Ludachristmas

Infobox Television episode
Title = Ludachristmas
Series = 30 Rock
Season = 2
Episode = 9
Airdate = Start date|2007|12|13
Production = 209
Writer = Tami Sagher
Director = Don Scardino
Music = "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" performed by Jenna Maroney played by Jane Krakowski
Photographer = Vanja Černjul
Guests = Kevin Brown
Kay Cannon
Grizz Chapman
Anita Gillette
Selena Gonzalez
Buck Henry
John Lutz
John F Mooney
Maulik Pancholy
Andy Richter
Elaine Stritch
Episode list = "30 Rock" (season 2)
List of "30 Rock" episodes
Prev = Secrets and Lies
Next = Episode 210

Ludachristmas is the ninth episode of the second season of the television series "30 Rock" was first broadcast on December 13, 2007 on the NBC network in the United States.cite press release |title="30 Rock" "Episode 209" 12-13-2007 9:00PM |publisher=NBC Universal Media Village |date= |url=http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20071213210000.html |format= |language= |accessdate=2008-08-19 |quote= ] The episode was written by Tami Sagher and directed by Don Scardino. Guest stars in this episode include Kevin Brown, Kay Cannon, Grizz Chapman, Anita Gillette, Selena Gonzalez, Buck Henry, John Lutz, John F Mooney, Maulik Pancholy, Andy Richter and Elaine Stritch.cite web |url=http://tv.yahoo.com/episode/155258/castcrew;_ylt=As06.AsMpOeY2u4mmYi_aPyvo9EF |title="30 Rock": "Episode 209" |accessdate=2008-08-18 |work= |publisher=Yahoo |date= ]

In this episode, Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey) family (Anita Gillette, Buck Henry and Andy Richter) visit her for the holidays and Jack Donaghy's (Alec Baldwin) mother, Colleen Donaghy (Elaine Stritch), also visits him for the holidays. The cast and writers of "TGS with Tracy Jordan", a fictional sketch comedy series, prepare to attend their annual Ludachristmas party. Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) is ordered by a court to wear an alcohol monitoring device.

Plot

Jack is delighted when he thinks his mother, Colleen, is unable to visit him for the holidays due to her flight from Florida being grounded by Hurricane Zapato. Unexpectedly, Colleen arrives because she was able to travel by bus to Atlanta and get a flight from there. Also arriving at 30 Rockefeller Plaza is Liz's family, including her brother Mitch who has "Trauma Induced Nivea Fascia" which means that his memory is stuck in December 1985 and he believes that he is still 17 years old, when he is actually 40. Jack and his mother immediately dislike the Lemons due to their constant optimism and happiness. Colleen sets out to put a stop to this. Jack, Colleen and the Lemons spend the day together and eventually end up going to dinner with each other. At the dinner, Colleen comments that it appears that Liz is the "favorite" child leading Mitch to reveal that his parents, Dick and Margaret, took him to see "The Goonies" in 1985 when they should have been watching Liz at her football game. Liz then accidentally reveals to Mitch that he is in fact 40 years old. The Lemons then spiral into a drunken argument, achieving Jack and Colleen's plan.

Meanwhile, the cast and writers of "TGS" are preparing their annual Ludachristmas party in the writer's room. Tracy is annoyed because he is unable to attend because of a recent order from a courtroom judge which requires him to wear an alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet. Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) is also annoyed because he believes that none of the staff know what the true meaning of Christmas is. He cancels Ludachristmas and makes the staff sit through a talk, led by himself and Reverand Gary (John F Mooney), about the meaning of Christmas. This inspires the cast and writers to run outside of 30 Rock and tear down the big Christmas tree which is outside the building. Kenneth eventually stops their efforts and Tracy reveals that he has been drinking alcohol when he should not have been.

