Klaus and Greta

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"Klaus and Greta"
30 Rock episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 9
Directed byGail Mancuso
Written byRobert Carlock
Production code409
Original air dateJanuary 14, 2010 (2010-01-14)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Secret Santa" 		Next →
"Black Light Attack!"
30 Rock season 4
List of episodes

"Klaus and Greta" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock. It was written by co-showrunner and executive producer Robert Carlock and directed by Gail Mancuso. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 14, 2010. Guest stars in this episode include James Franco, Matt Lauer, and Jeffery Self. "Klaus and Greta" aired out of its usual timeslot with "Black Light Attack!" following it in the regular timeslot.

Following a crazy New Year's Eve party, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) leaves a message on his high school sweetheart's answering machine and decides to break into her home with Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), while she is on vacation. At the same time, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) starts up a fake relationship with actor James Franco in order to counteract rumors that he is in love with a Japanese body pillow. Meanwhile, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) accidentally outs her cousin (Jeffery Self) at her New Year's Eve party, so he decides to live with her in New York.

"Klaus and Greta" was generally, though not universally, well received among

television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research, the episode was watched by 5.122 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.3 rating/6 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic. "Klaus and Greta" won the award for Outstanding Individual Episode at the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards
.

Plot

After a crazy New Year's Eve,

Bob Ballard, he left a message on the answering machine of Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore), his high school sweetheart. He and NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) immediately travel to Massachusetts and break into Nancy's home while she is on vacation, hoping to erase the message. While Kenneth fumbles with the computer, Jack examines the house and finds evidence that Nancy's marriage is reaching its end - he husband's clothes are on the couch, their sinks are separated, and they have booked flights to different places. They eventually play the message, after Jack finds the voicemail code, in which Jack reminisces about their times in high school German
class. In that class, Jack had the name "Klaus" and Nancy had the name "Greta"—and Jack says that he took the class to be with her. Jack decides not to erase the message, but Kenneth does so anyway, telling him that there is no sign Nancy wants Jack in her life. When they return to New York, Kenneth realizes that Nancy's voicemail code (55287) stands for "Klaus", which means that Nancy does have feelings for Jack.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) accidentally outs her cousin, Randy (Jeffery Self) to his family at a New Year's Eve party, so he comes to live with her in New York City Liz tries to keep Randy in her apartment during his stay, but he sneaks out to a bar at night, and traps Liz in a closet when she tries to supervise him. Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) enters a fake relationship with actor James Franco, in order to counteract rumors that he is in love with a Japanese body pillow. Jenna feels slighted when she realizes that she wants a real relationship, and encourages James to follow his own passions, resulting in Jenna ending things with him. Deciding to have fun, Liz and Randy go to a nightclub, where Liz runs into James and his pillow. The two get drunk and end up sleeping together. The next morning, at Liz's apartment, Randy is shocked to see James coming out of Liz's bedroom with his body pillow, and is disturbed enough to go back home to Pennsylvania.

Tracy Jordan gets his wife, Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd), pregnant and, realizing his continued hostility to women (apparently not having realized until that point that every woman is someone's daughter), tells Grizz Griswold (Grizz Chapman), "Dot Com" Slattery (Kevin Brown), and Kenneth that he has decided to add a woman to their entourage.

Production

A head shot of James Franco, a caucasian male in his mid-20s with dark hair, looking slightly away from the camera and smiles. He wears a blue suit with a light blue shirt and dark blie tie, and speaks into a mic.
James Franco guest starred in this episode.

"Klaus and Greta" was written by co-showrunner and executive producer Robert Carlock, making it his fourteenth writing credit overall.[1] The episode was directed by Gail Mancuso, making it her eighth for the series.[2] "Klaus and Greta" originally aired in the United States on January 14, 2010, on NBC as the ninth episode of the show's fourth season.[3]

In November 2009, it was announced that actor James Franco would guest star on 30 Rock as himself, and would carry on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Krakowski), in a scheme concocted by their respective agents.[4] Two months earlier, series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey revealed Jenna's plot to Entertainment Weekly, but did not divulge Franco's name.[5] In an April 2010 interview with Zap2it, Carlock revealed that "one of the things" the staff looked forward to in the fourth season was Jenna's storyline here, and said her "emotional realization" that she wants more than a fake relationship with Franco was "a cool turn for that character after three years of thinking that all she wants is to have her picture in the paper and have her hair look good."[6]

In this episode,

The Today Show, guest starred as himself for the second time first appearing in "Generalissimo" that aired on February 5, 2009, during the show's third season.[7] In "Klaus and Greta", the staff writers of the fictitious sketch comedy show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan play a shot game to The Today Show's travel tips given by Lauer.[8]

Despite not appearing in the episode, the show made reference of Jack Donaghy's romantic interest in high school sweatheart, Nancy Donovan, portrayed by actress Julianne Moore. Moore was announced as a love interest for Alec Baldwin's Jack in November 2009,[9] and made her debut as the Nancy character in the previous episode "Secret Santa".[10] This episode of 30 Rock was filmed on November 6, 2009.[11][12]

Cultural references

Jenna reveals that James Franco's manager came to her first to start a fake relationship with Franco, before asking former reality show participant Ayiiia Elizarraras from

MySpace and Facebook.[3]

