The Rural Juror
Encyclopedia
"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 Kingdom. Guest stars in the episode include Lonny Ross
, Keith Powell
, Maulik Pancholy
, Kevin Brown
, Grizz Chapman
, Chris Parnell
, Rachel Dratch
, Whoopi Goldberg
, Charlie Grandy, Bob Wiltfong
, Matt Oberg, Vickie Schmitt and Eric Engleman.
The episode focuses on the release of Jenna Maroney
's (Jane Krakowski
) long-anticipated indie film
, The Rural Juror, the tongue-twisting title of which Liz Lemon
(Tina Fey
) and the writers of TGS with Tracy Jordan cannot understand. Meanwhile, Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
), desperate for some financial help, heeds Jack Donaghy
's (Alec Baldwin
) advice and creates his own celebrity product to endorse.
's brother), revolves around a Southern–born lawyer named Constance Justice. Jenna wants Liz to give her an honest opinion of the film, as she is nervous about how it will be received by the public. Liz sees the film in private, and her reaction is not very positive, but she hesitates to tell Jenna the truth. When Jenna finds out that Liz did not enjoy the film, the two start fighting and accusing each other of not being truthful. Meanwhile, ignoring Liz's warnings, Josh Girard (Lonny Ross) manages to break into Liz's office to steal the film, which he watches with the rest of the TGS with Tracy Jordan writing staff. Much to Liz's shock, the staff say they like the film. As the argument between Liz and Jenna escalates, Jack intervenes and persuades them to work things out. Liz admits that she was jealous of Jenna's success, and they forgive one another.
Jack is on the phone with Maureen Dowd
when Tracy shows up to ask him for $100,000. Jack tells him that this is not possible but says that he has a better idea: use his celebrity image to endorse a product. After Tracy agrees, he comes up with "The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine". Armed with an "endorsement" from Dr. Spaceman (Chris Parnell) and hook-ups from Jack, the product is finally ready for sale. Soon after, a series of product defects prompts Tracy to tell Jack that he no longer wishes to endorse the product. Jack finds a way to make it work: by rebranding it as a Whoopi Goldberg
-endorsed product targeted for Ukraine
.
), Liz's brother. Mitch has a form of amnesia
, named Trauma Induced Niveaphasia, due to a skiing accident in December 1985.
said that although there was still plenty of room for growth, the episode gave a better understanding of Liz and Jenna's friendship. He felt that prior to the episode, nothing was known about Liz and Jenna's longtime friendship, and that there was no depth to it. Canning said that Liz's admittance to being somewhat jealous of Jenna's success was a much needed storyline for the show, and one that gave the audience something deeper to latch onto. However, Canning pointed out that small hints of what their friendship was like in the past were played for laughs as opposed to establishing any sort of history. Canning found that their verbal sparring really "solidified their bond", and that by the end of the episode the audience had seen their "human side" and the "characters had become people".
Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide
said that he was finally starting to understand Jenna, and how she fits into the show. He said that even though she was supposed to come off as flighty and disillusioned at times, he realized that in reality she was not completely flighty and disillusioned. He also noted the development in Liz and Jenna's friendship, learning that they go "way back" as friends and as a comedy team. Julia Ward of AOL
's TV Squad disagreed, however. She felt that the show had too many storylines and that this episode made it seem as if the show was about the relationship between Liz and Jenna, rather than the storylines introduced in the pilot. She said that having several ongoing storylines is possible, but the show needs some kind of center.
system, "The Rural Juror" was viewed by an average of 6.10 million American viewers. The episode achieved a rating of 2.9 in the key adults 18-49 demographic, which refers to 2.9 % of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S. The episode was ranked sixty-third in Nielsen's prime-time television rankings for the week. Upon its original broadcast in the United Kingdom, this episode was viewed by 200,000 viewers, which was 2 % of the viewing audience at the time of the broadcast.
