The Rural Juror (11 Jan. 2007)

Jenna is mad at Liz because she thinks her new movie is terrible, and Jack helps Tracy create and market a new cooking machine.

Director:

Beth McCarthy-Miller

Writers:

Tina Fey (creator), Matt Hubbard

Stars:

Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Tina Fey	...	Liz Lemon
Tracy Morgan	...	Tracy Jordan
Jane Krakowski	...	Jenna Maroney
Jack McBrayer	...	Kenneth Parcell
Scott Adsit	...	Pete Hornberger
Judah Friedlander	...	Frank Rossitano
Alec Baldwin	...	Jack Donaghy
Rachel Dratch	...	Barbara Walters
Keith Powell	...	Toofer
Lonny Ross	...	Josh Girard
Maulik Pancholy	...	Jonathan
Chris Parnell	...	Dr. Leo Spaceman
Whoopi Goldberg	...	Whoopi Goldberg
Kevin Brown	...	Dot Com
Grizz Chapman	...	Grizz

Storyline

Tracy needs money and Jack advices him to use his name to sell a celebrity product. Jenna gets a guest-spot on "The View" to promote her movie "The Rural Juror". After getting a copy of the movie from Jenna, Liz struggles to tell her that it is no good. After she tells Jenna, they stop talking to each other. The rest of the staff also wants to see the movie and Josh steals the tape from Liz's office.

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Plot Keywords:

sitcom | title directed by female | title spoken by character

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 January 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Silvercup Studios - 4222 22nd Street, Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Broadway Video, Little Stranger, NBC Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to the clapper-board, the director of "The Rural Juror" is C. Affleck (probably a nod to Casey Affleck) and the cinematographer is Tom Houghton, who actually shot some episodes of 30 Rock.

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Quotes

Barbara Walters: [on The View] Let's get personal. Your father Werner was a burger server in suburban Santa Barbara.
Jenna Maroney: Yes, that's right.
Barbara Walters: When he spurned your mother Verna for a curly-haired surfer named Roberta. Did that hurt her?
Jenna Maroney: It was hard on all of us, yes.
Barbara Walters: Flurg murg glurg flurg murg murg murg tennis murg murg. Was a murg murg flurg?
Jenna Maroney: I'll always be his little girl.
[cries]
Barbara Walters: [puts her hand on Jenna's shoulder] Glurg.

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Connections

References Con Air (1997)

User Reviews

The Ru... what?

The tenth episode of 30 Rock's first season is fairly Jenna-centric, a decision that pays off thanks to Jane Krakowski's endless energy and endearing interaction with Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch (this time appearing as Barbara Walters).

The main plot focuses on the Jenna's new film, which is about to hit theaters. Liz has been mispronouncing the title for weeks, and is relieved to finally read it correctly: The Rural Juror, based on a novel by Kevin Grisham (John's fictional brother). Unfortunately, it just so happens Liz hates he movie anyway, a fact Jenna interprets as jealousy since everyone else seems to like it. In the meantime, Tracy is in a desperate need for cash and asks Jack for help. Together, they come up with the idea of shooting an infomercial for a new product: the Tracy Jordan Meat Machine.

Krakowski has always been very funny in previous episodes (most notably The Aftermath), and here she gets to have a little more screen-time than usual, using that opportunity to prove she truly deserved the role (it was originally intended for Dratch) and has genuine chemistry with Fey. Added laughs come from the Jack/Tracy subplot, with another appearance by Chris Parnell as Dr. Spaceman and a clever joke about Whoopi Goldberg. To (mis)quote Tracy: Dyn-o-mite!