Christmas Special

Season 3, Episode 6, Aired

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8.9
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EPISODE RATING: Great
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As Christmas approaches, Liz reaches out to children in need, while Jack desperately looks for ways to avoid his mother while she convalesces at his home.
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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

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  • The Christmas special is a classic in this series. Another enjoyable episode.

    8.0
    "Great"
    By acmb, Mar 10, 2009
    The Christmas special is a classic in this series. The one from the second season was perfect and although this one is not as good, it's very enjoyable. Jack's mother appears on this one again (I'll always say that Elaine Stritch is wonderful playing Colleen) and he hits her with his car. The final scenes between the two of them when Liz makes Jack realize what his mother did was for the good of him were really tender.

    The story about Santa's letters and what happens to Liz is really funny, not only when she goes to the post office to complain but also when she tells the kids the presents they have were bought by her. I hae to admit I love Christmas specials.moreless

  • That christmas show

    8.5
    "Great"
    By Water78, Mar 08, 2009
    30 ROCK CHRISTMAS SPECIAL - In this episode Jack catchs the crew of TGS off guard when he makes them do a christmas special for nbc. Not happy they do it anyway. Liz gets christmas gifts for children but when she delivers them it turns out the adults take the presents. Angered she goes to the postal service they dont care but she goes back with kenneth and it turns out they were the children's parents. Jack is stay at the studio hopping his mother wont bother him she does. But in the end he finds out his mother is what brought the christmas time together and the end the show with a song. Overall i thought it was an okay episode but the best i liked the one last year better than this one.moreless

  • It's Christmas at 30 Rock!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By maruschk, Dec 14, 2008
    I'm loving this! A pretty cosy, mellow, and still really funny episode... :)

    - Elaine Stritch
    is guest starring again as Jack's mother, Colleen. She's terrific as always, really charming and funny! Jack's mom isn't exactly welcome, as evidenced by him hitting her with his car (by accident, though)..
    Anyways, I loved Colleen pulling the whole 'Exhibit-A-B-C thing' when Jack denies having waited for 8 minutes before calling 911.
    Also, the piano scene with Jack and Colleen at the end was really sweet, couldn't help smiling :)
    Baldwin is a really good singer!!

    Liz is joining a programme in which she gets a Christmas list that a couple of poor kids have 'sent to Santa', and she then buys the stuff for them herself. It kinda derailed, though, when Liz finds out the whole thing was a scam for money.

    Fey, Baldwin, McBrayer, Morgan, Krakowski - awesome!

    Could this show get any better?moreless

  • Christmas special

    7.0
    "Good"
    By sequoa84, Dec 12, 2008
    With most comedies on TV turning sour, I thought I'll catch up on a 30 Rock. I caught up on all 35-odd episodes last week and here goes my first review.

    The show continues to be funny as always, but the last few installments don't really make you go crazy. Tracy Jordan looks all puffed up and is moving away from his usual crazy self. Here we see Jack's mother returning back to haunt him again during Christmas. Liz tries to cheer up some poor kids in uptown by sending them Christmas gifts. I loved the scene where Colleen presents exhibits as evidence to prove jack hadn't called 911 as soon as he hit her.

    We also see Fey's husband making a cameo as the piano player. As always, some offensive humor involving black stereotypes never fails to deliver the laughs.

    Nice and funny. Works for me so far.moreless

  • Jack accidentally hits his mother and decides to run a live Christmas Eve TGS Special to avoid spending time with her.

    7.5
    "Good"
    By thefanof, Dec 12, 2008
    Christmas episodes are a signature of any classic sitcom from Newhart to Everybody Loves Raymond. Even Seinfeld had one (well, technically that was a Festivus episode). The concept is easy to utilize and it is something that billions of people can relate to. Yet a key aspect of a good holiday special is having something ironic happen because of it.

    Jack could have run over his mother in any episode so I found it strange that they chose to do it here. More noticeable was the lack of any idea on how to write this kind of installment. We got the usual funny lines from Jack, Liz and Tracy, but not because of this season, just their general character-driven personalities. We can listen to Jack run on about his fall out with the Postmaster General or how Tracy does not know how to operate a camera, but spare us the awkward songs next time 30 Rock. I appreciate the fact that they realize this is still a show-within-a-show concept, but it just felt really forced here.

    This episode gave us as many laughs as any other sitcom this week, but this is just not the 30 Rock we knew for the first two Emmy-winning seasons.moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (1)

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  • QUOTES (6)

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    • Liz: Hey, Toofer, can I buy a kid FUBU? Is that a swear word?

    • Colleen: John Francis Donaghy, how could you? How could you?! Waiting eight minutes to call 911! I can't believe it! Jack: I don't know what you're talking about, mother, and I've gotta get back to work now. Colleen: Exhibit A: your cellphone bill. You made a call to 911 at 8:16 AM. Exhibit B: the watch that my son gave me for Christmas—not the one I wanted, by the way—you had just set it, before it broke, of course when your car rammed into me down in Florida. And it stopped at 8:08. Exhibit C- (She holds up a sign reading "16-8=8") Colleen: Sixteen minus eight - is eight! Numbers, unlike children, don't lie!

    • Jack: If I wanted to lick a hippie, I'd just return Joan Baez's phone calls.

    • Kenneth: (about Lemon's Christmas lists) I'll take one, Miss Lemon. I love helping people less fortunate than me. James: Where do you find them? Kenneth: There are these Nigerians on the Internet that help me.

    • Jack: (talking to Colleen on the phone) If you need something, just call down to the doorman. Yes, he does speak English; Jamaican people do speak English.

    • Liz: There certainly were no hugs around here. Tracy: If all you want is a hug from a black person maybe you should just host The Price Is Right.

  • NOTES (3)

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    • The German episode title is "Weihnachtstrauma", meaning "Christmas Trauma". The French title is "La mère Noël", meaning "Mother Christmas". The Spanish title is "Especial de Navidad".

    • International Airdates: Latin America: March 11, 2009 on Sony Entertainment Television (aka Canal Sony); Australia: March 16, 2009 on Channel 7; Czech Republic: May 30, 2011 on Prima COOL

    • Less than a week after this episode aired, the Postal Service's 'Operation Santa Claus' program (the official name of what the episode calls 'Letters to Santa') was abruptly stopped when a registered sex offender was discovered to be participating. It was subsequently re-started, but with participants no longer having access to addresses to which they could deliver gifts.

  • ALLUSIONS (1)

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    • Frank's hat reading "Foley Artist" paired with his Cactus Jack "Wanted: Dead" T-shirt refers to professional wrestler Mick Foley, who wrestled as "Cactus Jack" among other names.

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