Retreat to Move Forward
Encyclopedia
"Retreat to Move Forward" is the ninth episode of the third season
of the American television comedy series 30 Rock
, and the 45th overall episode of the series. It was written by executive story editor Tami Sagher
and directed by Steve Buscemi
. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) in the United States on January 22, 2009. Guest stars in this episode include Shalin Agarwal, Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Mark La Mura, Chris Parnell
, Lola Pashalinski, and Elizabeth Rouse.
In the episode, Jack Donaghy
(Alec Baldwin
) invites Liz Lemon
(Tina Fey
) to a corporate retreat, following his Bush administration and CEO debacles, for moral support. Meanwhile, Jenna Maroney
(Jane Krakowski
) employs method acting
for her Janis Joplin
role, which Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander
) quickly takes advantage of. After Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
) is diagnosed with diabetes Kenneth Parcell
(Jack McBrayer
) attempts to find a way to dissuade Tracy from eating sugary food.
"Retreat to Move Forward" was generally, though not universally, well-received among television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research
, the episode was watched by 6.4 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 3.2 rating/8 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
(Alec Baldwin
) asks Liz Lemon
(Tina Fey
) to accompany him to the Six Sigma
s Retreat, following his Bush administration and CEO debacles. There, Jack meets with the Six Sigmas, six men who each embody a core feature of Six Sigma: teamwork, insight, brutality, male enhancement, hand-shake-fulness and play-hard. They disapprove of Liz's antics during the team building exercises and demand that Jack distance himself from her if he wants to succeed, which he does. Before his dinner speech, Jack psyches himself up in the men's room, completely forgetting that he is wearing a microphone and that everyone can hear him. Liz quickly takes the stage to draw attention away from Jack's embarrassment and finally ends up ripping her blouse open and dancing in front of everyone. She succeeds, and is banned from the retreat forever.
Meanwhile, Jenna Maroney
(Jane Krakowski
) employs method acting
for her upcoming role as singer Janis Joplin
, thus allowing Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander
) to take advantage of her. He tells her to do her research on Joplin on Wikipedia
, then quickly edits the page contents with nonsense when Jenna goes off to read it. Jenna, however, believes what she reads and proceeds to imitate all the "facts" on the page to the amusement of everyone. When she finally confronts Frank, they end up having sex and Jenna is affronted when Frank wants to keep it a secret from their co-workers. She reveals their fling in front of the other TGS with Tracy Jordan writers to the dismay of Frank. At hearing this, Katie (Elizabeth Rouse), the show's hair dresser and Frank's girlfriend, ruins Jenna's hair and face making her look like a witch.
At the same time, NBC page
Kenneth Parcell
(Jack McBrayer
) tries to help Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
) understand how diabetes affects him after Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell
) told Tracy that he is at risk of getting diabetes. Kenneth tells him a story of how a wicked witch will come and take him away if he continues to consume his unhealthy eating habits but Tracy does not believe him. Tracy gets disgusted when Kenneth tries to scare him by dressing as a witch but suddenly Jenna comes running in screaming and looking like a witch complete with a broomstick in hand. This scares both Kenneth and Tracy who fearfully vows to change his eating habits immediately.
and directed by Steve Buscemi
. This was Sagher's second writing credit, having written season two
episode "Ludachristmas
" that aired on December 13, 2007. This was Buscemi's first directed episode. "Retreat to Move Forward" originally aired on January 22, 2009, on NBC in the United States as the ninth episode of the show's third season
and the 45th overall episode of the series.
