Do-Over

As Liz Lemon is returning to studio 6H, the TGS with Tracy Jordan studio, she meets Jack Donaghy returning from Washington. Jack tells her that he intends to get his old job back and Liz tells him of her upcoming adoption evaluation. When he confronts Devon Banks in his office, Devon offers Jack a position in the mail room, laughing, but Jack accepts. Jack later tells Liz of his plan to work his way back to his old job through honest means, though Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) shows a sexual interest in Jack he could leverage into a quicker promotion. When he discovers that Devon is planning to shut down GE, Jack, with Liz's help, convinces Kathy to hire him as her business adviser. Devon, realizing that he has been beaten, decides on a new path to securing his financial future: hurling himself in front of a series of moving cars so that he can sue the drivers. Tracy Jordan's pornographic video game, Gorgasm: The Legend of Dong Slayer, has been very successfully released since it was developed in the previous episode "Cooter". He shows off a large royalty check and Jenna Maroney grows angry that she has not been compensated for her voice acting work in the game. Liz convinces him to make it up to her, and everyone else who helped him with the video game, by buying them presents. However, while everyone else receives extravagant gifts such as Frank getting gold-plated nunchucks and Pete getting a chinchilla fur coat, Jenna only gets a coupon for free hugs and decides to sue Tracy. Following a home evaluation, Bev from the adoption agency comes to work with Liz where she checks the safety of the studio and interviews the TGS cast and crew including Jenna, Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), and Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden). The workplace evaluation goes badly, with many of the interviews reflecting badly on Liz or the safety of the studio for a child. However, before Bev files her report she sustains a head injury and forgets that she has done the evaluation. Liz gets the crew to help her "do over" the evaluation, hoping for a better result. This ultimately does not work, as Bev soon forgets the evaluations and has to be taken to a hospital. Later, Bev makes a full recovery, meaning Liz has to start over with another adoption agency, but she is glad Jack is back working in his old office. ==Production==

"Do-Over" was written by series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey, making it her thirteenth writing credit. The episode was directed by series producer Don Scardino, "Do-Over" originally aired in the United States on October 30, 2008, on NBC as the season premiere episode of the show's third season and the 37th overall episode of the series. In September 2008, it was announced that actress Megan Mullally would guest star on 30 Rock. In this episode of 30 Rock, Mullally played Bev, a woman evaluating Liz Lemon as part of the adoption process. Actress Marceline Hugot made her fifth appearance as the character Kathy Geiss, the daughter of Don Geiss (Rip Torn), in the series. Comedy actor Will Arnett reprised his role as Devon Banks for the fourth time. Four filmed scenes from "Do-Over" were cut out from the airing. Instead, the scenes were featured on 30 Rock's season three DVD as part of the deleted scenes in the Bonus features. In the first scene, Jack Donaghy plans to seduce Kathy so that he can get his old job back. ==Reception==

According to the Nielsen Media Research, "Do-Over" was watched by 8.7 million households in its original American broadcast, and became the highest-rated episode of the series, until the December 11, 2008, episode of 30 Rock "Christmas Special". It earned a 4.1 rating/10 share in the 18–49 demographic. IGN contributor Robert Canning reviewed the episode, saying it "[set] the bar for the rest of the season" and was "filled to capacity with comedy." Jeremy Medina of Paste magazine commented that "Do-Over" was "sort of like the first day of school after summer vacation: sort of awkward at times, but fast and buoyant and warmly familiar all the same." Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad wrote "...this episode manages to do what the show has always done, mix crazy, almost surreal humor with a genuine (not manufactured) heart." TV Guide contributor Matt Mitovich enjoyed "Do-Over", and enjoyed Jack's story of trying to reclaim his job, along with Jack and Liz pretending to be a couple in front of Kathy. The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin opined that premiere episodes "tend to be 30 Rock's Achilles Heel. But the show comes roaring out of the gate with 'Do-Over', a show that definitively breaks the premiere jinx." He said that the "frenetic farcical plotting" of Megan Mullally's character—in which she endured a disastrous trip to the 30 Rock studios, bumped her head, and lost her memory—"felt a little sitcommy but the laughs kept coming". In conclusion, Rabin gave this episode an A− grade rating. Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star-Ledger felt that the element's towards Jack getting his old job back were "fairly labored", but noted that Liz's adoption plot was "more solid from start to finish". He was complimentary towards the Kathy Geiss character, observing that her actions in the episode were "all frighteningly funny", and enjoyed Mullally's guest spot. In conclusion, Sepinwall said that this was not the best from the 30 Rock staff, but "they had some things they felt obligated to deal with, and there was more than enough comedy genius that I can't really complain." ==References==