text: the natural order " the natural order " is the twentieth episode of the third season of the american television comedy show 30 rock . it was written by series creator tina fey with co - executive producer john riggi and directed by scott ellis . the episode originally aired on the national broadcasting company ( nbc ) network in the united states on april 30 , 2009 . guest stars in " the natural order " include actors elaine stritch and steve buscemi . the plot of the episode centers around a conflict between tracy jordan ( tracy morgan ) and liz lemon ( fey ) over favorable treatment . meanwhile , jenna maroney ( jane krakowski ) adopts a gibbon and treats it like her child . finally , jack donaghy 's ( alec baldwin ) mother colleen ( stritch ) visits him on the 35th anniversary of the day that jack 's father left the family . " the natural order " received mixed reception from television critics . according to the nielsen ratings system , it was watched by 6 million households during its original broadcast , and received a 2 . 7 rating / 7 share among viewers in the 18 – 49 demographic . plot liz ( tina fey ) , kenneth parcell ( jack mcbrayer ) , and pete hornberger ( scott adsit ) all attempt to trick tracy into arriving at a rehearsal on time . tracy arrives not knowing what time it is and announces that liz is racist and treating him like a child . liz challenges tracy to behave better so he can be treated as an adult , but he responds by sending a gibbon to replace himself at rehearsal . liz tells tracy to arrive on time with his lines memorized the next day if he wants to be treated equally . tracy retaliates by acting professionally but convincing everyone to treat liz equally too , by making her lift heavy water jugs , passing gas near her , and inviting her to a strip club along with the other writers . liz in turn stops tracy from going to the strip club , noting that because he is acting so professionally he has to write notes for the upcoming script . liz is uncomfortable at the strip club and tracy hates writing all night so they agree to return to the " natural order " of things with both receiving preferential treatment . meanwhile , jenna adopts the gibbon tracy sends to rehearsal and treats it as her child . she dresses it in several costumes including a mariachi outfit , a tuxedo , and a sailor suit . in addition she buys the gibbon a baby doll , referring to herself as a " grandmother . " at the end of the episode jenna accidentally shakes the head off of the baby doll and the gibbon attacks her . jack is concerned for his mother , colleen ( elaine stritch ) . he tells liz that the anniversary of his father , jimmy donaghy , abandoning their family is coming up and he is afraid of the effect it will have on colleen . when jack arrives at colleen 's hotel room to take her to dinner , however , he discovers she is staying with a man , paul . jack , worried she has been taken in by a con man in her time of grief , asks his private investigator lenny wosniak ( steve buscemi ) to look into paul . wosniak cannot find anything distasteful in paul 's background , but tells jack that he is married . jack reveals this to his mother , but she says she knew and did not care . colleen is also surprised that jack thought the anniversary of jimmy leaving would hurt her , noting that he had once left from the spring of 1957 until he came back and invited her to see some like it hot . jack talks this over with liz and comes to realize that as some like it hot was released in 1959 , jimmy donaghy cannot have been his biological father because jack was conceived in 1958 , during the period jimmy had been absent . production " the natural order " was written by series ' creator , executive producer and lead actress tina fey , and co - executive producer john riggi . the director of this episode was scott ellis . this was fey and riggi 's second script collaboration , having co - written season one episode " the head and the hair " that aired on january 18 , 2007 . " the natural order " originally aired on april 30 , 2009 , on nbc in the united states as the twentieth episode of the show 's third season . this episode was actress elaine stritch 's fifth appearance on 30 rock as collen donaghy , the mother of jack donaghy , played by alec baldwin . actor steve buscemi reprised his role as private investigator lenny wosniak . buscemi first appeared in the october 18 , 2007 , episode " the collection " , and went on to direct the third season episode " retreat to move forward " , broadcast on january 22 , 2009 . cultural references " the natural order " is one of several 30 rock episodes to deal with race . in this episode , when tracy leaves the first rehearsal accusing liz of racism he shouts " race card ! " and hands liz a card with " race card " written on it ( " playing the race card " is an expression that means introducing the issue of race into an argument in order to gain the upper hand ) . during their disagreement tracy also says that " we have a black president now " , referring to barack obama , but liz says that he voted for ralph nader . according to j. jeremy in " race at the rock : race cards , white myths , and america " , this plotline is an example of people " want [ ing ] to have race and do away with it too . " tracy wants to be treated equally but also wants to continue behaving the way he is used to . says that by the end of the episode , liz and tracy , in reverting to " the natural order " , have come to understand the concept of equality ; rather than forcing people " to be equivalent to one another ... considering the different interests of people equally . " jack tells liz that by protecting his mother this time , as opposed to when his father left , he can " put right what once went wrong " which liz notes is part of the introduction to the television series quantum leap . jack had written a speech to confront jimmy donaghy decades ago and attempts to update it for his confrontation with paul . he asks liz who is " today 's nikita khrushchev " and she suggests simon cowell , which jack agrees with . jack is also suspicious of paul because he met his mother in florida , which jack calls " america 's australia , " referring to australia 's history as a penal colony . kenneth also shows an nbc tour the spot where " gracie allen took jack paar 's virginity " and jack reveals that he once slept with kathy hilton . reception in its original american broadcast , " the natural order " was watched by 6 million viewers , according to the nielsen ratings system . it also earned a 2 . 7 rating / 7 share amongst 18- to 49 - year - old demographic , meaning it was seen by 2 . 7 % of all 18- to 49 - year - olds and 7 % of 18- to 49 - year - olds watching television at the time of the broadcast . it was the tenth highest - rated show on nbc that week . this was a decrease from the previous episode , " the ones " , which was watched by 6 . 3 million american viewers . aly semigran for entertainment weekly said the episode " was nowhere near as good " as other recent episodes as it was " too dependent on obvious physical comedy . " ign writer robert canning took no strong position on the episode , saying it had " jokes enough to make it funny , but nothing over the top to make it classic , " rating the episode 8 . 2 out of 10 . the a.v. club 's nathan rabin was more clearly positive about the episode , calling it a " glorious return to form " and grading the episode an a- . bob sassone of aol 's tv squad opined he was not thrilled with jenna 's plot , observing that it was " kinda ridiculous ( and unfunny , which is the worse sin ) . " sassone , however , said that liz and tracy feuding and jack and his mother battling " are plots that are always good for some laughs . " television columnist alan sepinwall for the star - ledger wrote that while " the natural order " was not a " classic episode " it was still " solid enough , in the end . " sepinwall enjoyed jack and his mother 's story , but commented that the liz and tracy rivalry was a " hit - or - miss . " tv guide 's bruce fretts said this episode " is easily the show 's most grounded episode ever , even if it does feature a gibbon in a mariachi suit . the script [ ... ] dares to deal with issues of race and gender from a typically irreverent perspective . " fretts noted that elaine stritch and alec baldwin " share a surprisingly tender scene as colleen tells her son , ' you 're my good boy [ ... ] i just love you to death . ' "