'30 Rock' recap: All's Well That Ends Mel

By Zap2it Partner

January 28, 2011 6:24 AM ET

Kabletown officially takes over NBC, and Jack feels more pressure than ever to bring in high ratings. Since reality TV is a sure-fire winner, and celebrity-filled disaster telethons garner the best ratings of all, he contrives to pre-tape a telethon so that he has the edge over other networks during the next natural disaster. He commissions the writers to imagine various calamitous scenarios, which not only leads to a slew of insanely inappropriate and unlikely cataclysms but also instigates an internal competition between the writers to earn a place in Lutz' car (that he lies about owning) in case a tornado really does hit a gun factory... or something of the sort.

As luck would have it, devastation hits Mel Gibson's private island, where he was hosting a douchebag convention with Jon Gosselin. Jack can't get to the control room before the pre-taped telethon runs and worries that he's sunk for hosting a telethon for one of the least sympathetic figures of modern times. As it turns out, the telethon actually scores the tremendous ratings Jack predicted, and the world makes sense again.

Meanwhile, the Queen of Jordan cameras have arrived at TGS to tape Tracy's day-to-day life. In light of his Oscar nomination for Hard to Watch, Tracy resolves to be as boring and scandal-free as possible so the producers can't get any footage of him. Lemon decides to use this turn of events to her advantage and ropes Tracy in to fulfilling all the responsibilities he's shirked in the past . Tracy changes strategies and begins to sing his refusals to the tune of licensed music that the Queen of Jordan producers can't use. Lemon grows so frustrated that she takes Tracy aside, and they have it out. Naturally, the producers catch their spat through a cracked door (oldest trick in the book!) and splice together a ready-made reality TV crisis and resolution, complete with stunt Lemons and Tracys. Seeing their alter egos reconcile inspires Tracy and Lemon to do the same, and they resume their touch-and-go relationship once more.

» Read the full recap at Television Without Pity

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