Mrs. Donaghy

Guest stars in this episode include Meng Ai, Jean Brassard, Todd Buonopane, Tituss Burgess, Cheyenne Jackson, Chris Parnell, and Sherri Shepherd.

According to Nielsen Media Research, "Mrs. Donaghy" was watched by 5.338 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.7 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) married his girlfriend Avery Jessup (Elizabeth Banks) in the French Caribbean over New Year's.

As a result, Jenna is forced to share a dressing room with her TGS co-star Danny Baker (Cheyenne Jackson).

NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) gets upset about Jenna and Danny fighting and decides to stop their bickering.

This episode of 30 Rock was written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt, his second episode for the fifth season, and his fourteenth writing credit after "Jack Meets Dennis", "The Baby Show", "The Fighting Irish", "Cleveland", "Rosemary's Baby", "Subway Hero", "Sandwich Day", "The One with the Cast of Night Court", "St. Valentine's Day", "The Ones", "Kidney Now!

[3] The episode featured several appearances by several frequent guest stars, including Todd Buonopane as NBC Human resource mediator Jeffrey Weinerslav, Cheyenne Jackson as TGS cast member Danny Baker, Chris Parnell as Dr. Leo Spaceman, and Sherri Shepherd as Angie Jordan the wife of Tracy Jordan.

[7] In an interview with TV Guide in November 2010, co-showrunner and executive producer Robert Carlock revealed that Shepherd's character "will be getting her own Real Housewives-type reality show.

Television columnist Meredith Blake from the Los Angeles Times wondered if this subplot was written as a way to deal with Tracy Morgan's recent kidney transplant, as he was expected to miss several episodes to recover from the procedure.

[11] In the episode, it is revealed that Jack Donaghy accidentally married Liz Lemon instead of his girlfriend Avery Jessup (Elizabeth Banks).

[3][17] Fromme is a member of the Manson Family, and was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate United States President Gerald Ford in 1975.

[21] Before the airing of this episode, NBC unveiled its 2010–11 primetime schedule in May 2010 with the network moving 30 Rock from the 9:30 p.m. time to the 8:30 p.m. timeslot for the show's fifth season.

[31][32] According to New York magazine the staff were most worried about how 30 Rock and Community—another program that airs on NBC's Thursday lineup—would do in the new time change but said that both shows "did great.

[38] Ian McDonald of Zap2it wrote that the Jeffrey character "made one of the best in-jokes of the episode, recapping (and misinterpreting) Liz and Jack's 'will they/won't they chemistry.'

McDonald was positive about Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson's subplot, saying it was nice to see them share a story, and that their characters "have great, toxic chemistry.

"[39] Bob Sassone of TV Squad said that the ending in which the Jeffrey character summarized Jack and Liz's friendship "was a perfect summation of the heart of 30 Rock itself.

"[40] IGN contributor Matt Fowler commented that the Jenna and Danny story "felt weak" but that Angie getting her own show "more than made up for it."

[41] Brad Sanders of the Indiana Daily Student commented that "Mrs. Donaghy" had a "solid comeback",[42] while Entertainment Weekly's Breia Brissey was glad that the show returned.

Donaghy'] was that, however silly, all of the illogical circumstances of the show can be explained with a bit of reason", reported Caitlin Smith of The Atlantic.

"[45] New York magazine's Willa Paskin enjoyed Tina Fey's impression of Edith Bouvier Beale during her press conference.

Further in his recap, Forcella said that the ending scene, with Jeffrey explaining all of the things Jack and Liz have done together as close friends,[3] "was almost as if they expected us to predict one of them was going to think it was something more than a friendship, and then flip it on the audience.

"[47] Kelsea Stahler of the New York Post noted that when it was revealed that Jack accidentally married Liz that it "fell a little flat", reasoning "I mean, Jack accidentally married [Liz], this scene could have reached so many levels of insanity, but instead they settled for Jonathan's (Maulik Pancholy) piercing squeal before moving onto the rest of the show.

"[48] Johnny Firecloud of CraveOnline did not enjoy the Jenna, Danny, and Kenneth plot explaining that it unfolded "very strangely, and eventually saps a good deal of energy out of the show.