Kidney Now!

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"Kidney Now!"
30 Rock episode
Episode no.Season 3
Episode 22
Directed byDon Scardino
Written byJack Burditt
Robert Carlock
Featured music"He Needs a Kidney"
Production code322
Original air dateMay 14, 2009 (2009-05-14)
Guest appearances

As themselves:

Episode chronology
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"Mamma Mia" 		Next →
"Season 4"
30 Rock season 3
List of episodes

"Kidney Now!" is the

Robert Randolph, Rachael Yamagata and Cyndi Lauper, all as themselves.[1]

In the episode, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) gets to know his newly discovered father, Milton Greene (Alda), but quickly learns that Milton needs a kidney transplant, and discovers he is not a suitable donor. As a result, Jack decides to use the liberal media to find an alternate way to get him a kidney donor. Meanwhile, people seek Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) out as a relationship expert as a result of her "Dealbreaker" sketches, and Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) helps Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) deal with his embarrassment over not finishing high school.

The song "He Needs a Kidney" was written by show composer and co-executive producer Jeff Richmond. The concept of doing a charity concert was based on Robert Carlock and series creator Tina Fey wanting to include a musical performance in the episode with the Milton Greene character in need of a kidney donor.[2] Carlock and Fey wanted "He Needs a Kidney" to be similar to the 1985 charity song, "We Are the World". Following the airing of this 30 Rock episode, NBC released the musical performance video of "He Needs a Kidney" on iTunes with all proceeds from the sales going to the National Kidney Foundation.[3]

"Kidney Now!" was generally well received among television critics. According to the

Creative Arts Emmy Award
nomination in the category for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (half-hour) and Animation.

Plot

Michael McDonald, Rhett Miller, Moby, Robert Randolph, and Rachael Yamagata
—to arrange a charity benefit entitled "Kidney Now!" in attempt to find a donor for Milton.

Meanwhile,

Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit
), respectively. Though, Tracy and Pete are upset with the advice Liz gave to their wives, Liz blows them off and goes to Quizno's to meet with an agent to write a prospective Dealbreaker book. The deal goes through and Liz tells Jack that she is "getting [hers]."

At the same time, Tracy is invited to speak at the graduation ceremony of his former high school (named after

Frank Lucas, the infamous Harlem drug lord). NBC page and friend Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer
) tries to help him overcome troubling memories from his high school experience. Kenneth persuades Tracy to go to the graduation, which he does, where Tracy gives his speech and receives an honorary diploma.

Production

"Kidney Now!" was directed by series producer Don Scardino, and written by 30 Rock producers Jack Burditt and Robert Carlock. This was Burditt and Carlock's fourth script collaboration, having penned the episodes "Cleveland", "Subway Hero", and "Sandwich Day".[4][5] This was Scardino's twenty-first directed episode.[6] "Kidney Now!" originally aired on NBC in the United States on May 14, 2009, as the twenty-second episode and season finale of the show's third season and the 58th overall episode of the series.[7]

"He Needs a Kidney" was written and arranged by 30 Rock composer Jeff Richmond (pictured).

"Kidney Now!" was first read by its cast on March 5, 2009;[2] it was filmed on March 16–17, 2009.[8][9] "He Needs a Kidney", the charity song featured in this episode, was written by show composer and co-executive producer Jeff Richmond.[2] Richmond is married to series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey.[10] In discussion of the development of "Kidney Now!", Richmond said that Carlock and Fey "were trying to figure out a way to highlight Jack's dad in getting a kidney and how they're going to deal with that", and that the two came to the decision to "take advantage of the singing", as they have done so in the past with different 30 Rock episodes, in which the show's characters have sung songs.[11][12][13] Carlock and Fey agreed to the idea that a song be included in the season finale, but that it be an anthem like the 1985 charity song, "We Are the World", as the cause is that the Milton Greene character is in need of a kidney donor. "Basically, the parameters were if 'We Are the World' but they want to get a kidney. I think we had angles that everyone has two kidneys and you'll only need one kidney, and we thought 'Alright, we'll get some distance on that'", said Richmond.[2] While working on the track, Fey suggested to Richmond that he incorporate Milton Greene's name in one part of the song, which he did, as this was sung by singers Cyndi Lauper and Robert Randolph.[2]