Production

The storyline in this episode, which features Tracy having to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor alcohol levels in his sweat due to a Driving under the influence arrest, is based on events which actually happened to actor Tracy Morgan, who portrays Tracy Jordan.cite news |first=Michael |last=Wilson |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Humor Sliced and Diced |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/fashion/06nite.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |work= |publisher="The New York Times" |date=2008-01-06 |accessdate=2008-08-19 ] Morgan has twice been arrested for drink driving: once in December 2005 and once in November 2006. He was sentenced to 36 months probation, fined US$390, and mandated to attend an alcohol education program at the 2005 arrest.cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/story/7306.html |title=Tracy Morgan arrested for drunk driving |accessdate=2008-08-19 |last=Mahan |first=Colin |coauthors= |date=2006-11-28 |work= |publisher=TV.com] As a result of the 2006 arrest, Morgan was fined US$1000 and had his drivers license suspended for six months.cite web |url=http://uk.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=2d3b1821-4c9f-401a-88cb-1959f1145f25&entry=index |title=Tracy Morgan Cops to Uncool Charge |accessdate=2008-08-19 |last=Keller |first=Julie |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=E!] Morgan was also ordered to wear a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM), "an ankle bracelet worn to test for alcohol vapors that come out of the skin".cite web |url=http://www.tmz.com/2007/04/28/tracy-morgan-cops-a-plea/ |title=Tracy Morgan Ordered to SCRAM, Escapes Jail Time |accessdate=2008-08-19 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date=2007-04-28 |work= |publisher=TMZ.com]

NBC billed this episode on its press releases as "Episode 209". The episode has been unofficially titled "Ludachristmas", [cite web |url=http://www.hulu.com/watch/6624/30-rock-ludachristmas |title="Ludachristmas": "30 Rock" |accessdate=2008-08-19 |work= |publisher=Hulu |date= ] until it was confirmed by the second season DVD.Fact|date=October 2008 Similarly, the following episode also remains unnamed and is officially known as "Episode 210".cite press release |title=01-10-2008 08:30 pm "30 Rock" — "Episode 210" (30 min) |publisher="NBC Universal Media Village" |date=December 2007 |url=http://nbcumv.com/listing_detail.nbc/nbc-20080110203000.html |accessdate=2008-01-18]

Kay Cannon, a writer for "30 Rock",cite press release |title=2007 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced |publisher="Writers Guild of America, West" |date=2006-12-13 |url=http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2267 |accessdate=2008-03-07] appears in this episode as a Human Table at the Ludachristmas party. Cannon previously appeared as an unnamed wife character in "Fireworks", a episode of the first season.cite news |title="30 Rock" — "Fireworks" — Season 1 — Episode 4 — Synopsis, Credits, Companies — "Variety" Profiles |url=http://www.variety.com/profiles/Episode/main/171713/41770/1/64178/4/Fireworks.html?dataSet=1 |publisher="Variety" |accessdate=2008-08-16 ] cite video |people=McBrayer, Jack |year2=2007 |title=30 Rock: Season One DVD commentary for the episode "Fireworks" |format= |medium=DVD |publisher=NBC Universal |location= |accessdate=2008-08-17 |time=01:47 |quote=Those are two of our writers. That was Dave Finkel and Kay Cannon, in fact Dave Finkel and Brett Baer are a writing team that original penned this episode. ] Cannon co-wrote "The Head and the Hair", an episode of the first season,cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title="30 Rock" — "The Head and the Hair" — Season 1 — Episode 11 — Synopsis, Credits, Companies |url=http://www.variety.com/profiles/Episode/main/171713/41770/1/62050/11/The%20Head%20and%20the%20Hair.html?dataSet=1 |work= |publisher="Variety" |date= |accessdate=2008-08-19 ] and "Somebody to Love", an episode of the second season.cite web |url=http://tv.yahoo.com/episode/152775/castcrew;_ylt=AjcJZlYp.JWNn6G4Mg6vkQqvo9EF |title="30 Rock" "Somebody to Love" Season 2, Episode 6 | Original Airdate: November 15, 2007 |accessdate=2008-07-20 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher="Yahoo!"] Both episodes were co-written with the series creator, Tina Fey.

