Rosemary's Baby (30 Rock)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Rosemary's Baby
Series = 30 Rock


Caption = Liz and Rosemary walk through Rosemary's neighborhood, "Little Chechnya".
Season = 2
Episode = 4
Airdate = Start date|2007|10|25
Production = 204
Writer = Jack Burditt
Director = Michael Engler
Photographer = Vanja Černjul
Guests = Elijah Cook
Carrie Fisher
Marcella Roy
Paul Scheer
nowrap|Megan Blake Stevenson
Jean Villepique
Stuart Zagnit
Episode list = "30 Rock" (season 2)
List of "30 Rock" episodes
Prev = The Collection
Next = Greenzo

"Rosemary's Baby" is the fourth episode of the second season of "30 Rock", and the twenty-fifth episode overall. It was written by Jack Burditt and was directed by Michael Engler.cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/profiles/Episode/main/171713/64146/2/68726/12/Rosemary's%20Baby.html?dataSet=1|title="30 Rock" – Rosemary's Baby – Season 2 – Episode 12 – Synopsis, Credits, Companies – Variety Profiles|accessdate=2008-07-02 |publisher="Variety"] The episode first aired on October 25, 2007 on the NBC network in the United States.cite press release |title="30 Rock" 'Rosemary's Baby' 10-25-2007 8:30PM |publisher="NBC Universal Media Village" |url=http://www.nbcumv.com/entertainment/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20071025203000.html|accessdate=2008-04-29] Guest stars in this episode include Elijah Cook, Carrie Fisher, Marcella Roy, Paul Scheer, Megan Blake Stevenson, Jean Villepique and Stuart Zagnit.

The episode focuses on Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey) escapade with her idol, Rosemary Howard (Carrie Fisher); Tracy Jordan's (Tracy Morgan) family problems; and Jenna Maroney's (Jane Krakowski) attempt to replace Kenneth Parcell's (Jack McBrayer) burnt page jacket. The episode was praised by critics, with several saying that Alec Baldwin's role-playing scene was one of the best scenes of "30 Rock" and of the whole television season.

Plotlines

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) announces that Liz Lemon is the winner of the "G.E. Followship Award", a prize awarded to the G.E. employee who best exemplifies a follower, which also includes $10,000. Liz takes Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit) to a book signing to meet Rosemary Howard, her idol when she was a girl, and invites her to be a guest writer on "The Girlie Show". Rosemary pitches several controversial ideas to Jack, who orders Liz to fire her, but when Liz refuses, Jack fires them both. Liz goes to Rosemary's house, and once she realizes that Rosemary is crazy, she flees. Liz goes back to Jack's office and begs for her job back, and he happily rehires her. Jack promises to help Liz invest her prize money, and she swears that she will send Rosemary $400 a month for the rest of her life.

When Tracy causes a stir at a public event, Jack assures him that as a movie star, he can do anything he wants, except for dog fighting. Jack finds Tracy disobeying his order, but Tracy shouts that Jack is not his dad. Jack and Tracy meet with an NBC therapist, and Jack role-plays Tracy's father, Tracy, and Tracy's mom, among several other people from Tracy's childhood, conveying the message that even though Tracy's parents may have divorced, they still loved him. This comforts Tracy, and affirms that while he loves his family, they are crazy, and he needs to stay away from them. Tracy hugs Jack, and tells him that he is the only family he needs.

Jenna accidentally burns Kenneth's page jacket on a hot plate, and Kenneth worries that head page Donny Lawson (Paul Scheer) will punish him. Jenna finds Donny backstage at the studio, who is ecstatic that he finally has a reason to send Kenneth to CNBC in New Jersey. Donny offers Kenneth a choice: go to New Jersey, or compete in a "page off", a contest of physical stamina and NBC trivia; Jenna agrees to the page off. Before the event starts, Pete comes in and yells at the pages to get back to work. He forces Donny to give Kenneth a new jacket, but Donny swears to Jenna and Kenneth that he will get back at them.

Production

"Rosemary's Baby" was mainly filmed on September 11, 2007,cite web |url=http://images.nbcmv.com/photos/thumb/30rock/NUP_110466_0057.jpg|title="30 Rock" – "Rosemary's Baby" Episode 204 – Pictured: (l-r) Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, Jean Villepique as Therapist, Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy|accessdate=2008-07-06 |last=Joyce|first=Anne|date=2007-10-08 |work=Set Photos |publisher=", where she played Princess Leia.

