Every Episode of ’30 Rock’ Ranked
Twelve years since it premiered, five years since it concluded: here’s the definitive ranking of every episode of ’30 Rock’
89. ¡Qué Sorpresa! (Season 5, Episode 13)
Dir. John Riggi
Writer: Matt Hubbard
Do I love most of the characters on this show? Guilty as charged. But I hold a special place in my heart for precious, hulking snowflake Hank Hooper, CEO of Kabletown which buys GE (effectively predicting the coming very much real merger of Comcast and NBCUniversal, resulting in the shows namesake being changed!). He is the ying to Jack’s yang (Fun Fact: 30 Rock loved dick jokes), starting every conversation with a hug (which doesn’t count unless it goes on for 10 seconds), allowing any employee to pitch to the network, and opening the executive dining room to everyone (including people who wear sandals!). Kabletown positioning itself as a family company is a clever dig at the soullessness of conglomerations. We also see Tracey and Jenna blossom into true blue adult children in this episode as they bicker over who gets the Kabletown sweatshirt from their posh gift bags they recieve.
88. Episode 210 (Season 2, Episode 10)
Dir. Richard Shephard
Writer: Robert Carlock/Donald Glover
Why is episode 210 so amazing? Two words: Gladys. Knight. Sure we also get everyone’s favorite President Roosevelt (and Gilmore patriarch!) Edward Herrmann, but the moment of this episode is undeniably Kenneth, Tracy, Grizz, and Dot-Com’s (and eventually Jenna’s) rendition of “Midnight Train to Georgia”, popularized by Ms. Knight and the Pips. From Tracy’s face after Jenna joins in the song to the whole reason Kenneth is leaving in the first place (he got addicted to caffeine after Tracy gets a cappuccino machine) to Gladys Knights final line, the moment is one of the greatest highlights of the early seasons. Oh, also! Donald Glover co-wrote this episode!
87. Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter (Season 4, Episode 17)
Dir. Don Scardino
Writer: Kay Cannon, Tina Fey
For people of a certain age, it’s hard to think of Lee Marvin and not consider him “the dads actor”. Yes, Marvin is great in everything from Cat Ballou to (yes) even Paint Your Wagon, but his fame just screams “DADS” to me. But I digress. The Marvin and Jeter in this are Nancy and Avery, Jacks impossible choice since he loves both of them equally, and separately. Meanwhile, Liz goes on a series of singles events, including dodgeball, which much to her chagrin the man she was flirting with thought was a really fun AA meeting! Oh, Liz!
86. The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell (Season 6, Episode 4)
Dir. Jeff Richmond
Writer: Matt Hubbard
Nothing is more on brand than Liz Lemon looking for a new best friend than in the public restroom of a Barnes and Noble. Consequently, nothing is more on brand for Jenna Maroney than to embrace her D-list celebrity status, thanks to her role as judge on America’s Kidz Got Singing, by befriending Charlie from the “Charlie Bit My Finger” and WWE’s Mankind. The episode also features a cameo by country-western singer-songwriter Steve Earle singing the titular “Ballad of Kenneth Parcell”.
85. Don Geiss, America and Hope (Episode 4, Season 15)
Dir. Stephen Lee Davis
Writer: Jack Burditt, Tracey Wigfield
Kenneth has a throwaway line that expands his legacy in my favorite way: the fact that Kenneth is most likely immortal. Here he worries about the Kabletown merger instilling age limits and verification on its Pages. This episode also reinforces Jacks earnest desire to create and develop, possibly the greatest connection he shares with Liz. And he reignites this in the face of discovering Kabletowns secret: they make their fortune from selling pay per view porn parodies of famous movies. But Jack has an innovation that’s bound to work: Porn for Women, which is basically just a man (Astronaut Mike Dexter in Liz’s case!) openly listening to woman. And look everyone! Guest star Michael Sheen (Good Omens)!
84. Governor Dunston (Season 7, Episode 2)
Dir. Robert Carlock
Writer: Robert Carlock
With the political circus that is the Trump administration, political comedy from even just five years ago seems downright wholesome in comparison. We live in a world now much more in tune with the political process, which will hopefully spark positive progress, but also…don’t you just want a politician like Governor Dunston running? A guy who casually tears off his clothes or live on air vomits chili into his hat? Ya know, something for the kids. But we do get some quality 2012 election jokes like Paul Ryan having to drop out of the race due to actually being born in Kenya. And hey! Who doesn’t like an episode featuring Matthew Broderick’s oafishly winsome Cooter Burger.
83. The Bubble (Season 3, Episode 15)
Dir. Tricia Brock
Writer: Tina Fey
Dr. Drew: so handsome, yet so stupid. No, I’m not referring to walking malpractice daytime doc, were talking about prime Don Draper Jon Hamm as Liz’s gorgeous boyfriend who lives in “the bubble” where he’s so attractive no one tells him the truth or does him favor. In the bubble, Drew is a star tennis instructor and an exceptional cook, in the real world though? He marinated fish with Gatorade and can barely serve a ball. But god dammit, Jon Hamm is smokin’ and the affable humbleness he exudes endears him in a time where he was known as king misogynist on his hit AMC show.