"Star Wars" is frequently referenced in "30 Rock", beginning with the pilot episode where Tracy Jordan is seen shouting that he is a Jedi.cite episode |title=Pilot |episodelink=Pilot (30 Rock) |series=30 Rock |credits=Writer(s): Tina Fey; Director: Adam Bernstein |network=NBC Universal |station=NBC |airdate=2006-10-11 |season=1 |number=1] Liz Lemon admits to being a huge fan of "Star Wars", saying that she had watched it many times with Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit),cite episode |title=Fireworks |episodelink=Fireworks (30 Rock) |series=30 Rock |credits=Writers : Dave Finkel, Brett Baer; Director: Beth McCarthy |network=NBC Universal |station=NBC |airdate=2007-04-05 |season=1 |number=18] and saying she dressed up as the "Star Wars" character Princess Leia during four Halloweens.cite episode |title=The Source Awards |episodelink= |series=30 Rock |credits=Writer(s): Robert Carlock, Daisy Gardner; Director: Don Scardino |network=NBC Universal |station=NBC |airdate=2007-03-01 |season=1 |number=16] Fey, a fan of "Star Wars" herself, said that the weekly "Star Wars" joke or reference "started happening organically" when the crew realized that they had a "Star Wars" reference "in almost every show". Fey said that from then on "it became a thing where [they] tried to keep it going", and that even though they could not include one in every episode, they still had a "pretty high batting average". Fey attributed most of the references to Robert Carlock, who she described as "the resident expert". [cite web |url=http://www.craveonline.com/articles/filmtv/04648653/tina_fey_gets_the_gold.html |title=Tina Fey Gets the Gold |accessdate=2008-07-07 |author=Topel, Fred |date=2007-09-16 |publisher=Crave Online] In this episode, "Star Wars" is referenced during a scene at "Ankle Bracelet Headquarters" in which, a screen featuring people who are wearing the SCRAM devices displays the names: "Tracy Jordan", "Lindsey Lohan", "Dina Lohan", "Michael Lohan", "Michelle Rodriguez" and "Chewbacca".

Reception

The episode brought in an average 5.6 million American viewers upon its original broadcast in the United States, achieving a 2.8/7 in the key 18–49 year old demographic. The 2.8 refers to 2.8% of all people of ages 18–49 years old, and the 7 refers to 7% of all people of ages 18–49 years old watching television at the time of the broadcast. It ranked second place in the 18–49 demographic and tied with CBS's ' episode "Lying Down With Dogs" for first place among men aged 18–49.cite press release |title="Deal", "Biggest Loser" And "Sunday Night Football" Lead NBC's Week Of December 10–16|publisher=NBC Universal Media Village |date=2007-12-18 |url=http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20071218000000-039deal4403.html |format= |language= |accessdate=2008-08-18 |quote=Thursday at 9 p.m. ET, "30 Rock" (2.8/7 in 18–49, 5.6 million viewers overall) ranked #2 in adults 18–49, trailing only an original ' on CBS. "30 Rock" ranked #1 among men 18–34, tied with "CSI". ] Elaine Stritch, who made a guest appearance in this episode as Colleen Donaghy, is currently nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.cite web |url=http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2008pte/60thpte_noms.php |title=The 60^th Primetime Emmy® Awards and Creative Arts Emmy® Awards Nominees are... |accessdate=2008-07-17 |date=2008-07-17 |work= |publisher="Academy of Television Arts & Sciences"]

Matt Webb Mitovich of "TV Guide" wrote that "it's hard to make a 'true meaning of Christmas' story seem fresh. That's why this week's Kenneth/No LudaChristmas bit was a bit lame, in my opinion", although he did say "the A story [featuring Jack and Liz's respective families] fared a bit better".cite news |first=Matt |last=Webb Mitovich |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Episode Rec
TV Guide" |date=2007-12-13 |accessdate=2008-08-18 ] Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad thought that this episode was "a modern, irreverent look at [Christmas] ".cite web |url=http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/12/14/30-rock-episode-209/ |title="30 Rock": "Episode 209" |accessdate=2008-08-18 |last=Sassone |authorlink=Bob Sassone |first=Bob |coauthors= |date=2007-12-14 |work= |publisher=AOL's TV Squad] Jeff Labrecque of "Entertainment Weekly" thought that Buck Henry and Andy Richter were both "destined to play" their roles. He also wrote that " [Elaine] Stritch wasn't as brilliant as she's been in previous appearances, but she's always welcome, simply because her character riles Jack."cite news |first=Jeff |last=Labrecque |authorlink= |coauthors= |title="30 Rock": Just Say Noel |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20166404,00.html |work= |publisher="Entertainment Weekly" |date=2007-12-14 |accessdate=2008-08-19 ] Robert Canning of IGN wrote that this episode "had all the trimmings for a holiday classic, though it fell just shy of that pantheon." He added that "this may not have been the "30 Rock" holiday classic people were hoping for, but it was a solid, funny episode nonetheless." Canning rated this episode 8 out of 10.cite web |url=http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/841/841543p1.html |title="30 Rock": "Episode 209" Review |accessdate=2008-08-18 |last=Canning |first=Robert |coauthors= |date=2007-12-14 |work= |publisher=IGN]

References