Randy tells Liz that growing up the (fictitious) small town of Methenburg, Pennsylvania was difficult as a closeted gay man, and reveals that the local television station in the state edited Will & Grace down so much that it was just called Karen. Will & Grace, a former NBC program, revolved around a gay man (Will) and his best friend (Grace), and Karen was Will and Grace's friend.[15] In "Klaus and Greta", Franco starts a fraudulent romance with Jenna in order to dismiss rumors that he is in love with a Japanese body pillow.[16] According to a CNN report, following the broadcast, the subplot of Franco in love with a body pillow came straight from an article from The New York Times Magazine,[17] published in July 2009, in which the article, deemed controversial, focused on a man in his mid-thirties who carries around a body pillow printed with an animated Japanese female character.[18]

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "Klaus and Greta" was watched by 5.122 million households, according to the

The CW, which drew 1.364 million viewers.[19] This episode of 30 Rock won the award for Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular gay character) at the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards.[21]

Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for

TV Squad gave it a positive review writing it was a "good episode", and "[n]ot one of the best but it still had enough funny situations", and thanked NBC for broadcasting two episodes.[13] Entertainment Weekly's Margaret Lyons remarked that the two episodes were terrific, and what stood out from both airings "was how much serialized plot[s] these two eps covered ... For a show that's usually so episodic, it was an interesting—totally successful—change of pace."[24]

The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff was positive, but noted that "there was stuff that didn't work here", citing the long scene with Jack and Kenneth in Nancy's home, reasoning it was "weirdly boring". VanDerWerff was complimentary towards James Franco's appearance, and commented that the idea that Franco was in love with a Japanese body pillow was "just comic gold and a half." Not being a fan of Jane Krakowski's Jenna, VanDerWerff noted that "Klaus and Greta" gave the character "one of her best storylines in ages ... [and] everything here about how she slowly grew more and more oblivious was well-done."[25] Sean Gandert for Paste reported that it featured "all sorts of funny" but felt that the main plot fell "pretty flat." Gandert was favorable to the other stories featured here.[26] Time contributor James Poniewozik opined Franco threw himself into the role "willing to appear ridiculous and a little crazy". Poniewozik said it was a "pleasure" to see a "desperate-Jenna plot" that seemed "fresh."[27] Nick Catucci, a contributor of New York magazine, deemed this episode of 30 Rock "terrific".[28]

References

  1. Internet Movie Database
    . Retrieved 2010-05-13.
  2. ^ "Gail Mancuso — Filmography by TV series". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  3. ^ a b c "30 Rock — Klaus and Greta". Yahoo! TV. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  4. ^ Stanhope, Kate (2009-11-03). "James Franco to Guest-Star on 30 Rock". TV Guide. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  5. ^ Ausiello, Michael (2009-11-03). "Exclusive: James Franco heads to '30 Rock'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-11-06. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  6. ^ Crook, John (2010-04-24). "'30 Rock' rolls into fourth season". Zap2it. Archived from the original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  7. ^ "Matt Lauer". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  8. ^ ""30 Rock" and James Franco team up for big laughs". Columbia Daily Spectator. 2010-01-14. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  9. Daily News (New York)
    . Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  10. TV Squad
    . Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  11. NBC Universal Media Village. 2009-11-06. Archived from the original
    on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-28. Save Picture as → Right click file → Properties → Summary → Advanced → Date Picture Taken
  12. NBC Universal Media Village. 2009-11-06. Archived from the original
    on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2010-03-28. Save Picture as → Right click file → Properties → Summary → Advanced → Date Picture Taken
  13. ^
    TV Squad
    . Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  14. ^ Skegg, Martin; Julia Raeside, Will Hodgkinson, Richard Vine, David Stubbs and Rebecca Nicholson (2010-05-17). "Watch this". The Guardian. Retrieved 2010-06-22.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Hiltbrand, David (2010-01-16). "Dave on Demand: Potential Simon shoe-fillers, some real". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2010-06-22. [dead link]
  16. ^ Blake, Meredith (2010-01-15). "'30 Rock': Liz gets lucky with James Franco and his pillow". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  17. ^ Marx, W. David (2010-01-19). "'30 Rock' features the Japanese body pillow meme". CNN Go. Archived from the original on 2010-07-01. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  18. ^ Katayama, Lisa (2009-07-26). "Love in 2-D". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  19. ^ a b Gorman, Bill (2010-01-15). "TV Ratings: Private Practice Crossover Boost; Bones High; Grey's, CSI, 30 Rock, Leno Hit Lows". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2011-01-04. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  20. ^ Gorman, Bill (2009-12-10). "TV Ratings Thursday: CBS & Survivior Strong; Bones Season High; Fringe Slips". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 2009-12-13. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  21. ^ Serpe, Gina (2011-03-19). "Tina Fey, Ricky Martin, True Blood Get GLAAD". E! Online. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  22. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2010-01-15). "30 Rock, "Klaus and Greta" & "Black Light Attack!": James Franco kicks off a funny double-feature". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  23. ^ Canning, Robert (2010-01-15). "30 Rock: "Klaus and Greta" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
  24. ^ Lyons, Margaret (2010-01-15). "'30 Rock': The 10 best lines from 'Klaus and Greta' and 'Black Light Attack'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  25. ^ VanDerWerff, Emily (2010-01-14). ""Klaus and Greta"/"Black Light Attack"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  26. ^ Gandert, Sean (2010-01-15). "30 Rock Review: "Klaus and Greta" & "Black Light Attack!" (4.9 & 4.10)". Paste. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  27. ^ Poniewozik, James (2010-01-15). "30 Rock: "Klaus and Greta" and "Black Light Attack!"". Time. Retrieved 2010-06-23.
  28. ^ Catucci, Nick (2010-01-15). "30 Rock Recap: Lemoned!". New York. Retrieved 2010-06-22.

External links

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