Robert Canning of IGN said the episode "was a well-crafted half-hour with a solid main storyline". He said that the episode took 30 Rock in the "right direction" with a good story structure and a "successful effort at developing its characters". Canning rated the episode 8 out of 10. Julia Ward of AOL's TV Squad started her review by saying if Alec Baldwin did not win the Golden Globe for his performance, she would have no choice but to resign from her post at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association
, which he did at the 64th Golden Globe Awards
for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. She enjoyed Tina Fey's performance and liked Tracy's meat machine endorsement, Liz's "singles yoga" and "scalp pain" Google searches and Dr. Leo Spaceman's "reds, yellows, purples". She criticized several guest appearances, saying Goldberg's guest appearance was "underwhelming," and felt that Jane Krakowski was still "an odd fit for the show". Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide also gave a positive review, saying the episode "moved so dang fast and was so crackling" that it was very entertaining.
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 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 tenth episode of the series. It was written by Matt Hubbard
Matt Hubbard
Matt Hubbard is an American television writer and screenwriter who has worked on many television shows. He graduated from Beverly High School, in Beverly, Massachusetts in the class of 1996, where he excelled in the English Department. He later went on to attend Harvard University where he was an...
and was directed by Beth McCarthy. The episode first aired on January 11, 2007, on the 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...
network in the United States and December 13, 2007, on Five in the United Kingdom. Guest stars in the episode include 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...
, 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...
, Maulik Pancholy
Maulik Pancholy
Maulik Pancholy is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Sanjay on Weeds from 2005 to present, and his role as Jonathan on 30 Rock, which he has played since the show began in 2006....
, 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...
, 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...
, 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:...
, Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
, Charlie Grandy, Bob Wiltfong
Bob Wiltfong
Robert "Bob" Wiltfong is an American actor and comedian best known as a former correspondent on The Daily Show on Comedy Central. He has also made appearances on Chappelle's Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien...
, Matt Oberg, Vickie Schmitt and Eric Engleman.
The episode focuses on the release of 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...
's (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...
) long-anticipated indie film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
, The Rural Juror, the tongue-twisting title of which 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 the writers of TGS with Tracy Jordan cannot understand. 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:...
), desperate for some financial help, heeds 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....
's (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...
) advice and creates his own celebrity product to endorse.
Plot
Jenna anticipates the opening of her new film, The Rural Juror. The film, based on a "Kevin Grisham novel" (John GrishamJohn Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
's brother), revolves around a Southern–born lawyer named Constance Justice. Jenna wants Liz to give her an honest opinion of the film, as she is nervous about how it will be received by the public. Liz sees the film in private, and her reaction is not very positive, but she hesitates to tell Jenna the truth. When Jenna finds out that Liz did not enjoy the film, the two start fighting and accusing each other of not being truthful. Meanwhile, ignoring Liz's warnings, Josh Girard (Lonny Ross) manages to break into Liz's office to steal the film, which he watches with the rest of the TGS with Tracy Jordan writing staff. Much to Liz's shock, the staff say they like the film. As the argument between Liz and Jenna escalates, Jack intervenes and persuades them to work things out. Liz admits that she was jealous of Jenna's success, and they forgive one another.
Jack is on the phone with Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd
Maureen Bridgid Dowd is a Washington D.C.-based columnist for The New York Times and best-selling author. During the 1970s and the early 1980s, she worked for Time magazine and the Washington Star, where she covered news as well as sports and wrote feature articles...
