text: dealbreakers talk show no. 0001 " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the american television comedy series 30 rock , and the 65th overall episode of the series . it was written by co - producer kay cannon and directed by series producer don scardino . it originally aired on the national broadcasting company ( nbc ) network in the united states on december 3 , 2009 . guest stars in the episode include kristian alfonso , john anderson , will arnett , whoopi goldberg , chris parnell , peter , and sherri shepherd . in the episode , liz lemon ( tina fey ) starts her first day on her talk show dealbreakers and appoints frank rossitano ( judah friedlander ) to replace her as the head writer of the fictional sketch comedy show the girlie show with tracy jordan ( tgs ) . meanwhile , tracy jordan ( tracy morgan ) tries to achieve an egot by winning the four awards : an emmy , a grammy , an oscar , and a tony . " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " has received generally positive reception from television critics . according to nielsen media research , the episode was watched by 6 . 2 million households during its original broadcast , and received a 3 . 0 rating / 8 share among viewers in the 18 – 49 demographic . 30 rock editor ken eluto received a primetime emmy award nomination in the category of outstanding single - camera picture editing for a comedy series for his work in this episode . " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " was submitted for consideration on the behalf of tina fey for the outstanding lead actress in a comedy series emmy . plot the episode opens with jack donaghy ( alec baldwin ) and liz lemon ( tina fey ) preparing for the beginning of her new talk show , dealbreakers . jack 's rival , devon banks ( will arnett ) , complicates the situation by threatening to publicly ridicule jack if the show loses money . jack , under pressure , begins to interfere with liz 's appearance , sending her over the edge with insecurity . after 510 takes , they finally settle on an opening title to the show . after liz locks herself in her dressing room , jack shuts dealbreakers down , but manages to break even by selling the show 's opening titles ; in future , whenever a television show is playing in the background of a sheinhardt soap opera , the dealbreakers titles will be shown . meanwhile , tracy jordan ( tracy morgan ) realizes that although he has two sons with his wife angie ( sherri shepherd ) , what is missing from his life is a daughter . as he shops for a special christmas present for angie , to try to convince her to have another child , tracy finds a diamond encrusted " egot " necklace and sets a new life goal to achieve egot status by winning four major awards : an emmy , a grammy , an oscar , and a tony . tracy discovers many egot - ers have been composers and aspires to write the most popular song of all time . the " egot " necklace originally belonged to philip michael thomas of miami vice . after failing to combine five popular musical styles into one song , he seeks help from whoopi goldberg , an egot title holder . tracy sings his song to angie and she is so moved she agrees to have another child . at the same time , tgs with tracy jordan staff writer frank rossitano ( judah friedlander ) is appointed head writer of the show in liz 's absence . he accepts the role , thinking that there is finally " a cool person in charge " . as the day progresses , he begins acting and dressing just like liz . after liz returns to tgs , frank begs her never to leave again . production " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " was written by co - producer kay cannon and directed by series producer don scardino . this episode was cannon 's fifth writing credit , having written " black tie " , " somebody to love " , " christmas special " , and " jackie jormp - jomp " . this was scardino 's twenty - fourth directed episode . " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " originally aired on december 3 , 2009 , on nbc in the united states as the seventh episode of the show 's fourth season and the 65th overall episode of the series . this episode of 30 rock was filmed on october 28 and november 18 , 2009 . comedian actors will arnett and sherri shepherd reprised their roles as devon banks and angie jordan , respectively , each for the sixth time . actress whoopi goldberg returned to the show for the second time playing herself ; in this episode tracy jordan enlists her help with his egot plans . goldberg first appeared in the show 's first season episode " the rural juror " , which also established that despite her success as the head writer of tgs , liz wants to be an on - camera performer like jenna . comic actor chris parnell played dr. leo spaceman in this episode , in which liz lemon visits dr. spaceman for surgery . actors kristian alfonso and peter , who star in the daytime soap opera days of our lives — another nbc program — played their days of our lives characters hope brady and bo brady , respectively ; the two appear at the end of " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " , in a days of our lives episode that liz is watching . in the background of their scene , a television can be seen playing the opening titles liz filmed for dealbreakers . actor john anderson made his 30 rock debut as astronaut mike dexter , liz 's imaginary perfect husband . in the beginning of the episode , liz , who is fantasizing about her life , is notified by mike dexter that he has to go back to outer space . the character was first referenced in the previous episode , " sun tea " , although anderson did not play the character , instead " dot com " slattery ( kevin brown ) pretended to be mike dexter , liz 's " crazy black boyfriend " . this is the first episode where john lutz received star billing . tracy 's storyline of achieving egot status was first mentioned in this episode , and would continue throughout the season . in one scene from the episode , nbc page kenneth parcell ( jack mcbrayer ) appears as a muppet while walking by a high - definition camera , a reference to season three episode " apollo , apollo " in which kenneth sees everyone as muppets . in addition , jack donaghy ( alec baldwin ) walks by the camera and is seen as a younger version of himself . the footage shown on the high - definition monitor was extracted from the 1990 film the hunt for red october starring baldwin . this episode was the final time that the show referenced liz 's show dealbreakers , a story arc that had begun in the third season episode " mamma mia " and continued with " kidney now ! " , " into the crevasse " and " the problem solvers " . reception in its original american broadcast , " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " drew in 6 . 2 million households , according to the nielsen media research . this amounted to a seven percent ratings increase over the previous week 's episode , " sun tea " , which was seen by 5 . 858 million american viewers . the show claimed a 3 . 0 rating / 8 share among viewers in the 18 – 49 demographic , that is 3 . 0 percent of all people in that group , and 8 percent of all people from that group watching television at the time , watched the episode . ken eluto , an editor on the show , received a primetime emmy award nomination for outstanding single - camera picture editing for a comedy series at the 62nd primetime emmy awards , but lost it to ryan case for his work on the pilot episode of modern family . " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " was submitted for consideration on the behalf of tina fey for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series at the same awards show , but lost it to actress edie falco . this episode of 30 rock has received generally positive reviews . robert canning of ign gave the episode an 8 . 9 out of 10 rating and wrote that the plotlines featured here were " fun , but it was , as is often the case , liz and jack that really made [ the episode ] a winner . " television columnist alan sepinwall for the star - ledger said that frank turning into liz " felt a little too predictable " , nonetheless complimented judah friedlander for it . regarding the episode itself , sepinwall wrote that it was a " great story , and a much better closing point to the ' dealbreakers ' plot " . bob sassone of aol 's tv squad objected to the jokes about liz and fey being unattractive , but was glad that liz did not get her talk show , reasoning it would have " ruin [ ed ] the whole liz / jack / tgs dynamic . " time contributor james poniewozik was complimentary towards the " dealbreakers " story , and commented that the series " has often been strongest in the episodes in which liz lemon 's professional life tracks tina fey 's , and ' dealbreakers ' was definitely one of them . " in conclusion , poniewozik said that despite this not being " an all - time classic " it was " one of the most laugh - full 30 rock 's in a while " . tv guide 's michael anthony reported that part of him really wanted to see the dealbreaker pilot work out for liz , noting " i think there 's something there – something really funny ! " anthony was complimentary towards whoopi goldberg 's cameo , and said that when the jenna character " opens her mouth " she is a " hysterical treat . " nathan rabin of the a.v. club wrote that " dealbreakers talk show # 0001 " was a " delightful surprise , delivering laughs aplenty and steering clear of the pitfalls that have hindered the show so far this year . [ ... ] it was a welcome return to form with quotable lines and laugh out loud moments . " he was complimentary towards fey here , noting that she " illustrated [ her ] chops as a physical comedian " . sean gandert , a contributor for paste magazine , said that tracy 's plot was " pretty awesome " . gandert , who has not been a fan of the " dealbreakers " storyline , appreciated it in this episode , opining it had " good writing even by the show 's outsized standards . " entertainment weekly contributor margaret lyons was positive about this episode , writing " last night 's 30 rock was legitimately one of the best episodes ever [ ... ] ' dealbreakers talk show # 0001 ' was one for the record books " .