Jack-Tor

Plot

Jack Tor wanted General Electric products featured on TGS with Tracy Jordan, but the writers were hesitant about the product placement, even as the cast praised Snapple White Green Tea during the scene. Liz agreed only if Jack appeared in the sketch. The next day, Liz saw outtakes from Jack’s product placement video and learned he had forgotten his lines after 142 takes. Realizing he needed help, she encouraged him to proceed, and he eventually completed the shoot.

Tracy decided to skip rehearsals after being called back to read cue cards. When he ignored them, Jenna told Liz, who suspected Tracy might be illiterate, recalling a previous cue card issue in “The Aftermath.” Liz confronted Tracy, and he admitted he was illiterate, agreeing to get help. Later, Liz saw Tracy reading a newspaper in the elevator and discovered he had been faking illiteracy to avoid work.

She told him she would not tolerate it and forced him to finish the sketch. Jenna told Pete she wanted to add a musical number called “Muffin Top” to the show, claiming it was a hit overseas. As a prank, Frank and Toofer told her that several people would be fired. Believing them, Jenna tried to seduce an NBC executive she saw talking to Jack.

Liz later informed Jenna that no one was being fired and that the executive was actually an extra. Jenna sought revenge: Toofer admitted he was too clever for her, but Frank ended up running naked outside Jack’s balcony. Jenna finally performed “Muffin Top,” unaware the show had ended two minutes earlier and the number was cut for time.

Production

"Jack-Tor" marked the first time 30 Rock aired on a Thursday night, a slot NBC promoted as "Comedy Night Done Right," in a push to boost ratings. The episode was also part of a network sweeps stunt where several sitcoms, including 30 Rock, were given a "super-sized" runtime to help launch a mostly comedy lineup. Instead of the standard 30 minutes, this episode ran for 40. Even with the extra time, Jack McBrayer, who plays Kenneth Parcell, only appeared in a brief, non-speaking cameo at the very end during Jenna's performance of "Muffin Top," though he still received credit.

Tina Fey explained that the episode's large ensemble left him crowded out, adding that she thought McBrayer was fantastic and planned to use him extensively. Executive producer Lorne Michaels also praised him, calling him the breakout performer on the series and noting that everyone—the network, viewers, and the production team—liked him.

Star Wars references are a recurring feature in 30 Rock, starting with the pilot when Tracy Jordan yells that he is a Jedi. Liz Lemon is a self-described huge fan, having watched the films many times with Pete Hornberger and dressed as Princess Leia for four Halloweens. Fey, a Star Wars fan herself, said the weekly references began organically when the crew noticed they had a Star Wars joke in nearly every episode. From there, they made a conscious effort to keep the trend going, and while they couldn't include one in every episode, they maintained a "pretty high batting average." Fey credited most of these references to writer Robert Carlock, whom she called the "resident expert." In "Jack-Tor," the Star Wars nod comes when Frank mentions a "friend in accounting" named Lando Calrissian, a well-known character from the franchise.

Reception

The episode "Jack-Tor" drew an average of 5.2 million viewers in the United States during its first broadcast. In the key 18-to-49 demographic, it earned a 2.4/6 rating: the 2.4 represents 2.4% of all people in that age group, while the 6 means 6% of those watching TV at that time were in that demographic. This episode aired after 30 Rock moved from Wednesday to Thursday, a scheduling change meant to boost ratings. Compared to the prior episode, "Jack the Writer," which had about 4.61 million viewers and a 1.7/5 rating in the same demographic, "Jack-Tor" performed better. Still, critics considered the move a failure overall. Joal Ryan of E! noted that the 5.2 million viewers were a "sparse crowd" and a significant drop from the show's Wednesday average of 6.3 million per episode.

Matt Webb Mitovich of TV Guide thought the plot where Liz is forced to include GE products in the show was a "good idea" but "missed the bull's-eye." He also found the storyline featuring Jack on TGS with Tracy Jordan "fun," yet it "fell a bit flat" for reasons he could not pinpoint. Tom Shales of The Washington Post believed 30 Rock had "consistently and considerably improved since its premiere." He praised Alec Baldwin's performance as "rare and rich" and "perilously close to perfect, beyond improving."

Shales called it "painful to report" that Jack McBrayer was absent from the episode, describing him as "the show's brightest discovery" and his work as "a bittersweet beauty." Rob Canning of IGN said 30 Rock was "one new comedy we do not want to see taken off the air." He reported that "Jack-Tor" had him "laughing from every angle" and might "begin a debate as to which character is more fun to watch – Jack Donaghy or Tracy Jordan?" He singled out the outtakes from Jack's sketch as "one of the best parts of the episode" and noted that Tracy was becoming a "uniquely hilarious character."

Overall, Canning felt Jack was winning the "comedy showdown." Robert Carlock, who wrote the episode, received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for his work.