Buscemi has appeared on the show as the character Lenny Wosniak, a private investigator who has been hired by Jack Donaghy in the episodes "The Collection
", "The Natural Order
", "Mamma Mia
", and "Season 4
". Actor Chris Parnell
reprised his role as Dr. Leo Spaceman in this episode. Parnell has appeared in the main cast of Saturday Night Live
(SNL), a weekly sketch comedy
series which airs on NBC in the United States. Series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey was the head writer
on SNL from 1999 until 2006. This was Parnell's ninth appearance on the show.
at corporate retreats. In a flashback, the audience shout out Sling Blade
and Oprah
as suggestions for Liz and Jenna to do. Liz does the impression of the Sling Blade character, but Jenna believed that Liz was Oprah. Tracy becomes intrigued with the idea of having his foot replaced with a wheel, after Dr. Spaceman informs him that if diabetes is left untreated he could lose a foot, to which he asks Dr. Spaceman "Could I replace it with a wheel like Rosie from The Jetsons
?" Rosie is the humanoid robot maid for the title family, and she rolls about on a set of caster wheels. When the TGS writers learn from Jenna that she will be employing method acting, Frank suggests that she do her research of Janis Joplin
on Wikipedia
, the free online encyclopedia. When Frank sees Jenna getting ready to eat a cat, he stops her and tells her that ALF, an extraterrestrial, eats cats. After admitting that she hooked up with Frank, Jenna reveals that Dog the Bounty Hunter
is the second grossest guy she has ever been with.
Later in the episode, to cover-up for Jack, after psyching himself up and completely forgetting that he was wearing a microphone and that everyone could hear him, Liz starts singing the song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
" by dance music group C+C Music Factory
. "Retreat to Move Forward" references Jack's time in the Bush administration that occurred in the show's second season, and Jack's unsuccessful attempts of becoming CEO of General Electric
in the December 4, 2008, episode "Reunion
", after Don Geiss (Rip Torn
)—who woke up from his diabetic coma
—informs him he wants to remain as CEO of the company. This was the second time 30 Rock referenced Jenna trying to play singer Janis Joplin in a feature film. This plot first began in the episode, "Señor Macho Solo
", in which Jenna auditions to play the singer in a biographical movie.
. This episode earned a 3.2 rating/8 share in the 18 and 49 demographic, meaning that 3.2 percent of all people in that group, and 8 percent of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "Flu Shot
", which was watched by 6.6 million American viewers.
Television columnist Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
felt that "Retreat to Move Forward" was one of the best episodes of an uneven season. Sepinwall, however, felt it "petered out" towards the end, and that the Tracy and Kenneth plot did not work until it met the Jenna and Frank story. He noted that without the addition of a guest star, "this one made good use of virtually the entire cast". IGN
contributor Robert Canning enjoyed Liz and Jack's relationship in the episode. Canning felt that while the show occasionally hints at a romantic relationship between the two, they should never become linked. In his opinion, the episode demonstrated their non-romantic friendship "perfectly". Bob Sassone
of AOL
's TV Squad liked the episode, but noted "...it's the second week in a row where one of the plots was way too over the top for me." Sassone wrote that he was not thrilled with the Kenneth and Tracy plot, citing that it was "way too silly and loud". TV Guide
' s Matt Mitovich said that "Retreat to Move Forward" was "[a]nother very funny, super-huge-guest-star-free episode". Rick Porter of Zap2it
reported that he found himself "more attracted" to the second-tier plots than to the Jack and Liz plot, observing that it "had its moments, but the overall story didn't hit too many new notes in their relationship. [...] So yeah, some funny bits here and there with the main story ... But we've seen this kind of dynamic between Liz and Jack before, and so it didn't have the same comedic force as in the past." Kevin D. Thompson for The Palm Beach Post
praised 30 Rock for doing a perfect job with its three plots in the episode, and said that Jenna's line, "The academy
loves dead singers and the handicapped. And Janis was both!", was "[h]ands-down, the funniest line of the show."
The A.V. Club
' s Nathan Rabin, who had been favorable to Jenna's story arc of her playing Joplin, was not impressed with her antics in this episode. In regards to the episode itself, Rabin opined, "Tonight's episode was consistently amusing but 30 Rock engenders such sky-high expectations that being good oftentimes just isn't good enough." In conclusion, he gave the episode a B grade rating. "'Retreat to Move Forward' had some amusing moments, but it's a bit unmemorable in retrospect. I'm still waiting for a true classic 30 Rock episode this season", said Jeremy Medina for Paste
magazine. Nonetheless, Medina preferred this episode over The Office' s "Prince Family Paper
", in which its plot focused on whether actress Hilary Swank
was attractive or not.
