The Aftermath (30 Rock)

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Aftermath
Series = 30 Rock


Caption = Liz and Tracy at the yacht party.
Season = 1
Episode = 2
Airdate = Start date|2006|10|18
Production = 102
Writer = Tina Fey
Director = Adam Bernstein
Photographer = Tom Houghton
Guests = Katrina Bowden
Tom Broecker
Teddy Coluca
Rachel Dratch
Adrienne Frost
Maulik Pancholy
Keith Powell
Lonny Ross
Kevin Scanlon
Sorab Wadia
Episode list = "30 Rock" (season 1)
List of "30 Rock" episodes
Prev = Pilot
Next = Blind Date

"The Aftermath" is the second episode of the first season of the American situation comedy "30 Rock", which first aired on October 17, 2006 on CTV in Canada.cite web |url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/20060814/Fall2006Schedule/20060816/ |title=Fall 2006 Premiere Dates |accessdate=2008-03-07 |publisher="CTV" This episode aired a week after the pilot.] It aired on October 18, 2006 on the NBC network in the United States, its country of origin,cite press release |title=Changes/Additions to the NBC Primetime Schedule for Wednesday, Oct 18 2006 – Friday, Oct 20 2006|publisher="NBC Universal Media Village" |url=http://www.nbcumv.com/entertainment/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20061002000000-changes47addition.html|date=2006-10-02|accessdate=2008-07-10] and October 18, 2007 in the United Kingdom.cite news |first=Ben |last=Dowell |title="Vyle" a turn-off on BBC2 |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/oct/19/tvratings|publisher="Media Guardian" |date=2007-10-19 |accessdate=2008-07-11] The episode was written by Tina Fey and was directed by Adam Bernstein.cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/profiles/Episode/main/171713/58806/The%20Aftermath.html?dataSet=1|title="30 Rock" – The Aftermath – Synopsis, Credits, Companies – Variety Profiles|accessdate=2008-07-10 |publisher="Variety"] Guest stars in this episode include Katrina Bowden, Tom Broecker, Teddy Coluca, Rachel Dratch, Adrienne Frost, Maulik Pancholy, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, Kevin Scanlon and Sorab Wadia.

The episode focuses on the reaction of the crew to the casting of Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), and the subsequent changes made to "The Girlie Show". This becomes evident when Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) changes the title of the show to "TGS with Tracy Jordan", much to Jenna Maroney's (Jane Krakowski) dismay. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) struggles to keep the cast and crew happy, so together with Tracy, she throws a party on a yacht.

Plot

Liz becomes furious when Jack decides that Tracy should be the number one priority on "The Girlie Show". Jenna fears that Tracy will begin to overshadow her, but Tracy is quite pleased with his new job on the show. Liz and Jenna become more aggravated when Jack decides to change the name of "The Girlie Show" to "TGS with Tracy Jordan", without consulting either of them. Jack has Tracy and Jenna appear in a promotion for the show, in which Tracy angers Jenna by forgetting her name and by not letting her speak. After the promotion, Liz tries to re-assure Jenna by telling her that nobody on the show likes Tracy and that the only reason that he is on the show is because of Jack. Liz finds out that Jenna's microphone was still on, and everyone in the studio heard her say terrible things about Jack and Tracy.

Liz attempts to make amends by talking to Tracy during a rehearsal, during which she makes negative remarks about Jenna and the other members of her staff. Liz is notified by Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) that her chat with Tracy was aired over the studio's monitors, which meant that everyone heard and saw her making the comments. Liz's staff show their displeasure by throwing food and other objects at her. Liz and Tracy discuss an idea to get everyone together to try and smooth things over, and Tracy decides to invite Liz and the staff to a party aboard a yacht. Tracy gets along well with everyone at the party, including Jenna, and things appear to be going very well. Liz soon discovers that the yacht does not belong to Tracy, and the yacht's real owner shows up with the NYPD. The following day Liz learns that Jack paid the newspapers to keep Tracy out of the press but left a photo of Jenna passing out on the yacht in their pages, which Jenna sees as exciting and flattering.

Production

Rachel Dratch, longtime comedy partner and fellow "Saturday Night Live" alumna of Fey, was originally cast to portray Jenna. Dratch played the role in the show's original pilot, but in August 2006, Jane Krakowski was announced as Dratch's replacement. [cite news | url=http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-janekrakowskijoins30rock,0,1779072.story | title='Ally' Cat Krakowski Joins '30 Rock' | accessdate=2007-10-16 | date=2006-08-17 |publisher="Zap2it"] Executive producer Lorne Michaels announced that while Dratch would not be playing a series regular, she would appear in various episodes in a different role.cite news |first=Michael |last=Schneider |title=Inside Move: Dratch latched to multiple "Rock" roles |url=http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=story&articleID=VR1117948462&cs=1 |publisher="Variety" |date=2006-08-14 |accessdate=2008-03-02] In the previous episode, Dratch played Greta Johansen, the "The Girlie Show"'s cat wrangler,cite episode |title=Pilot |episodelink=Pilot (30 Rock) |series=30 Rock |serieslink=30 Rock |credits=Writer: Tina Fey; Director: Adam Bernstein |network=NBC Universal |station=NBC |airdate=2006-10-11 |season=1 |number=1] while in this episode, she played Maria the maid, who was found by Liz in a closet on the yacht.cite episode |title=The Aftermath |series=30 Rock |serieslink=30 Rock |credits=Writer: Tina Fey; Director: Adam Bernstein |network=NBC Universal |station=NBC |airdate=2006-10-18 |season=1 |number=2]

