"Apollo, Apollo " is the sixteenth episode of the third season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock , and the 52nd episode of the entire series. It was written by executive producer Robert Carlock and directed by Millicent Shelton. This episode aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network in the United States on March 26, 2009. The guest stars in this episode include Adam West and Dean Winters.
This episode is set on the fiftieth anniversary of Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), and many of the plots revolve around his concerns with his age and his desire to reclaim his childhood happiness. At the same time, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is forced to deal with her ex-boyfriend Dennis Duffy (Winters) and diagnose herself as a sex addict as well as the fact that Dennis sleeps with her close friend Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). The final plot in this episode involves the desire of Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to travel in space, and Liz and Jack's attempts to deceive him into thinking he has done it.
"Apollo, Apollo" is generally well received by television critics. According to Nielsen Media Research, this episode was watched by 7.2 million households during the original broadcast. "Apollo, Apollo" was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards and won for Image Editing Camera Extraordinary for Comedy Series. Robert Carlock won the Writers Guild of America Award for Episodic Comedy for his work on this episode.
Video Apollo, Apollo
Plot
The episode begins with Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) announcement on television that she plans to travel in space, and is willing to pay up to thirty million dollars to do so. Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) agrees to help Tracy with her dream of traveling in space, promising to call her friends at NASA. Instead of doing this, however, he requested the The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan TGS producer Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit) to create a fake space experience for Tracy. Pete and the TGS crew built a model shuttle and put Tracy in it after confusing her by flying it in a helicopter with her eyes closed. The scam was a success, and Tracy believed that she was, in fact, flying in the sky.
At the same time, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is visited by her ex-boyfriend, Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), who informs him that she is a sex addict, now atoning for her past mistakes. Liz was not impressed and asked Dennis to leave, before going to work. Later, after arriving at work, Liz answered Jenna Maroney's phone (Jane Krakowski), and was surprised to find Dennis calling Jenna. Liz pretends to be Jenna and finds that Jenna and Dennis sleep together. Liz is determined not to let this revelation affect her friendship with Jenna, so both go to confront Dennis about his behavior. During the confrontation, Liz discovers that Jenna and Dennis actually sleep together in her bed, leading her to hate Jenna's actions. As a result, she did not tell Jenna about the improperly installed equipment, which caused Jenna to injure her leg.
Meanwhile, Jack's fiftieth birthday is near and he has received home movies from some of his previous birthdays from his mother, Collen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch). While watching the tapes, Jack discovered how happy he was when he was young, and determined to reclaim the happiness and innocence. After checking the list he made when he was young, he found that he had done everything but one, befriended Batman. Thus, he arranges for actor Adam West, who plays Batman, to come to his birthday party. However, at the party, the West calls Jack the wrong name, leading him to realize that he is actually unhappy, even though his accomplishments are achieved. In an attempt to reclaim his happiness, Jack tries to find the same toy that makes him so happy on his tenth birthday, the Apollo Lunar Module model. He bought one from a vintage toy store, but still was not happy.
Liz then apologizes to Jenna for letting her get hurt, and agrees to let Jenna tell the TGS writing staff about her role in advertising for the sex-phone line. The authors found online advertising, and were very happy to watch it. Jack comes in while the author is watching and laughing so hard that he vomits. The laughter lifted Jack from his bad mood, and he told Liz how important he was.
Maps Apollo, Apollo
Production
"Apollo, Apollo" was written by executive producer Robert Carlock, making it his eleventh credits writing after "Jack the Writer", "Jack-Tor", "The Source Awards", "Cleveland", "Jack Gets in the Game", Episode 210, "Subway Hero", "Sandwich Day", "Believe in the Stars", and "Generalissimo". This is the first episode directed by Millicent Shelton 30 Rock , and then will return to lead the fourth episode of the season "Floyd". Shelton has spent two years in negotiations with show producers before he was hired to direct this episode. "Apollo, Apollo" originally aired in the United States on March 26, 2009, on NBC as the sixteenth episode of the third season of events and the 52nd overall episode of the series.
In the episode of 30 Rock , actor Dean Winters modeled his role as Dennis Duffy, ex-girlfriend Liz Lemon, for the sixth time, after appearing on "Jack Meets Dennis", "Tracy Does Conan", "The Break- Up "," Subway Hero ", and" Cooter ". Actor Adam West played on the show, where he introduced Jack Donaghy with the wrong name at Jack's 15th birthday party. The sex Liz sex line ad, full-length version, is featured on third season DVD 30 Rock as part of the Bonus feature.
In a scene in "Apollo, Apollo", Jack wonders how it feels to see the world through the pages of NBC eyes Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer), revealing that Kenneth sees everyone as Muppets. To accommodate this, Sesame Street's puppeteers Joey Mazzarino, Carmen Osbahr, and Matt Vogel were brought in to perform muppet versions of Jack, Liz, and Tracy Jordan. This angle will be used again in the fourth episode of the "Dealbreakers Talk Show" episode where Kenneth appears as a muppet while walking with a high definition camera. In addition, the program is parodied by Sesame Street , in the 39th season of the event, titled "30 Rocks".
