Don Geiss, America and Hope
Guest stars in "Don Geiss, America and Hope" include John Anderson, Scott Bryce, Marceline Hugot, James Rebhorn, and Michael Sheen.
In the episode, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) attempts to avoid running into Wesley Snipes (Sheen) after they fail to hit it off in their first encounter, but fate seems to want them together.
"Don Geiss, America and Hope" makes reference to the real-life acquisition of NBC Universal by cable company Comcast, as well as that of professional golfer Tiger Woods' extramarital affairs scandal.
For his performance in "Don Geiss, America and Hope", Alec Baldwin received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the category for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), outgoing Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric (GE), researches company Kabletown (which recently purchased the NBC network as a charitable, tax-deductible act), to find a way he can contribute in the corporation's development.
Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) tries to avoid meeting with Wesley (Michael Sheen), the British man she met and flirted with while under the influence of anesthesia.
However, after visiting the dentist office where they met, Liz and Wesley come to terms with the fact that the anesthesia was the cause of whatever they experienced, and agree to stop seeing each other.
In order to restore his womanizing persona, Tracy holds a press conference announcing he is leaving show business to spend more time with a stripper, but no one is convinced.
His wife Angie even advises him to have an affair in order to save his career, a suggestion which Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) urges him to take seriously.
At the end of the episode, Liz is seen watching and being intrigued by some of the "porn for women" content, which somehow features her fantasy boyfriend Astronaut Mike Dexter.
"Don Geiss, America and Hope" was directed by series first assistant director Stephen Lee Davis, and written by Jack Burditt and Tracey Wigfield.
[1] This was Burditt's first written episode for the season, as he had moved to Los Angeles, California,[2] to become a staff writer on the CBS comedy show The New Adventures of Old Christine.
[9] In January 2010, it was announced that Welsh actor Michael Sheen would guest star as a love interest for series creator Tina Fey's character, Liz Lemon.
[7] At the end of "Don Geiss, America and Hope", where Liz is shown watching one of the "porn for women" channels, the man depicted as speaking to her was portrayed by actor John Anderson, who has guest starred previously on the show as Astronaut Mike Dexter.
[19] When asked by a contributor from The Philadelphia Inquirer why the characters on 30 Rock refer to the network's new owner as "Kabletown, with a K", co-showrunner and executive producer Robert Carlock revealed that the reason for this was that the staff writers came up with the name "Cabletown", however, they later learned that there was a real company with a similar name, so NBC's legal team department "wanted to emphasize the difference, and after a while, everyone just liked the sound of it.
[25] Liz and Wesley also attend a second run of the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, which provokes arguments between them despite their mutual enjoyment of the film.
[34] In this episode, at Don Geiss's funeral, he is shown to be frozen in carbonite similar to that of Star Wars character Han Solo in the 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back.
[36] According to the Nielsen Media Research, "Don Geiss, America and Hope" was watched by 6.857 million viewers during its original United States broadcast.
[40] Television columnist Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger wrote that despite "Don Geiss, America and Hope" not being "strong" as the last episode it had "many funny moments scattered throughout" that he was satisfied with.
Sepinwall said it "was a good story" for Jack's character, and that it was "nice" to see 30 Rock "fearless about mocking their future Comcast overlords as they are at making fun of NBC".
[42] Despite enjoying Sheen's role on the show, Time contributor James Poniewozik confessed he had a problem with his story arc with Tina Fey's Liz.
"I assume that [Sheen] is not going to become a permanent cast member, and so however much I might enjoy parts of this story, I can never forget that this is probably one more relationship that Liz will go through and end up at status quo ante.
[22] Meredith Blake, a contributor for the Los Angeles Times, was not positive towards Fey and Sheen's story here, explaining that the premise of the two characters settling for one another "fell flat" and "it just wasn't as funny as it could have been.
