Plan B (30 Rock)

Plot

Jack Donaghy summoned Liz Lemon to his office with bad news: Tracy Jordan was in Africa, so The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan had to go on a forced hiatus. Liz started out hopeful, thinking Jack would fight to keep the show alive. But once her cast and crew caught wind of the situation, they immediately started hunting for new jobs. Worried, Liz reached out to her agent, Simon, to see if he could line up any work for her.

Jack set up an interview for Liz with Nick Lachey for a writing gig on The Sing-Off, and there she ran into Aaron Sorkin. During a walk-and-talk, Sorkin told her that writing was a dying art, then turned around and started buttering up Lachey himself. Liz didn't land the job, so she had to try to rescue TGS, even though Kenneth Parcell had already given up all hope. Meanwhile, Jack had bought a TV network aimed at gay men called TWINKS, which was a ratings flop.

Hank Hooper, his boss at Kabletown, told Jack to either find a gay version of himself to run it or shut it down. Jack realized such a person existed and called his old rival Devon Banks, who had fallen on hard times and was living in Brooklyn with his partner and three "gaybies." Liz's rescue efforts got a tiny boost when Kenneth mentioned that during his webcam chats with Tracy, he sometimes ordered pizza from the same place she did. Liz figured out that Tracy had never actually left New York City.

Jack's plan to revive TWINKS backfired when Devon brought one of his gaybies to work, and Hank Hooper, a family man, promoted him instead. But Devon had a change of heart, realizing he loved his kids too much to leave them, and turned down Hooper's offer. Jack came out on top, but he realized he had been neglecting his own baby daughter.

Reception

According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was watched by 4.359 million households in its original American broadcast and earned a 1.9 rating/5 share in the 18–49 demographic. This was an improvement on the previous episode, "Queen of Jordan," which was seen by 4.192 million households. Caitlan Smith of The Atlantic praised the appearance of Aaron Sorkin, calling it "one of the most unexpected and excellent cameos this year." Dan Forcella of TVFanatic also praised Sorkin's appearance and that of Ken Howard, whom he described as "a joy to watch on screen," but criticized the primary storyline, commenting that "Liz acting frantic is never really that funny."