Cutbacks (30 Rock)

This episode of 30 Rock featured a number of cultural references to the legal crime thriller film The Pelican Brief (1993), and Liz Lemon parodying Steve Jobs's attire while giving a presentation.

According to the Nielsen ratings system, the episode was watched by 6.8 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 3.1 rating/8 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

Their boss, Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), goes to the writers' room and tells the show's head writer, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), about how the whole company is undergoing cutbacks.

After an unsuccessful presentation about TGS, Brad Halster (Roger Bart)—one of the consultants in charge of the cutbacks—informs Liz that she needs to cut her annual budget by 25 percent.

Liz, anxious about her employees losing their jobs, decides to use sexual bartering to solve the problem and asks Brad on a date, which he accepts.

"Cutbacks" was written by series supervising producer Matt Hubbard, making it his seventh writing credit after "The Rural Juror", "Hard Ball", "The Collection", "MILF Island", "Reunion", and "Larry King".

Series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey was the head writer on SNL from 1999 until 2006.

[4] This was actor Todd Buonopane's second appearance as the character Jeffrey Weinerslav, an NBC Human Resource mediator.

[8] In one scene of "Cutbacks", Liz parodies business magnate Steve Jobs's clothing attire while giving her presentation about TGS to Brad.

Jenna tells Tracy that she has knowledge when it comes to serial killers after playing a criminal profiler—named Jill St. Ferrari—in an original Lifetime miniseries Hushed Rapings.

[8] This line was said by Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies, in which she was played by actress Carrie Fisher, who guest-starred in the season two episode "Rosemary's Baby".

[23] IGN contributor Robert Canning opined that "Cutbacks" was "solid", as it "included all the major players in familiar roles and provided some great laughs."

"[25] Entertainment Weekly’s Margaret Lyons said that despite this episode not being "one of the show's most sophisticated [ones]" she still enjoyed it, citing that it had "some pretty fantastic lines – and some really cute moments between Liz and Jack.

"[11] Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad said that "Cutbacks" was a "funny episode", but stated that he disliked Liz's actions, explaining that what she did was "creepy."

Sassone did not enjoy Tracy and Jenna believing that Kenneth was a murder "because of a wacky series of misunderstandings and assumptions" observing that this scenario has been played out "in every other sitcom since 1989.

"[8] Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star-Ledger reported that he was "very unsatisfied" with this episode, though, noted that he preferred Liz's plot over Tracy, Jenna, and Kenneth's.