Giancarlo Vulcano, a music editor and associate arranger on the show, revealed that Richmond taught him the song one morning at

Michael McDonald, Rhett Miller, Moby, Robert Randolph, and Rachael Yamagata—who performed "He Needs a Kidney".[1][2] In the DVD commentary for this episode, Richmond believed that the entire song would not make it into the airing.[8] Elvis Costello was once approached to do an appearance on 30 Rock, but the appearance fell-through. At an Oscar's after party, Fey ran into Costello and asked him if he could appear, which he agreed to.[8] According to Fey, none of the music artists got paid to appear on the show as "they all did [it] for free."[8] The reason for this was due to a joke in the song in which Sheryl Crow was the only individual to get paid, as the rest said they did it for free.[8] Following the broadcast of this episode of 30 Rock, the musical performance video was made available for digital download on iTunes with all the proceeds from the sales going to the National Kidney Foundation.[3][14]

During the song's performance, it was revealed that singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow (pictured) was the only performer to get paid, although in real-life none of the singers who performed "He Needs a Kidney" got paid.[8]

According to Fey, there were discussions on whether or not to use a real talk show host from New York, for the "Dealbreakers" segment, but ultimately decided to make one up and went with actress Napiera Groves who plays talk show host Vontella in "Kidney Now!".[8] The Tracy character plot was based on Tracy Morgan who in real-life was given a diploma by his former high school, DeWitt Clinton High School.[8] Like the Tracy character, who dropped out of high school after being asked to dissect a frog, Morgan dropped out of DeWitt Clinton when his father became ill.[15] Jack and Liz's scene, along with Tracy and Kenneth's, at the end where they watch the charity concert, was filmed the day before the musical number took place. "They were pretending to look at the singing", revealed Fey. They forced that shot in so that the episode not just end with the performance.[8]

Professor Milton Greene was played by guest actor

Pete Hornberger, played by Scott Adsit. In "Kidney Now!", Angie and Paula ask Liz for relationship advice.[8] In addition, 30 Rock writers Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, and Donald Glover appear in the episode; Burditt and Cannon appear in The Vontella Show segment as members from the audience who ask Liz questions. When Tracy accepts an honorary diploma from his former high school, in his speech, Tracy outs Glover's character.[8] The success of the benefit concert for Milton is not explicitly referenced until Alda's character alludes to it in the season five episode "Christmas Attack Zone",[22] though in the season four episode "Into the Crevasse", Milton is shown to have finished his book entitled From Peanut to President, a biography of U.S. President Jimmy Carter.[23]

One filmed scene from "Kidney Now!" was cut out from the airing. Instead, the scene was featured on 30 Rock's season three DVD as part of the deleted scenes in the Bonus feature. In the scene, Liz enters the TGS writer's room, and tells the writing staff that she got recognized from her appearance on The Vontella Show as the relationship expert from "Dealbreakers". Pete cannot believe that Liz gave actual relationship advice on the program, citing Liz's own past relationship faults.[2]

Reception

According to the

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for their work on "Kidney Now!",[27] but they lost it to fellow 30 Rock writer Matt Hubbard for the episode "Reunion" at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.[28] At the same awards show, Tony Pipitone and Griffin Richardson were nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (half-hour) and Animation.[29]

TV Squad confessed in his recap that he was going to summarize "Kidney Now!" as "a little disappointing, but then I hit rewind on my DVR and watched it again and realized, wow, they actually hit all of the season finale notes rather perfectly [...] This episode was quite funny."[33]

Rick Porter of Zap2it worried how the series would fit in "the likes" of Elvis Costello, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Clay Aiken and Adam Levine "without it overwhelming the episode", and reported that the answer to that "turned out to be 'very effectively.'" In regards to the storylines, itself, he noted that Jack's quest in getting Milton a kidney "balanced nicely" with Liz's story, and that Tracy's "had some good moments". In conclusion, Porter wrote "For a show that doesn't always know how to end episodes, it's done really well at ending seasons."[34] TV Guide Magazine's Sandra Kofler wrote that the "He Needs a Kidney" song was hilarious, and that it "stole [30 Rock's] season finale."[35] Patrick Goldstein, a contributor for the Los Angeles Times, was favorable to the musical number, reporting "[t]he song itself is a hoot, highlighted by a wonderful spoken-word kidney donation pitch that begins with Costello saying: 'Listen, when someone starts talking in the middle of a song, you know it's serious.'"[36] Entertainment Weekly contributor Annie Barrett said "Kidney Now!" was "sweet and all", and noted that the "Vontella-as-Tyra spoof" was "brilliant".[37] Time contributor James Poniewozik wrote that this episode "was a fitting end for a guest-star-heavy ... season of 30 Rock", but added that the finale overall was "maybe average", however, "the ending at least delivered the goods, with the best sitcom celebrity benefit song".[18]

