The Source Awards (30 Rock)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"The Source Awards" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American television comedy series ''
30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', takes ...
''. It was written by
Robert Carlock Robert Morgan Carlock (born September 21, 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has worked as a writer for several NBC television comedies, and as a showrunner for ''30 Rock'', which was created by his recurring collaborator, comedia ...
and
Daisy Gardner Daisy Gardner (born September 24, 1976) is an American television writer and comedian who is best known for her work as a writer on the NBC series ''30 Rock'', Showtime's ''Californication'', and Comedy Central's ''South Park''. She also appea ...
, and directed by one of the season's supervising producers,
Don Scardino Donald Joseph Scardino (born February 17, 1949) is an American television director and producer and a former actor. Career Acting Scardino was born in New York City, to jazz musician parents, Dorothy Denny Scardino and Charles Scardino. His f ...
. The episode originally aired on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
in the United States on March 1, 2007. "The Source Awards" featured appearances by
Wayne Brady Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American television personality, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' He was the host of ...
,
Kevin Brown Kevin Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Kevin Brown (blues musician) (born 1950), English blues guitarist * Kevin Brown (author) (born 1960), American journalist and translator * Kevin Brown (poet) (born 1970), American poet and teacher * Kevin ...
,
Grizz Chapman Grizzwald "Grizz" Chapman (born April 16, 1974) is an American television actor best known for his recurring role as Grizz on the NBC series ''30 Rock''. A June 2007 interview with rollingout.com lists Chapman's height as . In his commentary f ...
,
Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...
,
LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...
, and
Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...
. In the episode,
Jack Donaghy John Francis "Jack" Donaghy ( ) is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock'', airing from 2006 to 2013. The character was created by series creator Tina Fey, and is portrayed by Alec Baldwin. He was introduced as the Vice President of E ...
(
Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
) enlists a rap producer, Ridikolous, to unload his line of inferior champagne while
Tracy Jordan Tracy Jordan is a fictional character in the American television series ''30 Rock'', played by the actor Tracy Morgan. The character is a movie star whose personality traits and life events are taken from Morgan's own life. In 2010, ''Entertainm ...
(
Tracy Morgan Tracy Jamal Morgan (born November 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for his television work as a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (1996–2003) and for his role as Tracy Jordan in the sitcom ''30 Rock'' (2006 ...
) reluctantly hosts the Source Awards. At the same time,
Liz Lemon Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American television series ''30 Rock''. She created and writes for the fictional comedy-sketch show ''The Girlie Show'' and later ''TGS with Tracy Jordan''. She is po ...
(
Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...
) tries to sever ties with a black man she dislikes without looking racist.


Plot

Liz has a date with Steven Black (
Wayne Brady Wayne Alphonso Brady (born June 2, 1972) is an American television personality, comedian, actor, and singer. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' He was the host of ...
), Tracy's new business manager, whom she met in one of Tracy's after-parties. Many people around Liz make an issue of Steven being African American, but Liz does not care about his race. On her date with Steven, Liz is surprised to find out he is a staunch
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
, and does not have a good time. Steven believes that Liz doesn't like him because he is black, when really she does not like him as a person. She does not want to be thought of as racist, so she continues on the date. Later, Liz tries to break up with Steven and explain to him that she just does not like him as a person, not because of his race. To prove they are incompatible, she brings him as a guest to the Source Awards the following night. Jack, meanwhile, is producing his own wine, called Donaghy Estate Sparkling Wine. He and Liz taste it, and realize that it is practically undrinkable. This leaves Jack with the problem of disposing with the wine. He decides to market it to hip-hop producer Ridikolous (
LL Cool J James Todd Smith (born January 14, 1968), known professionally as LL Cool J (short for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, along ...
), and at the same time patch up things between Tracy and Ridikolous, who was not allowed into one of Tracy's parties. Jack and Ridikolous have a meeting, resulting in the wine becoming the corporate sponsor of the
Source Awards ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the m ...
, which is being produced by Ridikolous. To further mend things with Tracy, Jack proposes to let Tracy host the award show. This backfires when Tracy refuses to host it in fear that he will get shot, but Jack still sees it as the only way to work things out with Ridikolous. At the Source Awards, Tracy still does not want to host. Jack rhetorically asks him what
Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...
would do, but Tracy misunderstands and starts acting like her. Backstage, Tracy shows Liz his gun, which she takes away from him. She fires it by accident and ends up shooting Steven in the buttocks. He thinks she shot him because he was going through her purse and calls her a racist. Following this, Ridikolous comes in and says that Jack has made a mockery of the award, adding: "Wait until I tell
Tupac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
about this!". This leads to a short awkward moment, but Jack insists he did not hear anything.


