"30 Rock" Hard Ball (2007)

Director:

Don Scardino

Writers:

Tina Fey (creator)
Matt Hubbard (written by)

TV Series:

"30 Rock" (2006)

Original Air Date:

22 February 2007 (Season 1, Episode 15)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Kenneth becomes part of Tracy's entourage. And, while Kenneth treats Tracy honestly, it turns out that...

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Boss | Sketch | Writer | New York

Cast

Tina Fey	...	Liz Lemon
Tracy Morgan	...	Tracy Jordan
Jane Krakowski	...	Jenna Maroney
Jack McBrayer	...	Kenneth Parcell
Scott Adsit	...	Pete Hornberger
Judah Friedlander	...	Frank Rossitano
Alec Baldwin	...	Jack Donaghy
Rachel Dratch	...	Martha Blanch
Keith Powell	...	Toofer
Lonny Ross	...	Josh Girard
Katrina Bowden	...	Cerie
Gregg Bello	...	The Daily Show Producer
David Alan Basche	...	Alan
Chris Matthews	...	Himself
Tucker Carlson	...	Himself

Runtime:

22 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Silvercup Studios - 4222 22nd Street, Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Broadway Video

Trivia:

This episode was used for Emmy submission for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Jack McBrayer in 2007.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): As General Electric is also a defense contractor, it makes no sense for Martha Blanch to call for a boycott of it in order to avenge Jenna's inadvertent insult against the military.

Quotes:

Liz Lemon: Now say 5 reasons I'm better than you.
Josh Girard: You're smarter than me.
Liz Lemon: One.
Josh Girard: You beat me at arm wrestling.
Liz Lemon: Two.
Josh Girard: Uhh, you read the paper.
Liz Lemon: Yeah, suck it. I do read the paper.

Movie Connections:

References The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

Soundtrack:

I Will Always Love You

"Pregnant cornbread..."

This is the episode that was used to secure 30 Rock's Emmy Nomination in the Outstanding Comedy Series category, an award it proudly walked away with. It's not that hard to see why: there are so many classic (and classy) moments in here that chances the audience could die laughing are higher than ever.

As usual, Hard Ball is made up of three different stories: first, we've got Josh's contract being up and the different approaches used by Jack and Liz in the negotiation; then there's Kenneth joining Tracy's entourage, only to cause trouble when it turns out the other members, Grizz and Dot Com, have been letting the comedian win at games and laughed at unfunny jokes to keep him happy; and finally, Jenna is among the "Sexiest Women in Comedy" in a magazine, but ignites a scandal when she is misquoted in an interview and appears to have said she hates American troops.

The Jenna section is the funniest for two reasons: a) Rachel Dratch is ace as always playing one of the people protesting against the poor girl; b) it gives Tina Fey the chance to throw in another Barack Obama gag after mentioning him in the fifth episode, Jack-Tor. Overall, Hard Ball is a clever piece of insanity where everything goes wrong, in true sitcom fashion, and yet another example of why 30 Rock is the smartest post-2000 comedy series next to Arrested Development, The Office and (to slightly lesser degree) Scrubs. Heck, it even manages to throw in a slow-motion scene at the end (accompanied by a character's rendition of a famous love song) without looking corny. Ain't that something!