"Up All Night" is the thirteenth episode of 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...

'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...

 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...

. It was written by the series' creator and executive producer 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 was directed by Michael Engler

Michael Engler

Michael Engler is an American theatre director, and television director and producer. His Broadway credits include Eastern Standard and I Hate Hamlet...

. It first aired on February 8, 2007 in the United States. Guest stars in this episode include Katrina Bowden

Katrina Bowden

Katrina Bowden is an American actress. She is known for her short role as Britney Jennings on One Life to Live and for her role as Cerie in 30 Rock .- Education :...

, 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:...

, Rachel Hamilton, 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...

, 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....

, 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...

, Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and model. Rossellini is noted for her 14-year tenure as a Lancôme model, and for her roles in films such as Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her.-Background and early life:Rossellini is a...

, 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...

, 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 Mark Zimmerman. Joy Behar

Joy Behar

Josephina Victoria "Joy" Behar is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host of the talk show The View. Behar has a commentary program, entitled The Joy Behar Show, on CNN's sister network, HLN...

 appeared as herself in the episode.

This episode focuses on the events of Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...

 for the cast and crew of TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional 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. 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:...

 (played by Tina Fey) receives a mysterious gift; 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:...

) comments that he hates 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...

); 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,...

) forgets Valentine's Day, which also happens to be his wife, Paula's (Paula Pell) birthday; 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...

) divorce from Bianca (Isabella Rossellini) is made official; the writers believe that Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden) has romantic feelings for 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"...

); and 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:...

) tries to spend a night with his wife, Angie Jordan (Sherri Shephard).

Plot

It is Valentine's Day, although the TGS cast and crew still have to work all night. Frank reveals that he hates Jenna when a game of "Marry, Boff, Kill" gets out of hand. Jenna tries many times to redeem herself with Frank, with reasons such as her participation in Vagina Day; "a charity event founded by a group of celebrities who have for whatever reason never been asked to participate in the Vagina Monologues". Another game of Marry, Boff, Kill leads some of the writers into believing that Cerie has feelings for Kenneth. The writers send the pair off to get candy for the night. Kenneth and Cerie take a walk around 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...

, and Cerie reveals that she is not attracted to Kenneth.

Pete has forgotten that it is Valentine's Day, which also happens to be his wife Paula's birthday. He spends the night running around the city to try and find Valentine's Day and birthday presents for his wife. Tracy and Angie plan to spend the night at the Soho Grand Hotel only to be interrupted by the newly-divorced Jack and his prostitute, Vlem (Rachel Dratch). Liz has received a gift of chocolates and flowers from a supposed secret admirer. The "admirer" turns out to be Floyd (Jason Sudeikis) and the gifts turn out to be for his girlfriend, Liz Lemler, who works in the accounting department at TGS.

Production

Jason Sudeikis, who played Floyd 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...

. 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...

, 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...

 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 amount of episodes of any host of the series.

Reception

"Up All Night" brought in an average of 5.2 million viewers. The episode also achieved a 2.5/6 in the key 18–49 year old demographic. The 2.5 refers to 2.5% of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S., and the 6 refers to 6% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast in the U.S..

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...

wrote that "it would be nearly impossible to measure up to last week's utterly manic introduction of Prince Gerhardt [Paul Ruebens], so forgive 30 Rock if this week's outing was 'merely' very amusing at times." He added that compared to Jack's storyline, he "actually wore more grins watching the microscopic B-story with the writers, playing Marry, Boff, Kill." 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 "the Valentine's Day episode of 30 Rock gave us a big surprise: a low-key half hour from a show known for being over the top," adding that this was "a pleasant surprise". He said that this episode "proved that [30 Rock] could make with the funny no matter what the tone". Canning rated this episode 8.5 out of 10.