception " the carpet " originally aired on nbc on the january 26 , 2006 . the episode received a 4 . 6 rating / 11 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49 . this means that it was seen by 4 . 6 percent of all 18- to 49 - year - olds , and 11 percent of all 18- to 49 - year - olds watching television at the time of the broadcast . " the carpet " was viewed by 8 . 6 million viewers . the episode retained 93 percent of its lead - in my name is earl audience . critical reception to the episode was largely positive . m. giant of television without pity awarded the episode an " a – " . brendan babish of dvd verdict gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it an " a – " . he called it " another solid episode " and praised the " guest appearance by ken howard of the white shadow fame . " after the episode aired , several newspapers , including the los angeles times and the journal gazette reported on the episode 's success , as well as others in the season , in building the show 's audience . furthermore , the episode was particularly popular with fans of the series , especially college students . after the episode aired , it was made available on the itunes online digital store , where , for a time , it was the second most - downloaded episode of a television show .