The C Word
Encyclopedia
"The C Word" is the fourteenth episode of the 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...

 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 series creator 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...

 and directed by Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein is an American film, music video and television director and screenwriter. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey...

. The episode 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 February 15, 2007. Guest stars in this episode include 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...

, Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch is an American comic actress best known for her roles as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...

, John Lutz
John Lutz (television writer)
John Lutz is an American actor, writer and comedian.-Biography:The son of a Lutheran minister, Lutz grew up in suburban Chicago and Detroit. He attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, majoring in psychology and minoring in...

, Keith Powell
Keith Powell
Keith Powell is an American television actor who is best known for his role as James "Toofer" Spurlock on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock.-Career:Powell was the Producing Artistic Director of Contemporary Stage Company, a summer theater in Wilmington, Delaware...

, Lonny Ross
Lonny Ross
Lonny Ross is a comedy actor and writer. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work as Josh Girard on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock...

, 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...

, and Charlyne Yi
Charlyne Yi
Charlyne Amanda Yi is an American actress, comedian, musician, writer, and painter. Her performances do not include joke-telling as in standup comedy; instead, she uses different tactics such as music, magic, games, and often audience participation...

.

In the episode, after being criticized for her working habits by her co-workers, head writer 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:...

 (Fey) decides to be more lenient with her writing staff. Meanwhile, 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...

) brings 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:...

) to a major golf event to get closer to Don Geiss (Torn), the CEO of General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 (GE), but his plan backfires when Tracy decides to drop "truth bombs".

"The C Word" has received generally positive reviews from television critics. According to the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

 system, the episode was watched by 5.0 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.5 rating/6 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

Plot

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...

), Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 (GE), invites 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:...

) to a GE diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

 charity golf event. Jack hopes that bringing Tracy along can help him get close to GE CEO Don Geiss (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...

). At the event, Tracy becomes the hit of the party, but quickly begins to feel that the reason he was brought along was to be "the funny black man". Tracy insults Geiss by accusing him of not hiring more black people, which results in Tracy and Jack not being invited to golf along with Geiss. Jack blames Tracy for this, but Tracy does not care, as he tells Jack that he cannot help but drop "truth bombs". Later, to make amends with both Jack and Geiss, Tracy gives a heartfelt speech about his daughter battling diabetes, which moves Geiss. This results in Geiss inviting Jack, Tracy, and Tracy's daughter to the vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...

. Tracy admits to Jack that he does not have a daughter, which prompts Jack to say, "Let's have a casting session on Monday."

Meanwhile, at the 30 Rock studios, TGS with Tracy Jordan head writer 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...

) and her writing staff are discussing potential topics to use in the show. J. D. Lutz (John Lutz
John Lutz (television writer)
John Lutz is an American actor, writer and comedian.-Biography:The son of a Lutheran minister, Lutz grew up in suburban Chicago and Detroit. He attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, majoring in psychology and minoring in...

) suggests one of his sketches, "Dancing with the Hobos", which Liz criticizes, thus embarrassing him in front of everyone. Later, Liz talks to Greta Johansen (Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch is an American comic actress best known for her roles as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...

), the show's cat wrangler. At the same time, she overhears Lutz calling her the C word
Cunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...

. Outraged by this, Liz tells Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...

) and Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles.-Early life:...

) about what Lutz called her and wants to fire him. Frank reveals that Lutz's poor behavior is due to the passing of his grandmother. After it is pointed out that she has been a terrible boss to the staff, Liz begins acting nice, but this backfires when they take advantage of her. Angered by this, Liz confronts the writers about their actions, and tells Lutz she knows what he called her. Liz warns all of them that if they call her that "horrible word" she will fire them.

Production

"The C Word" was written by series creator, executive producer and lead actress 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...

, making it her seventh writing credit after the pilot episode
Pilot (30 Rock)
The pilot episode of the American situation comedy series 30 Rock premiered on October 10, 2006 on the CTV Television Network in Canada, and October 11, 2006 on NBC in the United States...

, "The Aftermath
The Aftermath (30 Rock)
"The Aftermath" is the second episode of the first season of the American situation comedy 30 Rock, which first aired on October 17, 2006 on CTV in Canada. It aired on October 18, 2006 on the NBC network in the United States, its country of origin, and October 18, 2007 in the United Kingdom. The...