30 Rock (season 3)
The third season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, consists of 22 episodes and began airing on October 30, 2008 on the NBC network in the United States...
of the American television comedy series 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, and the 45th overall episode of the series. It was written by executive story editor Tami Sagher
Tami Sagher
Tami Sagher is an American television producer and writer and actress. Some of her most notable work includes: 30 Rock, Psych and Madtv. She has recently become a staff writer on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother....
and directed by Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
(NBC) in the United States on January 22, 2009. Guest stars in this episode include Shalin Agarwal, Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Mark La Mura, Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
, Lola Pashalinski, and Elizabeth Rouse.
In the episode, Jack Donaghy
Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
(Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
) invites Liz Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
(Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
) to a corporate retreat, following his Bush administration and CEO debacles, for moral support. Meanwhile, Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Jane Krakowski.-Fictional biography:Jenna was born Ystrepa Grokovitz on February 24, 1969 and grew up in Bakersfield...
(Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
) employs method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
for her Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
role, which Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles.-Early life:...
) quickly takes advantage of. After Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan
Ogbert Jordan, better known by his stage name, Tracy, is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, based on and played by Tracy Morgan.-Brief overview:...
(Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.-Early life:...
) is diagnosed with diabetes Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a fictional character in the comedy television series 30 Rock. He is portrayed by actor Jack McBrayer and first appeared on television in the 30 Rock episode "Pilot" on October 10, 2006...
(Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"...
) attempts to find a way to dissuade Tracy from eating sugary food.
"Retreat to Move Forward" was generally, though not universally, well-received among television critics. According to the Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
, the episode was watched by 6.4 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 3.2 rating/8 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.
Plot
Jack DonaghyJack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
(Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
) asks Liz Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
(Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
) to accompany him to the Six Sigma
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
s Retreat, following his Bush administration and CEO debacles. There, Jack meets with the Six Sigmas, six men who each embody a core feature of Six Sigma: teamwork, insight, brutality, male enhancement, hand-shake-fulness and play-hard. They disapprove of Liz's antics during the team building exercises and demand that Jack distance himself from her if he wants to succeed, which he does. Before his dinner speech, Jack psyches himself up in the men's room, completely forgetting that he is wearing a microphone and that everyone can hear him. Liz quickly takes the stage to draw attention away from Jack's embarrassment and finally ends up ripping her blouse open and dancing in front of everyone. She succeeds, and is banned from the retreat forever.
Meanwhile, Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Jane Krakowski.-Fictional biography:Jenna was born Ystrepa Grokovitz on February 24, 1969 and grew up in Bakersfield...
(Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
) employs method acting
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
for her upcoming role as singer Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, thus allowing Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles.-Early life:...
) to take advantage of her. He tells her to do her research on Joplin on Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, then quickly edits the page contents with nonsense when Jenna goes off to read it. Jenna, however, believes what she reads and proceeds to imitate all the "facts" on the page to the amusement of everyone. When she finally confronts Frank, they end up having sex and Jenna is affronted when Frank wants to keep it a secret from their co-workers. She reveals their fling in front of the other TGS with Tracy Jordan writers to the dismay of Frank. At hearing this, Katie (Elizabeth Rouse), the show's hair dresser and Frank's girlfriend, ruins Jenna's hair and face making her look like a witch.
At the same time, NBC page
NBC page
An NBC page is a person usually in his or her early twenties working in various departments of the NBC television network during a one-year period as a training ground for careers in television broadcasting and entertainment...
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a fictional character in the comedy television series 30 Rock. He is portrayed by actor Jack McBrayer and first appeared on television in the 30 Rock episode "Pilot" on October 10, 2006...
(Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"...
) tries to help Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan
Ogbert Jordan, better known by his stage name, Tracy, is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, based on and played by Tracy Morgan.-Brief overview:...
(Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.-Early life:...
