The Break Up (30 Rock episode)

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“The Break-Up”
30 Rock episode
Liz's list of Dennis's pros and cons
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8
Written by	Dave Finkel & Brett Baer
Directed by	Scott Ellis
Production no.	109
Original airdate	December 14, 2006
Episode chronology
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Episode chronology

"The Break-Up" is the eighth episode in the situation comedy series 30 Rock, which aired December 14, 2006.

1 Synopsis
2 Trivia
3 Guest starring
4 Featuring

[edit] Synopsis

Having been fed up with several weeks of putting up with Dennis' attitude that includes taking over her apartment, destroying the walls to put up a new TV, dog sitting a Great Dane and allowing his cousin Teddy into her bed, Liz decides to break up with Dennis, which she has been putting off for the last several episodes, by telling him that she wants him out of the place ASAP.

Hours later after that melee Liz tells Jenna that she has given Dennis a week to vacate the place, and that news pleases Jenna, who tells her that its time to explore the singles scene so they head out to a karaoke bar after rehearsals. Unfortunately Liz seems to bomb with meeting guys, thus prompting Jenna to leave with Liz now that she has embarrassed the patrons.

The next day Dennis paid a visit to say goodbye to Liz by reading a note. After he leaves the staff feels more sorry for Dennis than for Liz, including Jenna and of all surprises Jack, so she takes their advice and decides that Dennis might be the right person for her. So she writes a list of pros and cons about Dennis, of which has her thinking that he may not be all that bad after all.

Meanwhile, Jack find romance in form of a conservative Bush administration official, a well known Secretary of State. But Jack's long distance romance with this person that has him wondering if this relationship should go liberal because her busy schedule and the constant phone calls he makes to her. After Dennis (who was visiting Liz) gave him advice about women in the men's room, Jack finally got a chance to hook up with his long distance love in Kandahar, but told Liz that there was no future because of their differences so they broke up.

In another plotline, Tracy and Toofer clash over race relations when Toofer criticizes Tracy about a sketch in which Tracy was to perform in drag. Tracy on the other hand blasts Toofer for not writing enough material that he can use and blames him for selling out, but that would deteriorate into a series of name calling and blasting each other over their upbringing and environments to the point that they use "The 'N' word" (unheard as it's drowned out by a NBC janitor using a vacuum cleaner) towards each other. Tracy and Toofer are then ordered to take sensitivity class after the two file grievances towards each other. At the sensitivity class the two realized that their argument over this has given the two something to work on: a sketch about race relations. But the sketch is pulled at the last moment for one in which has Tracy in drag, which brings a chuckle to Toofer's face.

As Liz returns home, she finds her place back to normal with an apology note left by Dennis, who later stops by to see how she is doing with a gift for her, and afterwards let him in to finish the take-out Chinese dinner she ordered. But as he goes into the kitchen she sits down to watch Dateline NBC, where she sees a familiar face showing up in one of their hidden camera investigations in which they catch sexual predators after meeting them on the internet...Dennis! It turns out that he's been using the internet to meet minors, and when he sees himself on TV he tries to turn it off but the damage is done. Liz and Dennis are now history, but not before he slams the door and destroys the new TV set he bought her.

[edit] Trivia

This episode was named after the 2006 box office film of same name.
There was supposed to be an error involving the timeline in the relationship between Liz and Dennis. In the episode The C Word, the two were still dating, but that part was never aired. "The C Word" was supposed to air before this one, but has been pushed back twice by NBC.
Another reference to Snapple is heard in the background as a commercial as Liz returned home to watch TV.
This is also the second episode to feature a Stone Phillips moment, when his voice is heard introducing Dateline NBC.
A reference to a former Must See TV hit, Frasier, is parodied in this episode, in which Toofer mentions "Black Frasier", a African-American version of the show, but he and Tracy tell Josh and Frank that this one airs on BET.
The song Liz performs at the karaoke bar is "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian. Fey named a key character for Ian as writer of the film Mean Girls.
Although they appear in the opening credits, neither Jack McBrayer nor Scott Adsit are in this episode.
In Tina Fey's October 24, 2006 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, she mentions her husband's DIY tendencies similar to Dennis' actions in the episode:

Tina Fey: [...] So we have a lot of projects in our house. That mostly--mostly it involves him like drilling holes in the wall and then explaining to me why it's not going to work. You know I'll mount this TV (drill noises) Oh you know what that's not going to work.
David Letterman: (laughing) So we're just left with the holes?
Fey: Just holes.
This is the first episode to feature the running joke of Jack dating successful women who are powerful figures in the media. In the episode, he hints at dating United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Liz's list of Dennis' Pros and Cons:

Pros	Cons
basically nice	not super smart
takes good care of his feet	listens to Winger
makes good chili	dental hygiene
remembers my birthday	wears acid wash denim
rarely wants to do it	always wants foot rubs
is funny when he goofs on his friends	not much money
doesn't care about money	catholic
loyal	doesn't like his mother
too lazy to cheat	I don't like his mother
would increase likelihood of blue eyed kid	his mother doesn't like me
loves the Simpsons	loves Family Guy
has good hair	reads The Post
has already seen me throw up two times	insists on spending the holidays with his mother
fixed tv	has already seen me throw up
Jack likes Dennis	attempted threeway
	racist
	wears Italian horn even though Irish
	Jack likes Dennis