Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning
Encyclopedia
"Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season
of the American television comedy series 30 Rock
. It was written by executive producer Robert Carlock
. The director of this episode was Beth McCarthy-Miller
. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) in the United States on January 27, 2010. Guest stars in this episode include Robert DeNiro, Lester Holt, Sherri Shepherd
, and Dean Winters
.
In the episode, Jack Donaghy
(Alec Baldwin
) decides to pre-tape a celebrity benefit for a natural disaster, but his plan goes terribly wrong. Meanwhile, Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
) continues to drive Liz Lemon
(Tina Fey
) crazy with his irresponsibility. However, when a reality show camera crew starts to follow Tracy around, Liz tries to use it to her advantage.
"Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" was universally well received and praised by television critics. According to Nielsen Media Research
, the episode was watched by 4.922 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.4 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
(Alec Baldwin
) that he's no longer a part of GE and now works for Kabletown, he decides to conquer this new phase in his life just as he did before. After researching, he finds that the most watched reality programs of the past five years are celebrity benefits for natural disasters. Since all the networks air benefits at the same time, no one network has an advantage nor dominates in the ratings. To combat this, Jack decides to pre-tape a benefit to air on the night of the next natural disaster. When a disaster devastates an island called Mago, Jack is ecstatic until he finds out that the island is owned by the infamous troubled actor, Mel Gibson
. Regardless, the event is a success.
Meanwhile, Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
) pushes Liz Lemon
's (Tina Fey
) buttons as usual by not showing up to rehearsals and leaving work to do something insane. However, Tracy's demeanor instantly changes when a camera crew starts to follow him around for his wife's new reality show. He starts to act responsible and respectful in front of the cameras, as not to ruin his chances of winning an Oscar. Liz has the idea to use Tracy's fake good behavior to get him to do things he blew off in the past, knowing that he can't refuse while taped. This works until Tracy finds a loophole. When Liz tries to get Tracy to do more things, he refuses and insults Liz to the melody of "Uptown Girl
" by Billy Joel
. Since the song is trademarked, any footage containing that song can't be used. Therefore Tracy's irresponsibility wouldn't be aired on the show. Liz tries to outcrazy him with autotune, but she later realizes that she can't match his insanity. They finally talk it out alone and each argue that the other person would have been a failure without their help. Cameras manage to film this nevertheless and Tracy and Liz refuse to make up. However, when the show edits their various confrontations and uses two look-alikes to create a make up scene along to the song "Secrets" by OneRepublic
, both Liz and Tracy are moved to tears and make up for real.
by Comcast
. Liz tries to tell Jack what a Snart is (which is to sneeze and fart simultaneously) because it is ten o'clock. This refers 30 Rocks move from the 8:30 pm to the 10:00 pm timeslot. Tracy plans to get an island like Nicolas Cage
, Celine Dion
, and Charles Widmore
, the latter being a fictional character from Lost
. The whole cast of TGS is being filmed by the cameras of Angie Jordan's (wife of Tracy) new reality show, Queen of Jordan. Queen of Jordan first "began" after the events of the previous episode "Mrs. Donaghy
". Eventually an episode of 30 Rock was filmed as an episode of "Queen of Jordan".
The episode references the ongoing storyline of Liz's desire to become a mother when Kenneth gives Liz a memo he could not put in her mailbox because it was full of unread adoption materials. This story first began in the show's first season
, and continued in the third season
.
Tracy and Liz fight in several ways, all of them involving using copyrighted
material such the Billy Joel
song "Uptown Girl
" or the New York Rangers
logo. Liz continues the sing-off by performing The Beatles'
song "Here Comes the Sun
" for free so that the reality cameras could film it and depict Tracy's true character (she used Auto-Tune
).
Jack films a pre-taped disaster event special which covers Mago Island
, but this backfires because the only victims were actor Mel Gibson
, who was highly publicized for his personal troubles, and his guest, Jon Gosselin
.
, "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" was watched by 4.922 million households in its original American broadcast. It earned a 2.4 rating/7 share in the 18–49 demographic. This means that it was seen by 2.4 percent of all 18–49 years olds, and 7 percent of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "Mrs. Donaghy
", which was watched by 5.338 million American viewers.
30 Rock (season 5)
The fifth season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series on the NBC network in the United States, began airing on September 23, 2010. NBC announced on March 5, 2010 that 30 Rock would be returning for a fifth season in the 2010–2011 television season...
of the American television comedy series 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...
. It was written by executive producer Robert Carlock
Robert Carlock
Robert Carlock is an American television producer and screenwriter most widely known for his work as a writer for several NBC television comedies, particularly his work with Tina Fey as show runners for 30 Rock.-Early years:...
. The director of this episode was Beth McCarthy-Miller
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Beth McCarthy or Beth McCarthy-Miller was the director of NBCs Saturday Night Live starting in 1995. She left SNL in 2006 at the end of season 31, replaced as director by Don Roy King...
. It originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company
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...
(NBC) in the United States on January 27, 2010. Guest stars in this episode include Robert DeNiro, Lester Holt, 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 Dean Winters
Dean Winters
Dean Winters is an American actor, who has portrayed Ryan O'Reily on HBO's Oz, Johnny Gavin on FX Network's Rescue Me, and Dennis Duffy on NBC's 30 Rock...