References

  1. ^ a b Rojas Weiss, Sabrina (2009-05-15). "'30 Rock' 'Kidney Now!' Song Inspires 'We Are The World' Nostalgia". MTV. Retrieved 2010-05-30.
  2. ^
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    . 2009.
  3. ^ a b "NBC's '30 Rock' Season Finale Music Video Clip Available On The iTunes Store To Benefit The National Kidney Foundation". National Kidney Foundations Official Website. 2009-05-15. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  4. Internet Movie Database
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  5. Internet Movie Database
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  6. Internet Movie Database
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  7. ^ "30 Rock — Kidney Now!". Yahoo! TV. Archived from the original on 2011-02-27. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
  8. ^
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    .
  9. NBC Universal Media Village. 2009-03-17. Archived from the original
    on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-05-18. Save Picture as → Right click file → Properties → Summary → Advanced → Date Picture Taken
  10. ^ Adams, Guy (2008-10-04). "Tina Fey: Queen of satire". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
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  12. ^ Canning, Robert (2007-04-20). "30 Rock: "Cleveland" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  13. ^ Bierly, Mandi (2007-11-01). "Tracy Morgan's "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" uncut". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  14. ^ "Things that turn us on". Chicago Tribune. RedEye. 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  15. ^ Lipton, Michael A.; Liza Hamm (2004-01-12). "Bowling 'em Over". People. Archived from the original on 2014-11-22. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  16. ^ Mitchell, Kerrie (2007-11-14). "I, Hawkeye". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  17. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2009-05-08). "30 Rock, "Mamma Mia": Alan Alda is the Donaghy daddy?". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  18. ^ a b Poniewozik, James (2009-05-15). "30 Rock / Office / Parks and Rec Watch: How Funny Does Comedy Have to Be?". Time. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
  19. ^ Barrett, Annie (2006-12-07). "What SNL alums besides Chris Parnell should guest on 30 Rock?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  20. ^ Goodwin, Christopher (2008-05-11). "And funny with it". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-05-27.
  21. Internet Movie Database
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  24. ^ Mitovich, Matt (2009-05-15). "Ratings: Which of 11 Finales Delivered the Biggest Bang?". TV Guide. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
  25. ^ Weisman, Jon (2009-05-08). "ABC's 'Anatomy' makes ratings gains". Variety. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  26. ^ Weisman, Jon (2009-05-15). "'Grey's Anatomy tops Thursday ratings". Variety. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
  27. ^ "Emmy predix: Which episode of '30 Rock' will win best comedy writing?". Los Angeles Times. 2009-08-16. Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  28. ^ Wyatt, Edward (2009-09-21). "Familiarity and a Few Surprises at the Emmys". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  29. ^ Gorman, Bill (2009-07-16). "2009 Primetime Emmy Nominations, By The Numbers". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  30. ^ Canning, Robert (2009-05-15). "30 Rock: "Kidney Now!" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
  31. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2009-05-15). "30 Rock, "Kidney Now!": Sheryl Crow, Adam Levine, Clay Aiken and company come to save Alan Alda". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  32. ^ Rabin, Nathan (2009-05-14). "Kidney Now!". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  33. TV Squad
    . Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  34. ^ Porter, Rick (2009-05-14). "'30 Rock,' 'Kidney Now': It doesn't hurt that bad". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2010-07-19. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  35. ^ Kofler, Sandra (2009-05-15). "30 Rock's "Kidney Now!"". TV Guide Magazine.
  36. ^ Goldstein, Patrick (2009-05-15). "'30 Rock' closer: 'Milton Green, Milton Green, he needs a kidney!'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-05-28.
  37. ^ Barrett, Annie (2009-05-15). "'30 Rock' finale: We sure had quite a year". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-05-28.

External links

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