Let's Stay Together (30 Rock)
"Let's Stay Together" | |
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30 Rock episode | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 3 |
Directed by | John Riggi |
Written by | Jack Burditt |
Production code | 503 |
Original air date | October 7, 2010 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Let's Stay Together" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 83rd overall episode of the series. It was directed by co-executive producer John Riggi and written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 7, 2010. Guest stars in this episode include John Amos, Todd Buonopane, Reg E. Cathey, Queen Latifah and Rob Reiner.
In the episode,
This episode of 30 Rock was generally, though not universally, well received among television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research, it was watched by 4.90 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.1 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
Plot
NBC executive
Meanwhile,
At the same time, Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), a former NBC page, is back at NBC and wants to reapply to the page program, but notes that it has become a pageant. When Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) hears of this, she volunteers to help him win the pageant using her own pageant experience. Jenna treats Kenneth as her mother Verna (Jan Hooks) treated her during her pageant years. After a failed, over-the-top performance in front of Human resources mediator Jeffrey Weinerslav (Todd Buonopane), Jenna vows to get Kenneth his job back. She goes to Jack to ask him for his help, and Jack orders Jeffrey to hire Kenneth back.
When Representative Bookman makes an unexpected visit to New York, Jack tries to show NBC's commitment to diversity, but is thwarted when Bookman sees signs next to two bathrooms that read "Colored" and "White" that were really intended for the paper recycling bins that had been removed only moments ago, and Jeffrey informing Jack and Bookman that the minority slot in the page program was filled by Kenneth. Jack tries to improve the situation by giving "head writer" Toofer a medal for his work, but Bookman sees right through this, and discovers that Liz is the only one that truly deserves her respect and congratulates her. After more grandstanding, Bookman tells Jack she will vote no on the Kabletown-NBC deal unless he gives her reason not to.
The episode ends with a taping of the Let's Stay Together rewrite, including the talking dog.
Production
"Let's Stay Together" was written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt and directed by co-executive producer and staff writer John Riggi. This was Burditt's thirteenth writing credit after "Jack Meets Dennis", "The Baby Show", "The Fighting Irish", "Cleveland", "Rosemary's Baby", "Subway Hero", "Sandwich Day", "The One with the Cast of Night Court", "St. Valentine's Day", "The Ones", "Kidney Now!", and "Don Geiss, America and Hope".[1] This was Riggi's fourth helmed episode, having directed "Goodbye, My Friend", "The Problem Solvers" and "The Moms".[2] This episode of 30 Rock originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 7, 2010, as the third episode of the show's fifth season and the 83rd overall episode of the series.[3]
In September 2010, it was announced that actress and singer Queen Latifah would guest star on the show as a Congresswoman named Regina Bookman who demands from Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy, more diversity in its NBC programming lineup.[4] Latifah is a fan of the show and big fan of Baldwin and series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey. She said in an interview she was "out of my mind" excited to guest-star.[5] Latifah is due to appear in a future episode of 30 Rock.[6] It was also confirmed that actor-director Rob Reiner would appear as himself,[4] and in "Let's Stay Together" he played a Congressman. Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly reported in August 2010 that the show set a casting call "for an African-American male in the 30s-60s age range" to play a fictitious host named Rutherford Rice, a well-spoken host of Right On, a fictitious talk show focusing on African American issues.[7] In this episode, Rutherford Rice was played by actor Reg E. Cathey, best known for his role on the HBO drama The Wire as Norman Wilson.[6] Actor John Amos made a brief appearance in the episode in which he stars in one scene from the Let's Stay Together show alongside a talking dog named Stanley the Dog.[3] This was actor Todd Buonopane's fourth appearance as the character Jeffrey Weinerslav, an NBC Human resource mediator. Buonopane previously appeared in the season three episodes "Believe in the Stars", "Cutbacks", and "Jackie Jormp-Jomp".[8]
In an August 2010 interview, co-
Cultural references
In the beginning of the episode, Liz tells Jack that her writing staff have been replacing her name-plate title with various names including "F. Krueger."[12] She explains that the name refers to a time in which she got a chemical peel, as well as wore a red and green sweater and a fedora. This is a reference to the fictional horror villain from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series Freddy Krueger's appearance.[3] During the hearing in Washington D.C., Representative Rob Reiner says "The acclaimed director of When Harry Met Sally... would never do that!", a reference to Reiner who directed the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally....[13]
One of the applicants to become an NBC page plays a keyboard and sings in the tune of musician
30 Rock and