when Tracy shows up to ask him for $100,000. Jack tells him that this is not possible but says that he has a better idea: use his celebrity image to endorse a product. After Tracy agrees, he comes up with "The Tracy Jordan Meat Machine". Armed with an "endorsement" from Dr. Spaceman (Chris Parnell) and hook-ups from Jack, the product is finally ready for sale. Soon after, a series of product defects prompts Tracy to tell Jack that he no longer wishes to endorse the product. Jack finds a way to make it work: by rebranding it as a Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
-endorsed product targeted for Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
Production
"The Rural Juror" was filmed in early November 2006. Regarding the episode's title, Tina Fey explained that "it came out of a discussion in the writers' room" when she asked, "you know what two words I cannot pronounce properly?" After a few abortive efforts by Fey's co-writers, who also made "rural juror" sound akin to "ruhhr-juhhrr," everyone was so pleased that "[they] wanted to hurry up and get it on the air before someone else did." Jenna's film, The Rural Juror, was first mentioned in "Tracy Does Conan" and referenced several times later. A running joke throughout the series was the difficulty in pronouncing the film's title, so that everyone thought it was called something different. Throughout the episode, the film was called "Roar Her, Gem Her" by Liz; and also "Oral Germ Whore" and "Roaring Junior" by Pete. This episode also features the first mention of Mitch Lemon (Andy RichterAndy Richter
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known for his role as the sidekick of Conan O'Brien on each of the host's programs: Late Night and The Tonight Show on NBC, and Conan on TBS...
), Liz's brother. Mitch has a form of amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
, named Trauma Induced Niveaphasia, due to a skiing accident in December 1985.
Character development
Several critics praised this episode for its character development, something that they said was missing in the previous episodes. Robert Canning of IGNIGN
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...
said that although there was still plenty of room for growth, the episode gave a better understanding of Liz and Jenna's friendship. He felt that prior to the episode, nothing was known about Liz and Jenna's longtime friendship, and that there was no depth to it. Canning said that Liz's admittance to being somewhat jealous of Jenna's success was a much needed storyline for the show, and one that gave the audience something deeper to latch onto. However, Canning pointed out that small hints of what their friendship was like in the past were played for laughs as opposed to establishing any sort of history. Canning found that their verbal sparring really "solidified their bond", and that by the end of the episode the audience had seen their "human side" and the "characters had become people".
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 was finally starting to understand Jenna, and how she fits into the show. He said that even though she was supposed to come off as flighty and disillusioned at times, he realized that in reality she was not completely flighty and disillusioned. He also noted the development in Liz and Jenna's friendship, learning that they go "way back" as friends and as a comedy team. 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 disagreed, however. She felt that the show had too many storylines and that this episode made it seem as if the show was about the relationship between Liz and Jenna, rather than the storylines introduced in the pilot. She said that having several ongoing storylines is possible, but the show needs some kind of center.
Reception
According to the Nielsen ratingsNielsen 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 Rural Juror" was viewed by an average of 6.10 million American viewers. The episode achieved a rating of 2.9 in the key adults 18-49 demographic, which refers to 2.9 % of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S. The episode was ranked sixty-third in Nielsen's prime-time television rankings for the week. Upon its original broadcast in the United Kingdom, this episode was viewed by 200,000 viewers, which was 2 % of the viewing audience at the time of the broadcast.
Robert Canning of IGN said the episode "was a well-crafted half-hour with a solid main storyline". He said that the episode took 30 Rock in the "right direction" with a good story structure and a "successful effort at developing its characters". Canning rated the episode 8 out of 10. Julia Ward of AOL's TV Squad started her review by saying if Alec Baldwin did not win the Golden Globe for his performance, she would have no choice but to resign from her post at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is an organization composed of working journalists who cover the United States film industry for a variety of outlets, including newspapers and magazines in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Today, the 90 members of the HFPA represent at least 55...
, which he did at the 64th Golden Globe Awards
64th Golden Globe Awards
The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards were aired on January 15, 2007. Some key dates announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are:The ceremony was broadcast live on NBC...
for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. She enjoyed Tina Fey's performance and liked Tracy's meat machine endorsement, Liz's "singles yoga" and "scalp pain" Google searches and Dr. Leo Spaceman's "reds, yellows, purples". She criticized several guest appearances, saying Goldberg's guest appearance was "underwhelming," and felt that Jane Krakowski was still "an odd fit for the show". Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide also gave a positive review, saying the episode "moved so dang fast and was so crackling" that it was very entertaining.