) understand how diabetes affects him after Dr. Leo Spaceman (Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
) told Tracy that he is at risk of getting diabetes. Kenneth tells him a story of how a wicked witch will come and take him away if he continues to consume his unhealthy eating habits but Tracy does not believe him. Tracy gets disgusted when Kenneth tries to scare him by dressing as a witch but suddenly Jenna comes running in screaming and looking like a witch complete with a broomstick in hand. This scares both Kenneth and Tracy who fearfully vows to change his eating habits immediately.
Production
"Retreat to Move Forward" was written by executive story editor Tami SagherTami Sagher
Tami Sagher is an American television producer and writer and actress. Some of her most notable work includes: 30 Rock, Psych and Madtv. She has recently become a staff writer on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother....
and directed by Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
. This was Sagher's second writing credit, having written season two
30 Rock (season 2)
The second season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, originally aired between October 4, 2007 and May 8, 2008 on NBC in the United States. 30 Rock takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series depicted as airing on NBC; the name refers to 30 Rockefeller...
episode "Ludachristmas
Ludachristmas
"Ludachristmas" is the ninth episode of the second season of the television series 30 Rock and was first broadcast on December 13, 2007 on the NBC network in the United States. The episode was written by Tami Sagher and directed by Don Scardino...
" that aired on December 13, 2007. This was Buscemi's first directed episode. "Retreat to Move Forward" originally aired on January 22, 2009, on NBC in the United States as the ninth episode of the show's third season
30 Rock (season 3)
The third season of 30 Rock, an American television comedy series, consists of 22 episodes and began airing on October 30, 2008 on the NBC network in the United States...
and the 45th overall episode of the series.
Buscemi has appeared on the show as the character Lenny Wosniak, a private investigator who has been hired by Jack Donaghy in the episodes "The Collection
The Collection (30 Rock)
"The Collection" is the third episode of NBC's second season of 30 Rock, and the twenty-fourth episode overall. It was written by producer Matt Hubbard and directed by producer Don Scardino, and first aired on October 18, 2007 in the United States...
", "The Natural Order
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 network in...
", "Mamma Mia
Mamma Mia (30 Rock)
"Mamma Mia" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 57th overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by series producer Don Scardino. The episode originally aired on the National...
", and "Season 4
Season 4 (30 Rock)
"Season 4" is the first episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 59th episode overall. It was written by the series creator, executive producer and lead actress, Tina Fey and directed by series producer Don Scardino. The episode originally aired on the...
". Actor Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
reprised his role as Dr. Leo Spaceman in this episode. Parnell has appeared in the main cast of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
(SNL), a weekly sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
series which airs on NBC in the United States. Series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey was the head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
on SNL from 1999 until 2006. This was Parnell's ninth appearance on the show.
Cultural references
At the beginning of this 30 Rock episode, Liz tells Jack that she and Jenna used to perform improvisationImprovisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
at corporate retreats. In a flashback, the audience shout out Sling Blade
Sling Blade
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. It tells the story of a mentally impaired man named Karl Childers who is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother...
and Oprah
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
as suggestions for Liz and Jenna to do. Liz does the impression of the Sling Blade character, but Jenna believed that Liz was Oprah. Tracy becomes intrigued with the idea of having his foot replaced with a wheel, after Dr. Spaceman informs him that if diabetes is left untreated he could lose a foot, to which he asks Dr. Spaceman "Could I replace it with a wheel like Rosie from The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
?" Rosie is the humanoid robot maid for the title family, and she rolls about on a set of caster wheels. When the TGS writers learn from Jenna that she will be employing method acting, Frank suggests that she do her research of Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
on Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, the free online encyclopedia. When Frank sees Jenna getting ready to eat a cat, he stops her and tells her that ALF, an extraterrestrial, eats cats. After admitting that she hooked up with Frank, Jenna reveals that Dog the Bounty Hunter
Duane Chapman
Duane Lee "Dog" Chapman, Sr. is an American bounty hunter and a former bail bondsman. He stars in Dog the Bounty Hunter, a weekly reality television program which is broadcast on the A&E Network , FOX8 and GO! , OLN and A&E Network , MAX and RTL II .Chapman claims he has made more than 6,000...
is the second grossest guy she has ever been with.
