Audition Day
"Audition Day" | |
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30 Rock episode | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 4 |
Directed by | Beth McCarthy-Miller |
Written by | Matt Hubbard |
Production code | 404 |
Original air date | November 5, 2009 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Audition Day" is the fourth episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 62nd overall episode of the series. The episode was written by supervising producer Matt Hubbard and directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 5, 2009. Guest stars in this episode include Craig Castaldo, Nick Fondulis, Daniel Genalo, Marceline Hugot, Angela Grovey, Michael Mulheren, David Perlman, and Brian Williams. There are cameos by Gilbert Gottfried, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Walken, though, the three did not appear as themselves, but provided their voices in the episode.[1]
In the episode,
"Audition Day" has received generally good reception from television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research, it was watched by 5.940 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.9 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
Plot
Writer
Meanwhile, Jack learns from
Production
"Audition Day" was written by 30 Rock supervising producer Matt Hubbard, his first episode for the fourth season, and his eighth writing credit overall.[2] The episode was directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller, making it her eighth for the series.[3] "Audition Day" originally aired in the United States on November 5, 2009, on NBC as the fourth episode of the show's fourth season and the 62nd overall episode of the series.[4] This episode of 30 Rock was filmed on October 29, 2009.[5][6]
Actress Marceline Hugot made her seventh appearance on the show as Kathy Geiss, the daughter of GE CEO Don Geiss, after appearing in the episodes "Jack Gets in the Game", "Succession", "Sandwich Day", "Cooter", "Do-Over", and "Reunion".[7] News anchor Brian Williams, of NBC Nightly News, made his second appearance as himself with this episode, in which he auditions to become a cast member of TGS. He first appeared in the season three episode "The Ones".[8] In one scene of "Audition Day", a homeless man keeps his distance from Jack Donaghy after Jack said he had bedbugs.[4] The homeless man was credited as Moonvest and played by Craig Castaldo, or known as Radio Man.[9] Castaldo has made numerous appearances on 30 Rock. At the end of the credits, Gilbert Gottfried, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Walken are credited as doing their actual voices on Liz Lemon's phone.[1]
Jack hiring the robot street performer in "Audition Day" was first introduced in the fourth-season premiere episode "Season 4".[10] Actor Cheyenne Jackson made his 30 Rock debut as Danny Baker in "The Problem Solvers", the next episode.[11] Jackson did not play the robot in this episode, instead actor Daniel Genalo played the character.[12] This is the last episode to feature Lonny Ross as Josh Girard until the 100th episode.
Cultural references
In the beginning of this episode, Jack tells Liz "That's what I'm talking about. Human empathy, it's as useless as the Winter Olympics ... this February on NBC."[13] Realizing Kenneth might know what is going on with the TGS auditions, Jenna floats towards him with the wind in her hair, and when Kenneth sees her he calls her "Vampyr!".[4][9] Later, Jenna reveals to Liz that she has been brought into auditions, similar to what Liz and Pete are doing with rigging the TGS auditions, to make actress Kim Cattrall seem grounded and human.[14]
Jenna mentions that she met Jayden 20 years ago. The scene then flashes back to Jenna getting dissed by a young Jayden. The costume she is wearing is essentially the same costume that Jane Krakowski wore 20 years previously in the Broadway musical Starlight Express. In addition, Jayden is dressed similar to the street urchin Gavroche in Les Misérables because the young boy playing that role on Broadway was also providing the voice of Control in Starlight.
During her audition, Kathy sings as Scottish amateur singer Susan Boyle who gained worldwide attention for her performance of the song "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical Les Misérables on the reality show Britain's Got Talent. Kathy's performance (sung by operatic soprano Lisette Oropesa) gets Liz and Jack teared up, similar to Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent.[15] It is revealed that Dot Com once portrayed the character Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull.[13] When Kenneth refuses to embrace him, Jack asks him "Et tu, Kenneth?", prompting Kenneth to explain in Latin why he will not embrace Jack due to his bedbugs.[4]
During his meeting with fellow GE executives, in which Jack is not allowed to be with them due to his bedbugs condition, a
Reception
According to the Nielsen Media Research, "Audition Day" was watched by 5.940 million households in its original American broadcast. It earned a 2.9 rating/7 share in the 18–49 demographic.[20] This means that it was seen by 2.9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 7 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This episode constituted a six percent drop in viewership from the previous week's episode, "Stone Mountain".[20] During its original broadcast, "Audition Day" ranked third in its 9:30 p.m. slot, behind CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy.[20]
Television columnist Alan Sepinwall of
The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin said he did not laugh much during the broadcast of "Audition Day", but admitted he grinned during the closing segment of the episode in which Jack is in the subway along with a group quartet. Rabin said he enjoyed Brian Williams's "array of characters", during his audition, and gave this episode a B− grade rating.[17] Sean Gandert of Paste wrote that the episode "had a good premise ... but I wasn't really feeling the whole thing." Gandert reported that the new cast member angle was "predictable and not too interesting, as well as the audition process in general."[14]
References
- ^ TV Squad. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ "Beth McCarthy-Miller — Filmography by TV series". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ a b c d "30 Rock — Audition Day". Yahoo! TV. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- NBC Universal Media Village. 2009-10-29. Archived from the originalon 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-06-28. Save Picture as → Right click file → Properties → Summary → Advanced → Date Picture Taken
- NBC Universal Media Village. 2009-10-29. Archived from the originalon 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-06-28. Save Picture as → Right click file → Properties → Summary → Advanced → Date Picture Taken
- ^ "Marceline Hugot — Filmography by TV series". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
- The Huffington Post. 2009-04-24. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- ^ a b c Sepinwall, Alan (2009-11-05). "30 Rock, "Audition Day": Jack takes the A-train". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2010-06-27.
- ^ "30 Rock — Season 4". Yahoo! TV. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2009-11-12). "30 Rock, "The Problem Solvers": Dealbreaker for Jack and Liz?". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ "Daniel Genalo". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ a b c d e Blake, Meredith (2009-11-06). "'30 Rock': Don't let the bed bugs bite!". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ a b Gandert, Sean (2009-11-06). "30 Rock Review: "Audition Day" (Episode 4.4)". Paste. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Lyons, Margaret (2009-11-06). "'30 Rock' recap: Do the robot". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- Cisco Systems. Archived from the originalon 26 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (2009-11-05). "Audition Day". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Schiller, Gail (2007-11-28). ""30 Rock" rolls ads into story lines". The Hollywood Reporter. Reuters. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- Advertising Age. Archivedfrom the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ a b c Gorman, Bill (2009-11-06). "TV Ratings Thursday: ABC Edges CBS; FlashForward Keeps Sliding, Fringe Plummets". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
- ^ Poniewozik, James (2009-11-06). "30 Rock Watch: Subway Series". Time. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
- ^ Canning, Robert (2009-11-06). "30 Rock: "Audition Day" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
External links
- "Audition Day" at IMDb