Jack Gets in the Game
Encyclopedia
"Jack Gets in the Game" is the second episode of NBC
's second season
of 30 Rock
and twenty-third episode overall. It was written by Jon Pollack
and directed by one of the season's producers, Don Scardino
. It first aired on November 8, 2007 in the United States. Guest stars in this episode include Fajer Al-Kaisi
, Will Arnett
, Kevin Brown
, Grizz Chapman
, Erin Hilgartner, Marceline Hugot, Matt Lauria
, Jean Morgan, Chris Parnell
, Sherri Shepherd
and Rip Torn
.
In this episode, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) finds out that Jack had a heart attack, which occurred in "Hiatus
," and decides to use this to his advantage; Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
) is still trying to fix his marriage to Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd); and Jenna Maroney
(Jane Krakowski
) begins to see the positive side of being overweight. This episode received generally positive reviews.
. Jack's only other opposition is Devon, who has returned from the west coast, only now with a fiancée who happens to be Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot), Don's daughter. Upon returning, Devon, who is secretly gay, finds out from Kenneth Parcell
(Jack McBrayer
) about Jack's secret heart attack. At a gathering at Don's house, the pair face off against one another during a game of football.
Tracy is still struggling with his marriage to Angie, who had thrown him out of their family home. Later in this episode, the pair reconcile, but only if Tracy allows for Angie to follow him to make sure that he isn't having an affair.
Jenna becomes attached to her newly gained fat when a mishap during a sketch, on TGS with Tracy Jordan, brings her large amounts of attention from the public. Liz Lemon
(Tina Fey
) is still re-adjusting to life outside of a relationship.
Chris Parnell
, who played Dr. Leo Spaceman in this episode, has appeared in the main cast of Saturday Night Live
, a weekly sketch comedy
series which airs on NBC
in the United States. Tina Fey was the head writer
on Saturday Night Live from 1999 until 2006. Various other cast members of Saturday Night Live have appeared on 30 Rock. These cast members include: Rachel Dratch, Fred Armisen
, Kristen Wiig
, Will Forte
, Jason Sudeikis
and Molly Shannon
. Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan have both been part of the main cast of Saturday Night Live. Alec Baldwin has also hosted Saturday Night Live thirteen times, the second highest number of episodes of any host of the series.
The "Me Want Food" t-shirts which Jenna and Liz see in the NBC store, at Rockefeller Center
, were actually made available from the NBC Universal
website shortly after the episode aired. Similar t-shirts were manufactured, shortly after the episode "MILF Island
" aired. They feature the MILF Island logo.
"Jack Gets in the Game" brought in an average of 6.6 million American viewers. This episode achieved a 3.0/8 in the key 18–49 demographic, a series high in that category. The 3.0 refers to 3.0% of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S. and the 8 refers to 8% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast, in the U.S. This episode was the highest rated program, in its timeslot, among the men 18–34 demographic.
Robert Canning of IGN
thought that this was a "solid episode", and that Will Arnett's character "was even more entertaining in this episode" compared to his appearance in the episode "Fireworks". He added that "there was little to complain about", and rated it 8.9 out of 10. Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide
said that he "preferred this episode of 30 Rock" compared to the previous episode, "SeinfeldVision
". Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly
asked his readers "do you feel like Liz Lemon took a back seat, and if so, did you mind?", adding that "[Alec] Baldwin and [Tracy] Morgan get the laughs, but like the Tracy Jordan Meat Machine [from "The Rural Juror
"], 30 Rock requires three distinct flavors. Don't be afraid to sprinkle in the Lemon
."
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's second season
30 Rock (season 2)
The second season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, originally aired between October 4, 2007 and May 8, 2008 on NBC in the United States. 30 Rock takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series depicted as airing on NBC; the name refers to 30 Rockefeller...
of 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
and twenty-third episode overall. It was written by Jon Pollack
Jon Pollack
Jonathan Pollack is an American television producer and writer.Pollack has worked on shows such as Spin City, Just Shoot Me!, Father of the Pride, Joey, Andy Barker, P.I., Home Improvement and 30 Rock...
and directed by one of the season's producers, Don Scardino
Don Scardino
Don Scardino is an American television director and producer and a former actor.-Acting:Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor. His first Broadway credit was as an understudy in The Playroom in 1965. Additional Broadway acting credits include Johnny No-Trump, Godspell, and...
. It first aired on November 8, 2007 in the United States. Guest stars in this episode include Fajer Al-Kaisi
Fajer Al-Kaisi
- Early life :Born in Iraq, Al-Kaisi spent much time of his childhood being raised in Kuwait and later settled in Montreal, Canada. He soon moved to the United States, where he had completed his Masters in Acting from the University of Texas at Austin....
, Will Arnett
Will Arnett
William Emerson "Will" Arnett is a Canadian actor and comedian best known for his role as George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II on the Fox comedy Arrested Development. He is also known for his role as Devon Banks on the NBC comedy 30 Rock. Since his success on Arrested Development, Arnett has landed major...
, Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown (actor)
Kevin 'Dot Com' Brown is an American comedian, film and television actor, best known for his role on the series 30 Rock as "Dot Com".Brown also appeared as the lead in Marq Overton's one-man play Die Laughing in 2008 at the Diversity Players of Harlem and as an actor and executive producer of the...
, Grizz Chapman
Grizz Chapman
Grizzwald "Grizz" Chapman is an American television actor best known for his recurring role as Grizz on the NBC series 30 Rock. A June 2007 interview with rollingout.com lists Chapman's height as 6'10". In his commentary for the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Tracy Morgan revealed that they met when...