Reception

According to the Nielsen Ratings system, "Rosemary's Baby" was viewed by an average of 6.5 million American viewers.cite news |first=Rick |last=Kissell |title="Grey's" World Series top Thursday |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117974805.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&query=30+rock+the+office+scrubs+ratings |work= |publisher="Variety" |date=2007-10-26 |accessdate=2008-07-03 ] The episode achieved a 3.1/8 in key 18–49 demographic. The 3.1 rating refers to 3.1% of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S., and the 8 share refers to 8% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. In the U.S., "Rosemary's Baby" was up by 19% in the rating demographic compared to the previous episode, "The Collection," receiving its highest result since the second season premiere episode, "SeinfeldVision," on October 4, 2007.cite press release |title="Heroes", "The Office" and "Law & Order: SVU" Pace NBC'S Week Of October 22–28 |publisher="NBC Universal Media Village" |date=2007-10-30 |url=http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20071030000000-039heroes44.html |accessdate=2008-07-03 |quote=At 8:30 p.m. ET, "30 Rock" (3.1/8 in 18–49, 6.5 million viewers overall) jumped 19 percent in adults 18–49 versus its prior-week performance (3.1 vs. 2.6) to deliver its highest rating since its season premiere on October 4, [2007] .]

"Rosemary's Baby" was named as one of the "Top 11 TV Episodes of 2007" by "UGO", and ranked thirteenth on "The Futon Critic"'s list of "the 50 Best Episodes of 2007", both citing the therapy scene with Baldwin and Morgan as the reason. [cite web |url=http://www.ugo.com/tv/best-episode-of-2007/?cur=30-rock |title="30 Rock" – Rosemary's Baby – Top 11 TV Episodes of 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-03 |author=Jensen, Thor |publisher="UGO Networks"] [cite web |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20080110 |title=Rants & Reviews – The 50 Best Episodes of 2007: #20 –11 |accessdate=2008-07-03 |author=Ford Sullivan, Brian |publisher="The Futon Critic"] Matt Webb Mitovich of "TV Guide" declared it as "one of "30 Rock's" best episodes ever." Webb Mitovich praised Carrie Fisher's guest appearance, but felt that Balwin's role-playing during Morgan's therapy session stole the show. [cite web |url=http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TV-Show-Blog/30-Rock/Episode-Recap-Rosemarys/800025716 |title=Episode Rec
TV Guide"] Bob Sassone of "TV Squad" felt that even though the plot was "insane", though the episode still managed "to have a heart at its core". Sassone called the therapy scene "one of the funniest scenes ... on TV this season". [cite web |url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/10/25/30-rock-rosemarys-baby/|title="30 Rock": Rosemary's Baby – TV Squad|accessdate=2008-07-03 |author=Sassone, Bob |date=2007-10-25 |publisher=TV Squad] Robert Canning of "IGN" felt that the episode has "great storylines to great guest stars", making it "one of the best the series has produced so far". Canning called the therapy scene "the best moment of the episode".cite web |url=http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/830/830555p1.html|title=IGN: "Rosemary's Baby" Review|accessdate=2008-07-03 |author=Canning, Robert|date=2007-10-26 |publisher=IGN]

Michael Engler, the director of this episode, was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series.cite news |first=Dave |last=McNary |title=DGA announces TV nominations |url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&id=dga&articleid=VR1117978818 |publisher="Variety" |date=2008-01-10 |accessdate=2008-03-07] Engler lost to Barry Sonnenfeld of "Pushing Daisies".cite news |first=Diane |last=Garrett |title=Coen brothers win top DGA honor |url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&id=dga&articleid=VR1117979691 |publisher="Variety" |date=2008-01-26 |accessdate=2008-07-03] This episodes earned Carrie Fisher a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, and earned Jack Burditt an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series.cite web |url=http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2008pte/60thpte_noms.php |title=The 60^th Primetime Emmy® Awards and Creative Arts Emmy® Awards Nominees are... |accessdate=2008-07-17 |date=2008-07-17 |work= |publisher="Academy of Television Arts & Sciences"]

References

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