.
In the episode, Jack Donaghy
Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
(Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
) decides to pre-tape a celebrity benefit for a natural disaster, but his plan goes terribly wrong. Meanwhile, 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:...
) continues to drive 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...
) crazy with his irresponsibility. However, when a reality show camera crew starts to follow Tracy around, Liz tries to use it to her advantage.
"Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" was universally well received and praised by television critics. According to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, the episode was watched by 4.922 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.4 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
Plot
As it dawns on Jack DonaghyJack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
(Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
) that he's no longer a part of GE and now works for Kabletown, he decides to conquer this new phase in his life just as he did before. After researching, he finds that the most watched reality programs of the past five years are celebrity benefits for natural disasters. Since all the networks air benefits at the same time, no one network has an advantage nor dominates in the ratings. To combat this, Jack decides to pre-tape a benefit to air on the night of the next natural disaster. When a disaster devastates an island called Mago, Jack is ecstatic until he finds out that the island is owned by the infamous troubled actor, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
. Regardless, the event is a success.
Meanwhile, 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:...
) pushes 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:...
's (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...
) buttons as usual by not showing up to rehearsals and leaving work to do something insane. However, Tracy's demeanor instantly changes when a camera crew starts to follow him around for his wife's new reality show. He starts to act responsible and respectful in front of the cameras, as not to ruin his chances of winning an Oscar. Liz has the idea to use Tracy's fake good behavior to get him to do things he blew off in the past, knowing that he can't refuse while taped. This works until Tracy finds a loophole. When Liz tries to get Tracy to do more things, he refuses and insults Liz to the melody of "Uptown Girl
Uptown Girl
"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by musician Billy Joel, first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl." The single peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK,...
" by Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
. Since the song is trademarked, any footage containing that song can't be used. Therefore Tracy's irresponsibility wouldn't be aired on the show. Liz tries to outcrazy him with autotune, but she later realizes that she can't match his insanity. They finally talk it out alone and each argue that the other person would have been a failure without their help. Cameras manage to film this nevertheless and Tracy and Liz refuse to make up. However, when the show edits their various confrontations and uses two look-alikes to create a make up scene along to the song "Secrets" by OneRepublic
OneRepublic
OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...
, both Liz and Tracy are moved to tears and make up for real.
Cultural references
This episode continues to refer to the real life acquisition of NBCNBC
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...
by Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
. Liz tries to tell Jack what a Snart is (which is to sneeze and fart simultaneously) because it is ten o'clock. This refers 30 Rocks move from the 8:30 pm to the 10:00 pm timeslot. Tracy plans to get an island like Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
, and Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
, the latter being a fictional character from Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. The whole cast of TGS is being filmed by the cameras of Angie Jordan's (wife of Tracy) new reality show, Queen of Jordan. Queen of Jordan first "began" after the events of the previous episode "Mrs. Donaghy
Mrs. Donaghy
"Mrs. Donaghy" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 91st overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt and directed by Tricia Brock. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting...
". Eventually an episode of 30 Rock was filmed as an episode of "Queen of Jordan".
The episode references the ongoing storyline of Liz's desire to become a mother when Kenneth gives Liz a memo he could not put in her mailbox because it was full of unread adoption materials. This story first began in the show's first season
30 Rock (season 1)
The first season of the television comedy series 30 Rock originally aired between October 11, 2006 and April 26, 2007 on NBC in the United States...
, and continued in the third season
30 Rock (season 3)
The third season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, consists of 22 episodes and began airing on October 30, 2008 on the NBC network in the United States...
.
Tracy and Liz fight in several ways, all of them involving using copyrighted
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
material such the Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
song "Uptown Girl
Uptown Girl
"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by musician Billy Joel, first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl." The single peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK,...
" or the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
logo. Liz continues the sing-off by performing The Beatles'
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
song "Here Comes the Sun
Here Comes the Sun
"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It is regarded as one of the most popular Beatles songs. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles...
" for free so that the reality cameras could film it and depict Tracy's true character (she used Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune
Auto-Tune is a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. Auto-Tune uses a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise off-key inaccuracies and mistakes, and has allowed singers to perform apparently perfectly tuned vocal...
).
Jack films a pre-taped disaster event special which covers Mago Island
Mago Island
Mago Island is a volcanic island that lies in the northwest sector of Fiji's northern Lau Group of islands. One of the largest private islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the pristine island consists of of land....
, but this backfires because the only victims were actor Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, who was highly publicized for his personal troubles, and his guest, Jon Gosselin
Jon Gosselin
Jonathan Keith "Jon" Gosselin is an American television personality, known for his appearances with then-wife Kate Gosselin and their eight children on the American reality TV show Jon & Kate Plus 8.-Early life:...
.
Reception
According to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning" was watched by 4.922 million households in its original American broadcast. It earned a 2.4 rating/7 share in the 18–49 demographic. This means that it was seen by 2.4 percent of all 18–49 years olds, and 7 percent of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "Mrs. Donaghy
Mrs. Donaghy
"Mrs. Donaghy" is the eleventh episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 91st overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt and directed by Tricia Brock. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting...
", which was watched by 5.338 million American viewers.