Klaus and Greta

At the same time, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) starts up a fake relationship with actor James Franco in order to counteract rumors that he is in love with a Japanese body pillow.

After a crazy New Year's Eve, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) realizes that while drunk on wine brought by Bob Ballard, he left a message on the answering machine of Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore), his high school sweetheart.

He and NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) immediately travel to Massachusetts and break into Nancy's home while she is on vacation, hoping to erase the message.

While Kenneth fumbles with the computer, Jack examines the house and finds evidence that Nancy's marriage is reaching its end - he husband's clothes are on the couch, their sinks are separated, and they have booked flights to different places.

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) accidentally outs her cousin, Randy (Jeffery Self) to his family at a New Year's Eve party, so he comes to live with her in New York City.

Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) enters a fake relationship with actor James Franco, in order to counteract rumors that he is in love with a Japanese body pillow.

[3] In November 2009, it was announced that actor James Franco would guest star on 30 Rock as himself, and would carry on a fake romance with Jenna Maroney (Krakowski), in a scheme concocted by their respective agents.

[4] Two months earlier, series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey revealed Jenna's plot to Entertainment Weekly, but did not divulge Franco's name.

[8] Despite not appearing in the episode, the show made reference of Jack Donaghy's romantic interest in high school sweatheart, Nancy Donovan, portrayed by actress Julianne Moore.

This is a reference to the 1991 thriller film The Silence of the Lambs in which serial killer "Buffalo Bill" kidnaps his victims by asking them for help loading something heavy into his van, and then knocking them out in a surprise attack from behind.

[3] Randy tells Liz that growing up the (fictitious) small town of Methenburg, Pennsylvania was difficult as a closeted gay man, and reveals that the local television station in the state edited Will & Grace down so much that it was just called Karen.

Canning said that despite the Tracy character not having too much screen time here "his bits were funny, and his idea to add a woman to his entourage had a lot of potential", and noted that Liz/Randy's plot ended "brilliantly" when the story crossed over to Jenna/James Franco's storyline.

Club's Emily VanDerWerff was positive, but noted that "there was stuff that didn't work here", citing the long scene with Jack and Kenneth in Nancy's home, reasoning it was "weirdly boring".

Not being a fan of Jane Krakowski's Jenna, VanDerWerff noted that "Klaus and Greta" gave the character "one of her best storylines in ages ... [and] everything here about how she slowly grew more and more oblivious was well-done.