The Beginning of the End (30 Rock)

"The Beginning of the End" is the first episode of the seventh season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 126th overall episode of the series. It was directed by Don Scardino, and written by Jack Burditt. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network in the United States on October 4, 2012.

"The Beginning of the End"
30 Rock episode
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 1
Directed byDon Scardino
Written byJack Burditt
Featured musicJeff Richmond
Production code701
Original air dateOctober 4, 2012
Guest appearance(s)

Steve Higgins as Homonym Host

"The Beginning of the End" received a positive critical response and was watched by 3.46 million viewers. It is the only season premiere episode of the series not to be written by Tina Fey.

Plot

Liz (Tina Fey) begins to notice that Jack (Alec Baldwin) is green-lighting an exceptionally terrible lineup of new NBC shows like Homonym (a game show where a contestant must define the homophone of a given word) and God Cop (in which Jack himself plays God). Eventually she discovers that Jack is trying to "tank" NBC so that Kabletown CEO Hank Hooper will sell the network entirely to Paas, an Easter egg dye company that Jack sees as a more promising future. In the end, Liz agrees to work with Jack on "tanking" NBC so that Hank will sell the network and the two work together to make TGS with Tracy Jordan terrible.

Meanwhile, Jenna (Jane Krakowski) asks Liz to be her bridesmaid. Liz decides to employ Jack's "tanking" method to her bridesmaid duties, hoping Jenna will choose someone else after Liz performs the job terribly. After Liz throws Jenna a disastrous bachelorette party, Jenna erupts with anger and begins to destroy Liz's apartment. Liz is eventually able to calm Jenna long enough to convince her that Jenna herself is the only person truly capable of doing the job, inspiring Jenna to literally become her own bridesmaid.

Hazel (Kristen Schaal) and Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) invite Tracy (Tracy Morgan) over for dinner. However, once Kenneth leaves the room to kill their dinner, Hazel begins to make advances towards Tracy. In doing so, Hazel admits that by dating Kenneth she was only using him to get close to Tracy so that he would cast her in a movie and in effect launch her career in show business. This sparks outrage in Tracy, whose genuine friendship for Kenneth will not tolerate Hazel's selfish manipulation. A feud is ensued between the two as they attempt to compete for the love and trust of Kenneth.

Reception

"The Beginning of the End" was watched by 3.46 million viewers and earned a 1.4 rating/4 share in the 18–49 demographic.[1] This means that it was seen by 1.4 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 4 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This was a decrease from the previous season premiere (4.47 million),[2] but an increase from the previous episode, the sixth season finale (2.84 million).[3] In its original Australian television broadcast on September 9, 2013 the episode was watched by 79,000 viewers via the Seven Network.[4]

The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. Writing for The A.V. Club, Pilot Viruet gave "The Beginning of the End" an "A-" and praised the "rapid-fire jokes, the great callbacks [..., and] the biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you approach to NBC."[5] Eric Goldman of IGN also gave the episode an overall positive review and highly praised the Liz/Jack dynamic, but described the different storylines as "a mixed bag."[6] TV.com's Julia Bergen gave the final season premiere an enthusiastic review, stating, "So many shows start spiraling by Season 3 (or earlier), and it really says something about 30 Rock that even in its last season, Tina Fey and company refuse to produce something sub-par."[7] Bonnie Stiernberg of Paste magazine gave the episode an 8.8 out of 10 highly praising the "tanking" plot as "30 Rock‘s way of going out with a bang" and described the show's eminent conclusion as "... leaving us at the perfect moment: Liz Lemon and friends have been around the block long enough to show us all they’re capable of, but they’re bowing out while still on top of their game, as evidenced by this season’s premiere."[8]

References
  1. Bibel, Sara (October 5, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The X Factor', 'Last Resort', '30 Rock', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'The Office' Adjusted Up; 'Two and a Half Men', 'Person of Interest', 'Scandal', 'Elementary' 'Rock Center' & 'The Next' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  2. Seidman, Robert (January 13, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory' Adjusted Up; 'Private Practice' Adjusted Down". Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  3. Bibel, Sara (May 18, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', '30 Rock' Adjusted Up; 'Touch', 'Scandal' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 22, 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  4. Knox, David (September 10, 2013). "Never mind primetime, Sunrise thumps Today". TV Tonight. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  5. Viruet, Pilot (4 October 2012). "30 Rock: 'The Beginning of the End' Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  6. Goldman, Eric (5 October 2012). "'Paas. Bane. Donaghy. The Final Season Begins.' - 30 Rock: 'The Beginning Of The End' Review". IGN. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  7. Bergen, Julia (5 October 2012). "30 Rock's Season 7 Premiere: The Road to Paas". TV.com. Retrieved 25 October 2012.
  8. Stiernberg, Bonnie (4 October 2012). "30 Rock Review: 'The Beginning of the End' (Episode 7.01)". Paste Magazine. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
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