Let's Stay Together was a show conceived by Dot Com with a setting and characters similar to influential African American sitcom Good Times.[21] John Amos, who played the father on Good Times, makes a cameo appearance as the lead in the scene being filmed for the new show. He has cheesy lines and co-stars with a talking dog, a corruption of the show's original concept reminiscent of comments Amos and others have made regarding wasted potential in Good Times.[22]
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Let's Stay Together" was watched by 4.90 million households, according to the Nielsen Media Research. It received a 2.1 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic,[23] that is 2.1 percent of all people in that group, and 7 percent of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "When It Rains, It Pours", which was watched by 5.688 million American viewers.[24]
Andy Greenwald of
The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin called this episode "clumsy and tired", explaining it was "misfiring on all cylinders. The satire was toothless, the playing strained and the whole enterprise reeked of mild desperation." He continued in his recap that "Let's Stay Together" had a "golden opportunity to comment insightfully and hilariously about the tricky intersection of politics, power, race and privilege", however "it recycled jokes that were unfunny and overly familiar the first time around". In conclusion, Rabin gave it a C grade rating.[21] Brad Sanders of the Indiana Daily Student opined that the show's writing "is still sharp – not 'as sharp as ever,' but sharp – but a lot of the most interesting plots have already played out, and a lot of the new plots aren't interesting." Sanders said that the stories featured here had "a few big laughs ... but they're assembled so haphazardly and put into such a bulky framework that the train just never gets enough steam to salvage the episode."[30]
References
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- ^ a b c Lady Lola. "30 Rock — Let's Stay Together — Recap". Yahoo! TV. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ a b "NBC's Three-Time Emmy Award-Winning "30 Rock" Opens A Star-Studded Season Five On September 23 At 8:30 PM ET" (Press release). The Futon Critic. September 15, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
- ^ "30 Rock: Queen Latifah Talks 30 Rock". Hulu. Archived from the original on November 27, 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
- ^ a b c Greenwald, Andy (October 8, 2010). "30 Rock Recap: Fart Barfunkel". New York. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (August 25, 2010). "Ask Ausiello: Spoilers on 'Glee,' 'Gossip Girl,' 'Castle,' 'Burn Notice,' 'HIMYM,' and more!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ^ "Emmys: Q&A With Tina Fey & '30 Rock' Co-Showrunner Robert Carlock". Deadline Hollywood. August 10, 2010. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
- ^ Chozick, Amy (August 20, 2010). "'30 Rock' Vows Comcast Deal Won't Deter Corporate Jokes". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 28, 2010.
- ^ Flint, Joe (February 25, 2010). "Congresswoman Maxine Waters rips into NBC Universal's Jeff Zucker over lack of diversity". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- CraveOnline. Archived from the originalon January 20, 2013. Retrieved December 15, 2010.
- ^ "30 Rock — Best Lines". New York. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ^ TV Squad. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Roush, Matt (October 8, 2010). "Matt's TV Week in Review". TV Guide. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ Barrett, Annie (October 7, 2010). "'30 Rock' recap: Whiter Than a Wilco Concert". Entertainment Weekly. p. 2. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ^ Chozick, Amy (January 7, 2010). ""Community" Star Donald Glover on Comedy, Critical Acclaim and "30 Rock"". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
- ^ Rose, Lacey (April 18, 2011). "BET Renews 'The Game,' 'Let's Stay Together'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 19, 2011.
- ^ Ostrow, Joanne (October 14, 2006). "Memo to Sorkin: Lighten up". The Denver Post. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
- ^ a b Eidler, Scott (October 8, 2010). "30 Rock: The Angela Lansbury Lawsuit". The Cornell Daily Sun. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (October 7, 2010). "Let's Stay Together". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Mitchell, John L. (April 14, 2006). "Plotting His Next Big Break". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (October 8, 2010). "Thursday Finals: Bones, Community, Grey's Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, $#*! My Dad Says, The Office Adjusted Up". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
- ^ Gorman, Bill (October 1, 2010). "TV Ratings Thursday: My Generation Crashes; 30 Rock Steady; Most Shows Fall". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (October 8, 2010). "'30 Rock' - 'Let's Stay Together': Segregation of powers". HitFix. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Weiner, Juli (October 8, 2010). "Re-cap: 30 Observations About Last Night's 30 Rock". Vanity Fair. Retrieved November 5, 2010.
- ^ Blake, Meredith (October 8, 2010). "'30 Rock' recap: The rainbow coalition". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Smith, Caitlan (October 8, 2010). "'30 Rock': Queen Latifah Steals the Show". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
- ^ Sanders, Brad (October 8, 2010). "30 Rock: "Let's Stay Together"". Indiana Daily Student. Archived from the original on December 10, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
External links
- "Let's Stay Together" at IMDb