82. Fireworks (Season 1, Episode 18)
Dir. Beth McCarthy
Writer: Brett Baer, Dave Finkel
Will Arnett as Devon Banks, the gay Jack Donaghy, is a miracle of casting. Alec Baldwin and Arnett play off of each other perfectly as the shows first pseudo-antagonist. I say pseudo because, while the stakes are high for the character, 30 Rocks bad guys never feel truly that bad, especially Banks. As the series progresses, Jack and Banks mutual hate-respect is further developed but it’s always been his debut. The only collar pull moment of the episode is Liz following Floyd into his AA meeting, which she does eventually cop to, but it’s a new low even for her. But we do get a fun The Maury Povich Show dream sequence after Tracy discovers he is a descendent of Thomas Jefferson, who Tracy imagines is the spitting image of Jack Donaghy.
81. The Return of Avery Jessup (Season 6, Episode 20)
Dir. John Riggi
Writer: Josh Siegal, Dylan Morgan
I love Jenna Maroney the most when she has moments of utter self-awareness, like when she realizes in this episode that she is just like off-brand shoes, embracing her countryside to brawl with knock-off Times Square costumed characters. As the title would suggest though this episode chiefly centers on Avery’s long-awaited return from North Korea where Jack discovers that she wasn’t alone and begins a series of relationship chess moves to get Avery to admit to any indiscretions as a way to let himself off the hook for kissing Avery’s mother. But this of course only brings them closer together as Jack realized he was played. The greatest idea from this episode? Every homecoming party should work to include elements of every single holiday! Fun fact: Elizabeth Banks and Margaret Cho (as Kim Jong-il) both received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actress for their performances in this episode!
80. There’s No I in America (Season 7, Episode 5)
Dir. John Riggi
Writer: Josh Siegal, Dylan Morgan
While not as strong as the first part of the two-part Unwindulax saga, Jenna Maroney finds herself with the fate of the country resting in her hands…and she couldn’t be more thrilled. With the 2012 election on the horizon, large parts of the seventh and final season center on politics, bipartisanly, with Liz and Jack’s ideologies coming to a head. The B Plot revolves around Pete trying to reclaim the passion that was the 2008 election that resulted in a spontaneous kiss from the security guard, Maria, who we discover is dating a doppelPete: Peter Horn!
79. Stride of Pride (Season 7, Episode 3)
Dir. Michael Engler
Writer: Tina Fey
In a world evolving away from feeling shame for casual sexual encounters thanks to the rise of dating apps like Tinder, we should try to abandon the phrase “Walk of Shame” for “Stride of Pride”. While there isn’t a clear cut A/B/C Plot in this episode, the focal point is Tracy’s declaration that women aren’t funny resulting in Liz attempting to disprove this by reviving her and Jenna’s Jeff-Award winning sketch comedy show. Liz successfully changes Tracy’s mind (kind of), while Jenna successfully proves that acting young just makes her look even older, netting her a sponsorship deal with an automated lift-chair company. Extra credit to Ryan Lochte, a gold medal Olympian, for leaning into his public persona of being a dumb-dumb which was just reinforced four years later when Lochte was involved in the 2016 Summer Olympics fake robbery controversy.
78. Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land (Season 4, Episode 21)
Dir. Beth McCarthy-Miller
Writer: Matt Hubbard
There’s so much to love in Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land it’s hard to count. Not only do we get some fun cameos from past Liz Lemon boyfriends like Dennis and Dr. Drew, but we also finish the “Wesley Snipes Arc” with Michael Sheen, who is seated next to Liz at her other ex-boyfriend, Floyds, wedding. Another arc ending is the relationship between Jack and Nancy, where Jacks impossible choice is made for him upon the discovery that Avery is pregnant. But it’s Tracy’s emotional meltdown while filming Garfield 3: Feline Groovy as he confronts his repressed past that results in some of Tracy Morgan’s greatest jokes of the show like “All my life I’ve tried to forget the things I’ve seen: I slept on an old dog bed stuffed with wigs! Our basketball hoop was a ribcage! A homeless man cooking a Hot Pocket on a third rail of the G train! The G train, Nermal!”
77. Black Tie (Season 1, Episode 12)
Dir. Don Scardino
Writer: Kay Cannon/Tina Fey
Way back in the very early days of Netflix streaming, or 2008, Black Tie was the first episode of 30 Rock that I can genuinely remember seeing. And after Paul Reubens was rolled out in a wheelchair as Prince Gerhardt Hapsburg, emaciated with terrible teeth, fake legs, and a tiny hand I was smitten. The outwardly grotesqueness of Gerhardt was perhapsburg (sorry, the opportunity was too great) the first time the show embraced how weird the series’ sense of humor would eventually become.
76. Jack Meets Dennis (Season 1, Episode 6)
Dir. Juan J. Campanella
Writer: Jack Burditt
I’ve already written about how Dennis Duffy is possibly Liz’s best ex-boyfriend, and part of the reason for that is his status as “The Beeper King”. Hey, in a world where VHS and vinyl are coming back into style, Dennis is just merely stanning for outmoded formats of communication! But this is the episode that is the beginning to the end of Lennis (get it? Liz plus Dennis equals Lennis! Or is Diz better?) as Jack encourages Liz to not settle for mediocrity, a life lesson she’ll fight for the remainder of the series.