", "Tracy Does Conan
Tracy Does Conan
"Tracy Does Conan" is the seventh episode of NBC's first season of 30 Rock. It was written by the series' creator and executive producer, Tina Fey and it was directed by one of the season's supervising producers, Adam Bernstein. It first aired on December 7, 2006 in the United States and November...

", "The Head and the Hair", "Black Tie
Black Tie (30 Rock)
"Black Tie" is the twelfth episode of the first season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock. It was directed by Don Scardino, and written by Kay Cannon and series creator Tina Fey. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on February 1, 2007...

", and "Up All Night
Up All Night (30 Rock)
"Up All Night" is the thirteenth episode of NBC's first season of 30 Rock. It was written by the series' creator and executive producer Tina Fey, and was directed by Michael Engler. It first aired on February 8, 2007 in the United States...

". The episode was directed by supervising producer Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein is an American film, music video and television director and screenwriter. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey...

, making it his fifth for the series. "The C Word" originally aired on NBC in the United States on February 15, 2007, as the fourteenth episode of 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...

.

In an April 2007 interview with 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...

, Fey revealed that she was once called "the c word"
Cunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...

 by one of her writers. In discussion of this, she said, "That C-word thing actually did happen. I was furious, and I had this weird reaction where I kept saying, 'You can't say that! My parents love me!'" In another interview, she was asked whether the c-word was based on experience, to which she said, "It was a little bit. It was a little bit based on the experience of having someone call you that and not knowing how to deal with it."

Comedienne actress Rachel Dratch
Rachel Dratch
Rachel Susan Dratch is an American comic actress best known for her roles as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1999 to 2006.-Early life:...

, longtime comedy partner and fellow 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...

(SNL) alumna of Fey, the latter who was the head writer on SNL from 1999 until 2006, was originally cast to portray the character 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...

. Dratch played the role in the show's original pilot, but in August 2006, actress 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...

 was announced as Dratch's replacement. Executive producer Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...

 announced that while Dratch would not be playing a series regular, she would appear in various episodes in a different role. In the pilot, "The Baby Show
The Baby Show (30 Rock)
"The Baby Show" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock. It was written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt and directed by Michael Engler. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on January 4, 2007...

", and in this episode, she played Greta Johansen, The Girlie Show's cat wrangler. "The C Word" was actor 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...

's debut as GE CEO Don Geiss.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "The C Word" was watched by 5.0 million households, according to the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...

 system. It earned a 2.5 rating/6 share in the 18–49 demographic.
This means that it was seen by 2.5 percent of all 18–49 years olds, and 6 percent of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "Up All Night
Up All Night (30 Rock)
"Up All Night" is the thirteenth episode of NBC's first season of 30 Rock. It was written by the series' creator and executive producer Tina Fey, and was directed by Michael Engler. It first aired on February 8, 2007 in the United States...

", which was watched by 5.2 million American viewers.

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...

 contributor Robert Canning, wrote, "Even in an episode like 'The 'C' Word,' where some of the ideas fall a bit short, there were still plenty of laugh-out-loud moments to talk about. [...] In the end, the great writing outweighed the slightly bothersome contrivances to make this yet another laugh-filled episode of 30 Rock." He said that the pairing of Jack and Tracy "gave us another opportunity to enjoy the pairing of the polar opposite personalities". Canning reported that the Liz plot had "its funny moments", but opined that it was hard to "get past the fact this wasn't exactly the Liz we knew", in regards to her being a "domineering boss that cares little about her employees." Canning gave the episode a 7.8 out of 10 rating. Julia Ward of AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...

's TV Squad wrote that putting Alec Baldwin and Rip Torn together "was a genius move." She was complimentary towards Tina Fey, citing that it was "another great week" in her "continuing portrayal of what being a hard-working gal is actually like." Ward enjoyed Tracy's speech, noting that it was "priceless", and was glad to see him having "ample screen time ... which was a nice change of pace." 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...

's Matt Mitovich wrote he enjoyed all of the episode's storyline pairings, but much enjoyed Jack and Tracy. Further in his recap, Mitovich reported that Liz's plot could have been better had the comedy show How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

"not gone there with the C-word" in an episode. Though, he said that Liz's story "had a fitting message – that she is held to a different standard, yet shouldn't be, as a female head writer. Plus, her story gave us that winning flurry of flashbacks to times when she was a... not very nice lady."

External links

  • "The C Word," at TV.com
    TV.com
    TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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