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"Jack Meets Dennis"
30 Rock episode
Jack bumps into Liz and Dennis in "Stone"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 6
Written by	Jack Burditt
Directed by	Juan J. Campanella
Production no.	105[1]
Original airdate	November 30, 2006 (2006-11-30)
Guest stars
Katrina Bowden Lonny Ross Keith Powell Teddy Coluca Dean Winters Michael Blakson Greta Cavazzoni Annette Hunt Ali Reza Brian Stack
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Jack-Tor" "Tracy Does Conan"
30 Rock (season 1) List of 30 Rock episodes

"Jack Meets Dennis" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American situation comedy 30 Rock, which aired on November 30, 2006 on the NBC network in the United States.

Plot

Liz and Dennis have gotten back together after Dennis was the only person who remembered her birthday. Tracy is upset after being identified in a magazine as an actor behaving normally, far from the insane persona he is trying to maintain.

Jack, responding to audience research, starts cleaning out green clothes from the set. He asks Jenna how old she is, and she tells him that she is 29. Josh is told that he is to receive a special gift from Liz Taylor as a response to an impression he did of the actress.

Disturbed by Liz's acceptance of mediocrity, Jack tries to reform her into a winner who enjoys the high class. He refers Liz to Stone, the fanciest restaurant in the city. Nevertheless, Liz declines Jack's offer to be her mentor. That night at Stone, Jack and his date walk by Dennis and Liz's table, with Jack very unimpressed by Dennis's manners.

Jenna has had a series of cosmetic treatments that has gone terribly wrong. Dennis drops off a salamander for Liz at the TGS office and attempts to sell beepers to the TGS staff. Dennis tells Jack that he saw a rat king at Stone. Tracy reveals a dragon tattoo all over his face. Liz Taylor sneaks into the studio and, upset over Josh's impersonation, brutally beats him with a fire extinguisher.

Jack introduces Liz to a former mentee of his, Howard Jorgensen. At lunch, Liz realizes she is frustrated with the reliability of Dennis, then she storms off to Jack's office to ask for help. Jack identifies Dennis as being like rat king himself, and motivates Liz to cut him off completely.

Tracy's tattoo is identified as made of Sharpie as part of his effort to re-establish his street cred. As Jenna, Tracy, and Josh are rehearsing a skit involving Laura Bush, Condoleezza Rice, and John Kerry, it is clear that due to their variosu mishaps, performing the show would be impossible. Fortuitously the power in the NBC Studios goes out, cancelling the show.

Liz comes home to break up with Dennis, only to find him distraught after a New York Islanders loss. As a result, Dennis moves in with her.

Reception

In the U.S., "Jack Meets Dennis" was watched by an average of 5.97 million viewers, making it the 70th most watched program of the week.^[2] In the United Kingdom, the episode attracted 400,000 viewers and a 3% share of the viewing audience at the time of the broadcast.

Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times felt the series worked because it played "with the absurdities of the television business lightly". Stanley felt that the series was at its best when it revolved around the characters, and not the show itself.^[3] Robert Canning of IGN said that although Tracy and Jenna "had their moments in two rather weak storylines", the "unfunny and distracting 'Where's Waldo?' casting" disrupted the flow of the episode. Canning enjoyed the improvement of the series, and said that "though not every story this week was stellar, you didn't go long without a decent laugh."^[4]

References

External links

• "Jack Meets Dennis" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Jack Meets Dennis" at TV.com