Production

"The Source Awards" was written by executive producer
Robert Carlock Robert Morgan Carlock (born September 21, 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has worked as a writer for several NBC television comedies, and as a showrunner for ''30 Rock'', which was created by his recurring collaborator, comedia ...
and
Daisy Gardner Daisy Gardner (born September 24, 1976) is an American television writer and comedian who is best known for her work as a writer on the NBC series ''30 Rock'', Showtime's ''Californication'', and Comedy Central's ''South Park''. She also appea ...
, and directed by one of the season's supervising producers
Don Scardino Donald Joseph Scardino (born February 17, 1949) is an American television director and producer and a former actor. Career Acting Scardino was born in New York City, to jazz musician parents, Dorothy Denny Scardino and Charles Scardino. His f ...
. This was Carlock's third writing credit, and was Gardner's first written episode. This episode was Scardino's fourth directed episode of ''30 Rock''. Rapper
Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...
made his second appearance as himself on the show, having appeared in the episode "
Jack-Tor "Jack-Tor" is the List of 30 Rock episodes, fifth episode of the 30 Rock (season 1), first season of the American situation comedy ''30 Rock'', which aired on November 16, 2006 on the NBC network in the United States, and on November 8, 2007 in th ...
", in which he and
Jenna Maroney Jenna Maroney (born Yustrepa Gronkowitz; February 24, 1969) is a fictional character on the American television series ''30 Rock'', played by Jane Krakowski. For her portrayal of Maroney, Krakowski was nominated four times for the Prime time E ...
(
Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...
) perform the song "Muffin Top". In one scene of "The Source Awards", Ghostface Killah is drinking Donaghy Estate Sparkling Wine as a music video is shooting, but cannot stand drinking the wine, which makes him sick. Actor
Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...
had a brief appearance, in which Liz tells Jenna she ran into him, though not knowing his name yet refers to him as "Flower Guy".


Reception

In its original American broadcast, "The Source Awards" was watched by 5.7 million viewers, according to the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
system. It received a 2.7 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic, meaning that 2.7 percent of all people in that group, and 7 percent of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. Compared to the previous week, this episode was up 13 percent in the 18–49 demographic and 25 percent in overall viewers. The previous episode, "
Hard Ball "Hard Ball" (also known as "Negotiation") is the fifteenth episode of NBC's first season of ''30 Rock''. It was written by one of the season's co-producers, Matt Hubbard, and directed by one of the season's supervising producers, Don Scardino. I ...
", was watched by 4.6 million American viewers. Julia Ward
AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017â ...
's
TV Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...
said that while the episode "delivered plenty of funny" it "seemed a bit off-kilter. It had fewer laughs-per-minute than the past few episodes, and structurally, I think the writers couldn't decide which story to foreground." She complimented the series for having "an interesting take" on the hip-hop satire that was featured in "The Source Awards". "From where I sit, it's got to be in the top five, if not three", said ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'''s Matt Mitovich in regards to this episode. Mitovich noted, "...I can only bow with great reverence to the effort that goes into ''30 Rock'', where in an episode like this week's, ''every other line'' is funny and/or fantastically absurd."
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
contributor Robert Canning opined than an episode like this one, with its guest stars and taking on the issue of race, got "some decent laughs", though it "failed to produce a solid half hour." Canning disliked LL Cool J's guest spot, observing that it was "nothing more than a generic caricature put in the role of a sub-par straight man", but enjoyed Wayne Brady's, as he was "a successful part of the episode's best storyline." Canning said that Tracy as Oprah was "more weird than funny, unfortunately", but liked that Jason Sudeikis made a brief appearance as "Flower Guy" in the episode. In conclusion, Canning gave the episode a 7.5 out of 10 rating. Mekeisha Madden Toby for ''
The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...
'' found the episode a "side-splitter".


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Source Awards, The 2007 American television episodes 30 Rock (season 1) episodes