Audition Day

Plot

Liz Lemon and Pete Hornberger plan to rig the TGS auditions for a new cast member by adding bad actors so that their preferred candidate, Jayden Michael Tyler, is hired by Jack Donaghy. Jenna Maroney learns of the auditions and worries her position will be diminished, but Tracy Jordan reassures her. Jenna later discovers Liz and Pete want Jayden cast and pleads with Liz to remove him, because Jayden humiliated her when they worked together on a play.

Liz refuses. Jenna figures out the scheme, so she and Tracy bring their own candidates to the auditions. Meanwhile, Jack learns from Kenneth Parcell that he has bedbugs. Ostracized because of his condition, Jack becomes compassionate and tells Liz to give everyone a chance. During auditions, Jack, Liz, and Pete see performances from TGS staff writers Frank Rossitano, James "Toofer" Spurlock, J.D. Lutz, NBC news anchor Brian Williams, Kathy Geiss, "Dot Com" Slattery, former cast member Josh Girard, and a robot street performer.

Liz realizes that Jayden's references—Gilbert Gottfried, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Walken—were impersonations. Jayden attempts to blackmail Liz with a camera marked by her fingerprints and provocative photos of himself. Liz tries to stop Jack from casting Jayden, but Jack has already decided to hire the robot street performer, who shook his hand without concern about the bedbugs.

Production

Matt Hubbard wrote "Audition Day", his first episode for the fourth season and his eighth writing credit for the series. Beth McCarthy-Miller directed the episode, her eighth for 30 Rock. The episode was filmed on October 29, 2009.

Marceline Hugot made her seventh appearance as Kathy Geiss. Brian Williams made his second appearance as himself, having first appeared in the season three episode "The Ones". Craig Castaldo, known as Radio Man, played a homeless man credited as Moonvest. At the end of the credits, Gilbert Gottfried, Martin Scorsese, and Christopher Walken are credited for providing their actual voices on Liz Lemon's phone.

The robot street performer hired by Jack was first introduced in the season four premiere "Season 4". Actor Daniel Genalo played the robot; Cheyenne Jackson did not appear in this episode. This is the last episode to feature Lonny Ross as Josh Girard until the 100th episode.

Cultural references

Jack compares human empathy to the Winter Olympics, which he notes air on NBC in February. Jenna reveals she has been brought into auditions to make Kim Cattrall seem grounded and human. A flashback shows Jenna being dissed by a young Jayden; her costume is the same one Jane Krakowski wore 20 years earlier in the Broadway musical Starlight Express, and Jayden is dressed like Gavroche from Les Misérables. Kathy Geiss auditions by singing as Scottish amateur singer Susan Boyle, who gained attention for performing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables on Britain's Got Talent; Kathy's performance, sung by operatic soprano Lisette Oropesa, moves Liz and Jack to tears.

Dot Com once portrayed Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull. When Kenneth refuses to embrace Jack, Jack asks "Et tu, Kenneth?", and Kenneth explains in Latin why he will not embrace him. During a meeting with GE executives via a telepresence system, one executive asks if Jack likes the Cisco Systems equipment; Jack praises it, but after an argument the executives mute him, prompting Jack to complain about Cisco's SureMute technology. Some reviewers questioned whether this constituted further product placement by 30 Rock.

Reception

According to Nielsen Media Research, "Audition Day" was watched by 5.940 million households and earned a 2.9 rating/7 share in the 18–49 demographic, a six percent drop from the previous week's episode "Stone Mountain". It ranked third in its 9:30 p.m. time slot behind CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger found the episode entertaining despite lacking coherence, praising Jack's subway scene as one of Alec Baldwin's funniest moments on the show. Bob Sassone of TV Squad disliked Jack's bedbug plot but preferred Jenna and Tracy's storyline.

James Poniewozik of Time called it an amusing episode and was glad it gave Scott Adsit's Pete something to do. Meredith Blake of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was a fine return to form after "Stone Mountain". Robert Canning of IGN said the episode had fun comedic chaos but never reached hilarity; he disliked that Brian Williams' cameo was ruined by promos, found the auditions fun but not a knockout, enjoyed Kathy's Susan Boyle reference, and was let down by the revelation that Jayden was psychotic. Canning gave the episode an 8.2 out of 10 rating.