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30 Rock

Live Show

Season 5, Episode 4, Aired Oct 14, 2010

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8.2

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As the show is set to air its weekly broadcast, Liz is agitated when it seems her 40th birthday has been forgotten by her TGS co-workers. Tracy decides that breaking character is so hilarious that he'll do it on purpose all show. Jack regrets his vow to go sober during Avery's pregnancy.

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Cast & Crew

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SPECIAL GUEST STAR
Matt Damon

Carol Burnett
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
Bill Hader

Co-Pilot
SPECIAL GUEST STAR
Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Flashback Liz

Tina Fey

Liz Lemon
Alec Baldwin

Jack Donaghy
Tracy Morgan

Tracy Jordan
Jane Krakowski

Jenna Maroney
Scott Adsit

Pete Hornberger
Judah Friedlander

Frank Rossitano

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Fan Episode Reviews (5)

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I can't believe how bad this was

4.0

"Poor"

By cherold01, May 05, 2011

I love 30 Rock, but after about 10 minutes of this I had to turn it off. There were a couple of good gags, but overall it felt like one of those endless unfunny Saturday Night Live sketches that are the reason I gave up on SNL years ago. I think it is admirable to try something new, but this just wasn't well done. I think it's very difficult to change the basic format of a show like this, and 30 Rock's producers were simply not up to the task. If you like SNL in its current state, I suppose this will seem fine to you. But it's no 30 Rock.moreless
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live

8.5

"Great"

By thefanof, Mar 18, 2011

30 Rock, I know it is not possible, but they should consider having a live show every week. The main storyline with Liz and her birthday was hilarious, but all the subtleties of this episode were great too, from Tracy being Tracy, to the Kenneth scary laugh, to Elaine Benes playing Liz in the flashbacks, just a brilliantly done episode and not really any major mistakes. The live episode was a smashing success, and if they can get celebrities like Matt Damon and Jon Hamm to stop by, they definitely need to do this again later on in the year.moreless
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Amazing!

9.5

"Superb"

By caipirina, Mar 18, 2011

I wish more TV shows would dare to do a live show .. as a special .. ever since Xena and Buffy we got used to musical episode .. but doing a real live show .. and not only once, but twice, the same evening ... incredible ... As much as I love 30 rock ... I did not think they could be much better ... but doing a live show shows a lot of where the original idea came from ... and they did it extrodanairy well. I could have even enjoyed a few mess ups (those that looked like mess ups were scripted) .. but if you have ever worked behind a stage, you can appreciate the work ... and the load of extra guests they got in .. fantastic .. And doing it twice .. one for east coast, one for west (with subtle differences, i.e. theme song sung by the new Canadian actor for the west) .. great job ...moreless
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Liz is agitated when it seems her 40th birthday has been forgotten by her TGS co-workers. Tracy decides that breaking character is so hilarious that he'll do it on purpose all show. Jack regrets his vow to go sober during Avery's pregnancy.moreless

9.5

"Superb"

By anneso129, Dec 10, 2010

That was kind of amazing and I was really impress. It was the first time I watch this show. (I sometimes watch partial episode in French but that was crapy) I really like Tina Fey so I've decided to give this episode a go and I was not disappointed at all. The live performance was really nice and give a lot of rhythm to the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfus playing some parts of Tina Fey character was funny.
For the story of this episode compare to the whole show I won't give any opinion because I don't know this show at all but I had a really good first impression!moreless
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Imagine a 21 minute 30 Rock skit on Saturday Night Live and VOILA!

8.3

"Great"

By JaCkKbAuEr2424, Oct 18, 2010

This episode could've derailed in SO many ways. When I heard about this episode, I initially thought that while it's an interesting idea, it wasn't something the show should do. However, after watching it, it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. It was sort of irritating to watch sometimes, but the show found good ways to work around the live format.

The episode revolved around Liz's 40th birthday going by unnoticed and Jack quitting drinking to make Avery happy. Meanwhile, Tracy watches a non-porn version of Carol Burnett and starts breaking character in the middle of the TGS show to get laughs. MEANWHILE, Jenna wants to have a wardrobe malfunction. There wasn't much of a plot, and more of the episode was devoted to trying to show the audience how different 30 Rock was in a live format instead of a single camera sitcom format.

There were some great moments here. Matt Damon and Chris Parnell had some pretty great scenes here, especially Matt Damon, who just about stole the show in his two short scenes ("Is that a surprise party?! Because I was in on it the whole time!") Jon Hamm was not bad, and it was funny to see Rachel Dratch re-appear for a few scenes here. But there were also some jokes that fell flat.. Tracy trying to make people laugh on the TGS show was sort of lackluster, and while there were some funny little jokes sprinkled here and there (Lutz's shirt, the Capital One shout out), it just didn't feel the same in a live format. The show is one of those shows (like Scrubs) that is meant for single camera sitcom format. In fact, I really hope the show doesn't keep trying these themed episodes, because while Scrubs could occasionally pull them off, sometimes, it just didn't work.

Overall though, it wasn't as bad as I expected. The writing is still superb for the show, and everybody did a good job in switching formats (it also helps to have SNL pros there).moreless
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Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock fro...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Tracy Morgan as Tracy, Tina Fey as Liz a...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Tina Fey as Liz on 30 Rock from the "Liv...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Matt Damon as Carol on 30 Rock from the ...

© 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- Franks's trucker hat reads, "Promotional Consideration".
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QUOTES (3)
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- Flashback Liz (east coast): (at Jonathan) Yeah, Chai Boy, get in here. (as Prem Kumar) "You'll never be a millionaire." Slumdog Millionaire ref. Blammo!
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- Flashback Liz (west coast): (at Jonathan) Hurry up, Aladdin, before Jasmine is forced to marry Jafar! Similarities—Lemon, out!
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- Kenneth: A Mr. Brett 'Fav-ray' stopped by and, uh, dropped off this picture of a hot dog. Jenna: Finally. Kenneth: Oh, and the Chilean miners are all out, and they are very angry about what you've been saying about them. Jenna: So I guess they're geniuses for getting stuck in a mine?
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NOTES (2)
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- International Airdates: United Kingdom: February 24, 2011 on Comedy Central
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- This episode truly was done live and done twice: first for the east coast audience and a second time three hours later for the west. There were a number of major changes: flashback Liz teases Jonathan with a Slumdog Millionaire joke in the east version, but with an Alladin joke in the west; Jane Krakowski sang an intro for the east coast, while Cheyenne Jackson sang for the west coast; some lyrics in Dr. Spaceman's Love Storm commercial were different; Drew Baird had the hand from an executed black male on the east coast, but from a white female explosion victim on the west.
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