Hard Ball (30 Rock episode)

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“Hard Ball”
30 Rock episode
Jenna is a guest on Hardball with Chris Matthews.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 15
Written by	Matthew Hubbard
Directed by	Don Scardino
Production no.	115
Original airdate	February 22, 2007
Episode chronology
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Episode chronology

"Hard Ball" is the fifteenth episode in the situation comedy series 30 Rock. It first aired in the U.S. on February 22, 2007, attracting 4.61 million viewers;^[1] it ranked fourth in its timeslot, behind February sweeps episodes of Grey's Anatomy ("Some Kind Of Miracle") and CSI ("Fallen Idols"), and also behind the series finale of The O.C. ("The End's Not Near, It's Here").^[2] It was 84th in Nielsen's prime-time television rankings for the week.^[1]

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Guest starring
4 Special appearances
5 Featuring
6 References

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Josh's contract comes up for negotiation: Jack tries to save money by not renewing it, while Liz tries to prevent Josh from joining the cast of The Daily Show. When Liz learns that Josh was talking to a Daily Show producer, she gets mad at Josh and decides to side with Jack to get back at him.

Jack changes his mind about dropping Josh, giving him instead a less-than-desirable offer; Liz, still mad about Josh's lack of loyalty, makes him "do the worm" as punishment and insists he list five reasons why she's better than he is. The humiliation continues: Josh's manager is forced to do a crab walk, and is prompted to start fighting Josh's worm. The humiliation ends when "the crab is getting aroused. Shut it down, shut it down."

Jenna gets into trouble after she is misquoted in Maxim magazine as saying she hates the troops, when her original statement was actually directed at theater troupes. The resulting outrage prompts Liz and Jack to get her an interview on Hardball to clear up the confusion over her comments. The interview make matters worse when Jenna confuses Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama. An attempt to do a musical number about America fuels more outrage when the pinwheels in the background refuse to spin, and when ignited, resemble swastikas.

Meanwhile, Tracy allows Kenneth into his entourage, but in the process discovers (by invoking the transitive property) that Grizz and Dot Com have been allowing him to win at things such as Halo, Trivial Pursuit (Dot Com:What's the only mammal that lays eggs? Tracy: That's easy! The easter bunny!), and basketball. Tracy fires Grizz and Dot Com, but the union between Tracy and Kenneth doesn't gel as Tracy did with Grizz and Dot Com. The two come to the rescue after Tracy is surrounded by a mob outside the NBC studios, a mob gathered to protest Jenna and the show.