Maulik Pancholy leaves 'Whitney,' returns to '30 Rock': Welcome back, Jonathan!

Maulik Pancholy caught a lucky break. The actor is leaving NBC's critically derided "Whitney" and reprising his fan-favorite role of Jack Donaghy's ( Alec Baldwin) sycophantic assistant Jonathan on "30 Rock's" last season.

On "Whitney," Pancholy played Lily's (Zoe Lister-Jones) fiancé Neal, who came out as gay at the end of the freshman season. Star Whitney Cummings explained his exit to TV Guide Magazine, "It's hard to keep him integrated into the group now that he's broken up with Lily."

Whitney, which moves to Friday nights in its 13-episode sophomore season, also has a new showrunner, with Will Calhoun replacing Betsy Thomas.

Pancholy also had a memorable turn as Sanjay -- who also came out as gay -- on "Weeds" in the Showtime series' first five seasons.