A Goon's Deed in a Weary World facts for kids

"A Goon's Deed in a Weary World" is an episode from the seventh season of the TV show 30 Rock. It was the 136th episode overall. This episode aired on January 24, 2013, on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) network. It was directed by Jeff Richmond and written by Lang Fisher and Nina Pedrad.

The episode was well-liked by TV critics. About 3.81 million people watched it when it first aired.

Episode Story

Liz Lemon's Big Choices

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and her partner, Criss, get exciting news. The adoption agency tells them their children will arrive soon. But Liz is very busy trying to save her TV show, TGS. She needs to convince the Kabletown company board to keep the show going.

Liz tells her team to work extra hard. Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) are asked to get good publicity. Pete needs to cut down on costs. They realize they need a sponsor for the show. This sponsor must not mind the show's past problems.

When no one else agrees, Liz finds a company called Bro Body Douche. They will sponsor TGS, but only if the show changes its name to Man Cave. Liz also has to use a fake name, Todd Debeikis, to hide that she is a woman. Liz agrees to these strange rules.

Criss calls Liz, upset that she is not helping him buy toys for their future children. Liz is still focused on TGS. She finds out her writers haven't done anything. Tracy and Jenna used their publicity time to promote their own movie. It's about two very different people who are joined together and become co-Presidents.

Jack's Special Challenge

Meanwhile, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is the new CEO of Kabletown. He needs to find someone to take his old job as president of NBC. Jack comes up with a clever plan, like something from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

He makes Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) a page again. Kenneth's job is to give a tour of the NBC building to five people. These five people are the final choices for the president job. Jack tells Kenneth that the candidates think the tour is just a small step before their final interview. But Jack reveals that the tour is the final interview. He believes you can best judge people when they don't know they are being watched.

The candidates are also like characters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. For example, Mike Webb is always looking at his smartphone, like Mike Teavee who only watched TV. Kenneth quickly connects with one candidate, Charlie MacGuffin. They both laugh at a joke they heard on the Today Show. As the tour continues, Kenneth is impressed by MacGuffin's love for NBC's history. He thinks MacGuffin is the perfect person for the job. But Jack gets annoyed with Kenneth for getting involved and sends him away from the tour.

The Future of Television

As the board meeting gets closer, Liz gets another call from Criss. He tells her that the adoption agency made a mistake. The children are arriving at the airport that very afternoon! Liz still puts TGS first. Tracy, Jenna, and the rest of the crew overhear her. After seven years, everyone decides to help Liz in a big way. They tell the board they are all quitting the show. They tell Liz to go meet her children.

Kenneth gives MacGuffin one last test. He pretends to be a CBS executive named C.B. Essington. He tries to bribe MacGuffin with money to steal a secret script from Jack's office. This is like the character Slugworth from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. MacGuffin refuses the bribe. This convinces Kenneth that MacGuffin is the right person to lead NBC.

However, it turns out MacGuffin knows so much about NBC for a different reason. He plans to sell off parts of the network and turn the building into a Forever 21 store. Both he and Jack believe that broadcast television is no longer important. Kenneth argues that a network president needs to truly care about television, not just money. He says MacGuffin is not right for the job, and neither was Jack.

Later, Kenneth goes to Jack's office to quit his page job. But Jack surprises him. Jack admits that Kenneth was right. Television is a unique business. Most of the shows Jack developed himself didn't do well. Jack realizes that the best skill for leading the network is simply loving television. Because of this, Jack decides that Kenneth is the best person to be the new president of NBC.

At the airport, Liz and Criss finally meet their adopted children. Their names are Terry and Janet. They are twins who look and act a lot like Tracy and Jenna. Liz happily says this "seems about right" and hugs her new children.

See Also

• List of 30 Rock episodes