Reception

According to the Nielsen Ratings system, "The Aftermath" was viewed by 5.71 million viewers upon its original broadcast in the United States. It also achieved a 2.3/7 in the key 18–49 demographic, meaning that it was watched by 2.4% of all 18–49 years olds in the U.S., and 5% of all 18–49 year olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.cite news |first=Rick |last=Kissell |title=Peacock's not laffing |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952286.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1&query=30+rock+wednesday |publisher="Variety" |date=2006-10-19 |accessdate=2008-03-24] This was 2.42 million viewers less than the pilot.cite news |first=Rick |last=Kissell |title=NBC's "Rock" solid in premiere |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117951807.html?categoryid=1275&cs=1&query=30+rock+3%2E2 |publisher="Variety" |date=2006-10-12 |accessdate=2008-02-27] In the United Kingdom, the episode attracted 500,000 viewers and a 4% share of the viewing audience at the time of the broadcast, which was deemed "disappointing" by "Media Guardian". This was 200,000 viewers down from the pilot, which attracted 700,000 viewers and a 6% share of the viewing audience at the time of the broadcast.Robert Canning of IGN felt that "The Aftermath" was "a more cohesiveness half hour" than the pilot, but still suffered from "two generic main characters and predictable storytelling". He praised characters Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy, saying they "continued to provide laughs", but said "Jenna Maroney and Tracy Jordan only continued to frustrate". Canning felt that Alec Baldwin was "the best part of "30 Rock", due to the fact that he " [stole] every single scene he's been a part of", and that Lemon was "the most relatable and genuinely likable of the bunch". Canning ultimately felt that "with an interesting mix of realistic, down-to-earth characters... and overblown, over-the-top characters", the series had "laid essential groundwork for a successful situation comedy". [cite web |url=http://au.tv.ign.com/articles/740/740270p1.html |title="30 Rock": "The Aftermath" Review |accessdate=2008-07-10 |author=Canning, Robert|date=2006-10-19 |publisher=IGN] Tim Goodman of the "San Francisco Chronicle" felt that this episode was only "minorly more funny", than the pilot. He praised Baldwin and Morgan, but said that the rest of the episode was "weak". Goodman felt that Fey could "fix" "30 Rock" by showing more of Baldwin, and less of Krakowski. [cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=9779 |title=Feed the Machine: "Lost", Colbert vs. Lucas, "30 Rock" |accessdate=2008-07-20 |author=Goodman, Tim |date=2006-10-12 |publisher="San Francisco Chronicle"] Robert Abele of "LA Weekly" felt that the characters of Morgan and Krakowski were undeveloped, describing them as "self-obsessed, newly thrown-together co-leads". He enjoyed the scene where Lemon's comments were overheard via microphone and closed-circuit camera, saying that "the setup [was] expedient farce, patently outlandish, but the show-biz humor of placating one star's ego by trash-talking others [was] a crafty, well-played truism, and Fey [got] rich comedy out of it." [cite web |url=http://www.laweekly.com/film+tv/tv/battle-of-the-network-stars/14845/ |title=Battle of the Network Stars|accessdate=2008-07-20 |author=Abele, Robert |date=2006-10-25 |publisher="LA Weekly"] Phil Horst of "The Pitt News" felt that while there were many funny moments, the characters were not "fleshed out enough to create any sense of reality". He felt that Fey took everything "too far", and that everyone on the series, except for Pete (Scott Adsit) and herself, were so "over-the-top" that they could not function with each other. He praised the individual scenes with Fey and Baldwin or Fey and Morgan, saying they were "consistently funny", but criticized the fact that Fey could never bring them all together, or write an effective scene in which she did not appear. Horst said that while Morgan and Baldwin's characters were "nothing more than crazy", the "biggest problem [lied] with Jenna". He saw her screentime as a waste of time, and thought that Krakowski did not "have the comedic skills to keep up with the rest of the cast". He went on to say that Dratch would have taken the character in "a completely different direction", giving "30 Rock" the variety it lacked. Horst concluded that while "30 Rock" earned laughs, it was missing cohesion and heart. He said that the scenes were written inconsistently, and since no one had any legitimate relationship with anyone else, it was hard to care about the characters and what was going on.cite web |url=http://media.www.pittnews.com/media/storage/paper879/news/2006/11/01/AE/Plot-Buried.Within.Backstage.Glimpse-2413392.shtml |title=Plot Buried Within Backstage Glimpse|accessdate=2008-08-09 |author=Horst, Phil |date=2006-11-01|publisher="The Pitt News"]

References

External links

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