Let's Stay Together (30 Rock)
Guest stars in this episode include John Amos, Todd Buonopane, Reg E. Cathey, Queen Latifah and Rob Reiner.
In the episode, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) must appear before Congress to discuss NBC's merger with the fictional company network KableTown (a parody of Comcast).
He is able to consolidate support for the deal, until Representative Regina Bookman (Queen Latifah) calls out NBC for being racist and demands that there be more diversity in the programming lineup.
Meanwhile, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), the head writer of the sketch show TGS with Tracy Jordan, is unhappy about the lack of respect she gets from her writing staff and complains to Jack, her boss, about the situation.
Liz gets visibly upset when Rice gives Toofer all of the credit she deserves, and as a result of her behavior she is escorted off the set by a security guard.
After a failed, over-the-top performance in front of Human resources mediator Jeffrey Weinerslav (Todd Buonopane), Jenna vows to get Kenneth his job back.
Jack tries to improve the situation by giving "head writer" Toofer a medal for his work, but Bookman sees right through this, and discovers that Liz is the only one that truly deserves her respect and congratulates her.
[3] In September 2010, it was announced that actress and singer Queen Latifah would guest star on the show as a Congresswoman named Regina Bookman who demands from Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy, more diversity in its NBC programming lineup.
[9] Carlock noted that the NBC-Comcast deal would not change the show's "reason for existence", explaining that since the merger has occurred it has made things "even funnier" for the staff writers.
", a reference to Reiner who directed the 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally....[13] One of the applicants to become an NBC page plays a keyboard and sings in the tune of musician Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire".
[17] Coincidentally, guest star Queen Latifah executive produces the romantic comedy television series Let's Stay Together that airs on BET.
The first season episode "Jack the Writer" contained a self-referencing walk and talk sequence, which was commonly used on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Sorkin's previous series The West Wing.
He has cheesy lines and co-stars with a talking dog, a corruption of the show's original concept reminiscent of comments Amos and others have made regarding wasted potential in Good Times.
"[27] Meredith Blake from the Los Angeles Times deemed it a "wildly clever and satiric episode" that also "delivered an important critique about the limitations of diversity programs."
"[14] Caitlan Smith of The Atlantic wrote that Latifah "stole the show" and "drove the action" as her character Regina Bookman in this episode of 30 Rock.
He continued in his recap that "Let's Stay Together" had a "golden opportunity to comment insightfully and hilariously about the tricky intersection of politics, power, race and privilege", however "it recycled jokes that were unfunny and overly familiar the first time around".
Sanders said that the stories featured here had "a few big laughs ... but they're assembled so haphazardly and put into such a bulky framework that the train just never gets enough steam to salvage the episode.