Later in the episode, to cover-up for Jack, after psyching himself up and completely forgetting that he was wearing a microphone and that everyone could hear him, Liz starts singing the song "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)
"Gonna Make You Sweat " was C+C Music Factory's first hit. It was released in late 1990 in many countries and achieved a great success in U.S., Austria, Germany and Switzerland where it reached number one on the charts....
" by dance music group C+C Music Factory
C+C Music Factory
C+C Music Factory is a dance-pop and hip hop group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés which stopped recording 1996, following Cole's death...
. "Retreat to Move Forward" references Jack's time in the Bush administration that occurred in the show's second season, and Jack's unsuccessful attempts of becoming CEO of General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
in the December 4, 2008, episode "Reunion
Reunion (30 Rock)
"Reunion" is the fifth episode of the third season of American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 41st episode of the series overall. It was written by supervising producer Matt Hubbard and directed by Beth McCarthy. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company network...
", after Don Geiss (Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
)—who woke up from his diabetic coma
Diabetic coma
Diabetic coma is a reversible form of coma found in people with diabetes mellitus. It is a medical emergency.Three different types of diabetic coma are identified:#Severe diabetic hypoglycemia...
—informs him he wants to remain as CEO of the company. This was the second time 30 Rock referenced Jenna trying to play singer Janis Joplin in a feature film. This plot first began in the episode, "Señor Macho Solo
Señor Macho Solo
"Señor Macho Solo" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 43rd overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by Beth McCarthy. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting...
", in which Jenna auditions to play the singer in a biographical movie.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Retreat to Move Forward" was watched by 6.4 million households, according to the Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
. This episode earned a 3.2 rating/8 share in the 18 and 49 demographic, meaning that 3.2 percent of all people in that group, and 8 percent of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. This was a decrease from the previous episode, "Flu Shot
Flu Shot (30 Rock)
"Flu Shot" is the eighth episode of the third season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock. It was written by Jon Pollack, and directed by series producer Don Scardino. The episode originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company in the United States on January 15, 2009...
", which was watched by 6.6 million American viewers.
Television columnist Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
felt that "Retreat to Move Forward" was one of the best episodes of an uneven season. Sepinwall, however, felt it "petered out" towards the end, and that the Tracy and Kenneth plot did not work until it met the Jenna and Frank story. He noted that without the addition of a guest star, "this one made good use of virtually the entire cast". IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
contributor Robert Canning enjoyed Liz and Jack's relationship in the episode. Canning felt that while the show occasionally hints at a romantic relationship between the two, they should never become linked. In his opinion, the episode demonstrated their non-romantic friendship "perfectly". Bob Sassone
Bob Sassone
Bob Sassone is an American writer. He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, to Italian and Portuguese parents. He is the youngest of seven children....
of AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
's TV Squad liked the episode, but noted "...it's the second week in a row where one of the plots was way too over the top for me." Sassone wrote that he was not thrilled with the Kenneth and Tracy plot, citing that it was "way too silly and loud". TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
reported that he found himself "more attracted" to the second-tier plots than to the Jack and Liz plot, observing that it "had its moments, but the overall story didn't hit too many new notes in their relationship. [...] So yeah, some funny bits here and there with the main story ... But we've seen this kind of dynamic between Liz and Jack before, and so it didn't have the same comedic force as in the past." Kevin D. Thompson for The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post
The Palm Beach Post is a major daily newspaper in Florida, serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and the Treasure Coast area. It is the 72nd largest daily newspaper in the United States and the sixth largest in Florida.-History:...
praised 30 Rock for doing a perfect job with its three plots in the episode, and said that Jenna's line, "The academy
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of motion pictures...
loves dead singers and the handicapped. And Janis was both!", was "[h]ands-down, the funniest line of the show."
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
Paste (magazine)
Paste is a monthly music and entertainment digital magazine published in the United States by Wolfgang's Vault. Its tagline is "Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture."-History:...
magazine. Nonetheless, Medina preferred this episode over The Office
Prince Family Paper
"Prince Family Paper" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 85th overall episode. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 22, 2009...
", in which its plot focused on whether actress Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
was attractive or not.