Goodbye, My Friend

Guest stars in this episode include John Lithgow, Patti LuPone, Christopher Nicholas Smith, and Phoebe Strole.

At the same time, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) goes on a guy's night out with the fictitious show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan (TGS) writers—Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), and Josh Girard (Lonny Ross).

According to the Nielsen Media Research, the episode was watched by 7.3 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 3.8 rating/9 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

[4] According to Judah Friedlander, in the DVD commentary for this episode, he had to cut his hair, when Frank Rossitano gets a make-over, preparing to return to law school.

[5] Friedlander revealed that a couple of lines between Frank and Jack Donaghy were cut out from the airing, in which the two are discussing the Western film Shane (1953).

[10] During the read-through for "Goodbye, My Friend", series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey read the part of Frank's mother.

[9] The episode makes repeated references to the 1987 film Harry and the Hendersons, in which actor John Lithgow starred.

[9] After seeing Becca eating baby food, Liz tells her that the baby cannot taste anything, as it gets its nutrients from its mother, to which Becca says "I am going to post a reply to juno32 and tell her she's a giant ass wipe", a reference to the 2007 comedy-drama Juno in which the title character is faced with an unplanned teenage pregnancy.

His aimless wandering [in the 30 Rock building] offered a perfect way to weave the Hendersons element into Liz's baby mama struggles.

Club's Nathan Rabin said "Goodbye, My Friend" was a "beautiful, elegant bit of plotting, [and] the episode's various threads came together, united by the shining example set forth by [Harry and the Hendersons]."

[12] Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad commented that Tina Fey's Liz "was kinda creepy in this episode", regarding her manipulation of Becca, though, "it was very funny all around and that's all that matters".

[18] Rick Porter of Zap2it said that "Goodbye, My Friend" had its "usual share of brilliantly funny moments, but I'm not sure whether I can fully get behind an episode that hangs an entire subplot on the subtleties of Harry and the Hendersons."

Porter wrote that Jenna's fake injury was mostly a throwaway, "but it did bring my favorite line of the night", in regards to Tracy explaining that he does not have a birth certificate and therefore has never had a birthday.