Subway Hero

[3] Dennis Duffy's actions in the episode were modeled after real New York City Subway hero Wesley Autrey.

The episode revolves around Liz's former boyfriend, Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), becoming a local celebrity when he saves somebody's life at a subway station.

[3] When invited to Jack's office, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is asked whether or not she would mind having her former boyfriend, Dennis, appear on TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional sketch comedy series.

"[6] Given that Dennis was established as a New York Islanders fan in previous episodes, the writers decided to have him spend a day with the Stanley Cup, including a joke where he forgets it in a taxi.

[8] The scene that takes place at the Rockefeller Center Subway Station was actually filmed on the 42nd Street Shuttle platform at the Grand Central Subway Station, with prop signs reading "47–50 Sts – Rockefeller Center" placed over the original signage, and a shuttle train relabelled as a D train.

[9] Claire Zulkey of The Los Angeles Times wrote that "In some ways the episode almost felt too comfortable, with the familiar story lines and even the obligatory fantasy featuring Baldwin as a former president.

"[12] Jeff Labrecque of Entertainment Weekly thought that "Even for the always politically astute 30 Rock, last night's episode was unusually so.

"[17] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger said that "I saw "Subway Hero" a while back, and as I wrote in my column last week, my reaction to it was roughly the same as it was to "MILF Island": a number of very funny individual moments, but an episode that was less than the sum of its parts.

"[18] David Hinckley of The New York Daily News said that there were "a lot of former-boyfriend gags that are, once again, well-formulated" in this episode and that "They work."

Hinckley also wrote that "the real reason ["Subway Hero"] is must-see TV is a guest spot by Tim Conway as an old-time television star whose deadpan recollections of the "good old days" keep getting weirder and funnier.