Let's Stay Together

"Let's Stay Together" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 83rd overall episode of the series. It was directed by co-executive producer John Riggi and written by co-executive producer Jack Burditt. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on October 7, 2010. Guest stars in this episode include John Amos, Todd Buonopane, Reg E. Cathey, Queen Latifah and Rob Reiner. In the episode, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) must appear before Congress to discuss NBC's merger with the fictional company network KableTown (a parody of Comcast). He hopes that he will charm celebrity members for the deal to go through, but one Congresswoman (Latifah) demands more diversity in the NBC programming lineup. As a result, Jack enlists Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to come up with some new development ideas. Meanwhile, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), the head writer of the fictional sketch show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan (TGS) is fed up with the criticism her writing staff gives her, and finally Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) helps Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) reapply in the competitive NBC page program. This episode of 30 Rock was generally, though not universally, well received among television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research, it was watched by 4.90 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.1 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic. Plot NBC executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) attends a Congressional hearing in Washington D.C. regarding the Kabletown-NBC merger deal. He is able to consolidate support for the deal, until Representative Regina Bookman (Queen Latifah) calls out NBC for being racist and demands that there be more diversity in the programming lineup. Following the hearing, Jack goes back to New York and asks Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and "Dot Com" Slattery (Kevin Brown) to produce a program for the African-American community. Dot Com suggests a show called Let's Stay Together, about an African-American family in the 1970s, but when Grizz Griswold (Grizz Chapman) suggests that a talking dog be added to the show, Tracy orders Dot Com to incorporate it into the rewrite, much to Dot Com's dismay.