, Erin Hilgartner, Marceline Hugot, Matt Lauria
Matt Lauria
Matthew "Matt" Lauria is an American actor, musician and director. He made his television debut on the NBC comedy 30 Rock in 2007. He is best known for his roles as Luke Cafferty on Friday Night Lights and Caleb Evers on The Chicago Code.-Early life and career:Lauria was born in Alexandria,...
, Jean Morgan, Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
, Sherri Shepherd
Sherri Shepherd
Sherri Evonne Shepherd is an American comedienne, actress, and television personality. She is one of five co-hosts on the ABC daytime talkshow, The View, as well as being the current host of the Newlywed Game and having a recurring role as Angie Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock...
and Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
.
In this episode, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) finds out that Jack had a heart attack, which occurred in "Hiatus
Hiatus (30 Rock)
"Hiatus" is the twenty-first and season finale episode of NBC's first season of 30 Rock. It was written by series creator and executive producer Tina Fey, and was directed by Don Scardino. It first aired on April 26, 2007 in the United States...
," and decides to use this to his advantage; Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan
Ogbert Jordan, better known by his stage name, Tracy, is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, based on and played by Tracy Morgan.-Brief overview:...
(Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.-Early life:...
) is still trying to fix his marriage to Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd); and Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Jane Krakowski.-Fictional biography:Jenna was born Ystrepa Grokovitz on February 24, 1969 and grew up in Bakersfield...
(Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
) begins to see the positive side of being overweight. This episode received generally positive reviews.
Plot
Jack realizes that his boss Don Geiss (Rip Torn) is hinting that he will retire and believes that he, Jack, is a definite candidate to take over Don's job, as the CEO of General ElectricGeneral Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. Jack's only other opposition is Devon, who has returned from the west coast, only now with a fiancée who happens to be Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot), Don's daughter. Upon returning, Devon, who is secretly gay, finds out from Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a fictional character in the comedy television series 30 Rock. He is portrayed by actor Jack McBrayer and first appeared on television in the 30 Rock episode "Pilot" on October 10, 2006...
(Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"...
) about Jack's secret heart attack. At a gathering at Don's house, the pair face off against one another during a game of football.
Tracy is still struggling with his marriage to Angie, who had thrown him out of their family home. Later in this episode, the pair reconcile, but only if Tracy allows for Angie to follow him to make sure that he isn't having an affair.
Jenna becomes attached to her newly gained fat when a mishap during a sketch, on TGS with Tracy Jordan, brings her large amounts of attention from the public. Liz Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
(Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
) is still re-adjusting to life outside of a relationship.
Production
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
, who played Dr. Leo Spaceman in this episode, has appeared in the main cast of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
, a weekly sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
series which airs on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States. Tina Fey was the head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
on Saturday Night Live from 1999 until 2006. Various other cast members of Saturday Night Live have appeared on 30 Rock. These cast members include: Rachel Dratch, Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for his work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, and portraying off-color foreigners in various comedy films such as EuroTrip, Anchorman and Cop Out...
, Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig
Kristen Carroll Wiig is an American film and television actress who currently appears as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Wiig was a member of improvisational comedy troupe The Groundlings, and has appeared in several films and television series, including Bridesmaids, MacGruber, Flight of...
, Will Forte
Will Forte
Orville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte , is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002–2010 and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber.-Early life:Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of...
, Jason Sudeikis
Jason Sudeikis
Daniel Jason Sudeikis is an American actor and comedian currently starring as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:Sudeikis was born Daniel Jason Sudeikis in Fairfax, Virginia, the son of Kathryn , a travel agent who was president of the American Society of Travel Agents, and Dan...
and Molly Shannon
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...
. Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan have both been part of the main cast of Saturday Night Live. Alec Baldwin has also hosted Saturday Night Live thirteen times, the second highest number of episodes of any host of the series.
The "Me Want Food" t-shirts which Jenna and Liz see in the NBC store, at Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
, were actually made available from the NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
website shortly after the episode aired. Similar t-shirts were manufactured, shortly after the episode "MILF Island
MILF Island
"MILF Island" is the eleventh episode of NBC's second season of 30 Rock and thirty-second episode overall. It was written by the series' creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey and producer Matt Hubbard. The director of the episode was Kevin Rodney Sullivan. It aired on April 10, 2008...
" aired. They feature the MILF Island logo.
Reception
Robert Canning of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
thought that this was a "solid episode", and that Will Arnett's character "was even more entertaining in this episode" compared to his appearance in the episode "Fireworks". He added that "there was little to complain about", and rated it 8.9 out of 10. Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
said that he "preferred this episode of 30 Rock" compared to the previous episode, "SeinfeldVision
SeinfeldVision
"SeinfeldVision" is the first episode of the second season of 30 Rock and the twenty-second episode of the series. It was written by the series' creator, executive producer and lead actress, Tina Fey and directed by producer Don Scardino...
". Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
asked his readers "do you feel like Liz Lemon took a back seat, and if so, did you mind?", adding that "[Alec] Baldwin and [Tracy] Morgan get the laughs, but like the Tracy Jordan Meat Machine [from "The Rural Juror
The Rural Juror
"The Rural Juror" is the tenth episode of the first season of 30 Rock and tenth episode of the series. It was written by Matt Hubbard and was directed by Beth McCarthy. The episode first aired on January 11, 2007, on the NBC network in the United States and December 13, 2007, on Five in the United...
"], 30 Rock requires three distinct flavors. Don't be afraid to sprinkle in the Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
."