Star Wars is often referenced at <30> Rock , beginning with a pilot episode in 2006 in which Tracy was seen screaming that she was a Jedi. Liz claims to be a big fan of Star Wars, saying that she has watched it many times with Pete Hornberger, and dressing up as Princess Leia's Star Wars for four recently Halloweens, and when trying to get out of jury duty in Chicago. Star Wars is also referenced when Tracy takes on the identity of the Chewbacca character. In "Apollo, Apollo", Tracy reveals to Liz and Jack that going into space has been her childhood dream, and when she is there, she wants to kill Ewok. Tina Fey, creator of the 30 Rock series, Star Wars fans themselves, says that weekly Star Wars jokes or references start happening organically when the crew noticed that they had references to Star Wars in almost every show. "Fey said that from then on" it became something where [they] tried to defend it, "and that although they can not insert one in each episode, they still have "pretty average batting." Fey connects most references to Carlock, which he describes as "resident expert".
Reception
According to Nielsen Media Research, an average of 7.2 million viewers watched "Apollo, Apollo" during the original US broadcast, placing it in third place for the time slot. The event also claimed a rating of 3.4/8 share among audiences aged 18 to 49, meaning 3.4 percent of all people in the group, and 8 percent of all people from the group watching television at the time, watching the episode. This is an improvement from the previous episode, "The Bubble", which is watched by 7 million American viewers.
"Apollo, Apollo" in general, though not universally, is well received among critics. Alan Sepinwall television columnist for The Star-Ledger wrote that the episode "easily became the best of 30 Rocks this season, and one of the best episodes of the series to date." He praised Robert Carlock for "zooming" in the narcissistic worldview of "Dennis's character like that" turning those qualities up to an unreasonable proportion of 30 Rocks. " In addition, Sepinwall writes that all the elements featured in the episode "all unite". Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad is also highly praised, writing that it was "one of the hottest and most imaginative half-hour TV from this season, and one of the best episodes of this show ever". Time contributor James Poniewozik favored this episode, observing that it was "[e] the funniest asily 30 Rock in a few months, and probably the whole season." Poniewozik said it "nailed him, from too much-a joke-well... to a sweet heart at the center of every character." The A.V. Club Nathan Rabin enjoys the Adam West cameo, but notes that Tracy's plot "feels very nervous and sits sweet to me." He argues that "Apollo, Apollo" is "pretty great" for Jenna Jane Krakowski, and in conclusion, Rabin says "I originally set this episode as good but not great and basically small in the grand scheme of things but when writing this post I realize how much I love. 30 Rock is pretty great even when it's not that great. "Rick Porter, a contributor to Zap2it, said he" liked "the episode, writing that it made" common sense "for Kenneth to see everyone around him as a muppets, and noted that Liz's ad was a" strong end "for the episode.
Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly agreed that the episode was "Another Solid 30 Rock ", but somewhat less positive, writing that it "did not kill me enough like the last, some episodes have "In addition, Lyons was not happy with Jenna's character, reporting," It's been a while since we saw Jenna doing something redemptive - and I'm satisfied with anything that's not very empty and narcissistic.I understand that a bit, but... The note started to make me crazy. "IGN's Robert Canning contributed mixed reviews of the episode, writing that he laughed" a bit "but said in the end" felt like it could be so much more. " Canning also summed up his review by stating that "falling ashamed of being an absolute classic." Writing for The Palm Beach Post Kevin D. Thompson said: "Although last night's episode was far from unwatchable, it was not one of the best shows, either, but as I've written before, so-now 30 Rock is still better than 99 percent of the so-called TV comedy. "Thompson noted that he was unhappy with the return of Dean Winters as Dennis, and called his plot with Liz and Jenna" the least interesting plot of the show ".
Accolades
"Apollo, Apollo" received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning one; Millicent Shelton received a nomination for Outstanding Directing for Comedy Series, Robert Carlock received a nomination for Outstanding Writing for Comedy Series, Matthew Clark received a nomination for Outstanding Sinematography for the Half-Hour Series nomination, and Ken Eluto won for Outstanding Single- Image Editing Camera for Comedy Series at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
At the February 2010 ceremony for the Guild of America Writers Award, Carlock won for Episodic Comedy, joined the Modern Families of Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd for their work on pilot episodes. Eluto garnered the "Eddie" American Film Editor Award for the Best Published Half-Hour Series for Television. In addition, "Apollo, Apollo" was nominated for ADG Advantage in Production Design Award for Half Hour Single Camera Television Series.
References
External links
- "Apollo, Apollo" in IMDb
- "Apollo, Apollo" on TV.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments