JACK DONAGHY

'John Francis "Jack" Donaghy' is a fictional character in the NBC sitcom ''30 Rock''. He is played by Alec Baldwin, who received an Emmy Award nomination, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of the character.

Contents

Character history

Personality

Family

Celebrity love interests

References

Character history

Jack Donaghy apparently did not have a very happy childhood. In "The Aftermath," he stated that, when he was two, his father lured him to the edge of a swimming pool with a puppy and pushed him in the pool. In "The Baby Show," he revealed that his mother, Colleen Donaghy, has nagged him his whole life and that, again when he was two, his father left the family and young Jack took to calling his collie "Pop" until the dog was accidentally run over by the mailman, which caused him to cry. His mother even tried to send him to Vietnam when he was twelve to make a man out of him. In "The Head and the Hair," he says he put himself through an unidentified Boston-area college by working as a swan boat operator.
In the years after that, he, in his own words from "Jack-tor," "thrived" on fear, bow hunting Polar Bear, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, once driving a rental car into the Hudson River to practice escaping, showering with Greta Van Susteren and, in "The Break Up," he claimed to have overcome a peanut allergy through sheer willpower. Jack married an Italian woman named Bianca, with whom he apparently made love on the floor of the Concorde shortly after their wedding, though he claims his mother deliberately had a heart attack to prevent him from going on his honeymoon. He and Bianca were eventually legally separated in 1989 because, in his words, he "couldn't keep up with her on any level." Though they weren't legally divorced, Jack went on to introduce Bianca as though they were.
After years of market research, he finally made his "greatest triumph" in the form of the Trivection oven, a product he claims to have created at General Electric. It was on the strengths of the trivection oven that, in mid 2006, he was promoted to his current position, replacing the recently deceased Gary, apparently making his official title the "Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming".^[2] Jack was the catalyst for bringing Tracy Jordan onboard the NBC sketch show ''The Girlie Show'', despite head writer Liz Lemon's objections. Jack made sure that Tracy was the main star and got the show's name changed to ''TGS with Tracy Jordan'' by bribing a test audience with pizza.
The changes did not sit well with Jenna Maroney, who was furious at Liz for allowing it to happen after giving in to Jack's demands. In fact, Jack doesn't think of Jenna as a priority to the show, citing her ill-fated stint as a spokesperson for ShopRite, and has gone as far as replacing her appearance on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' with Tracy just as she was going to promote her new film, ''The Rural Juror''.
In the "The Baby Show," it is shown that his mother still constantly calls him and that she now wants to move in with him from her retirement home, which has rocks made of foam since she tends to fall down a lot, in Orlando, Florida.^[3] However, at the end of the episode, he blackmails Josh Girard into taking all his mother's calls for him for the rest of Josh's life (Jack says that his mother will outlive Josh - "she's like Castro."), since Josh has a flawless "Jack Donaghy" impersonation.
In the episode "Black Tie" Bianca showed up and he passed Liz off as his girlfriend in order to make Bianca jealous. When Liz pretended Jack had proposed to her, Bianca attacked her and Jack was finally satisfied that Bianca still wanted him. In the episode "Up All Night," he and Bianca were finally officially divorced after eighteen years of legal separation. Jack acquired an Arby's franchise in Telluride, Colorado in the divorce settlement.
In the wake of the fireworks fiasco, Jack was demoted to "Vice President of East Coast Television" when CEO Don Geiss took his "Microwave Oven Programming" duties away from him. At some point, he wrote a book entitled ''Jack Attack: The Art of Aggression in Business''.
Acting on Don Geiss' advice, Jack has gotten himself engaged to Christie's auctioneer Phoebe. However, Liz later discovered that Phoebe was actually an unscrupulous gold digger. Jack, however, refused to believe this since Phoebe had told him that Liz was infatuated with him and he has decided to continue with their wedding. The situation was resolved in the season finale "Hiatus." Also in Hiatus, Jack's middle name is revealed to be Francis.

Personality

Jack is portrayed as a slick, insincere network executive with an affinity for overtly backhanded compliments, which are usually directed towards Liz Lemon. Although he is clearly the show's antagonist, Jack has occasionally shown a human side, as when he didn't fire Kenneth after beating him at poker when Kenneth bet his job and he has made it clear that he respects Liz's abilities, albeit by calling for her advice at odds times. In "Jack the Writer" especially, he tried to develop a friendly relationship with the writers, particularly Liz, and made it clear that his feelings were hurt when Liz told him to stay out of the writer's room (although he apparently couldn't let go of his pride to say this directly.)
However, he still has distinct personality flaws. For example, in "The Aftermath," he changed the name of ''The Girlie Show'' without even consulting Liz and then refused to tell Jenna that Liz had nothing to do with it on the grounds that he thought Liz needed to learn how to handle her employees. After he found out a product he helped create for Tracy Jordan was dangerous in "The Rural Juror," he decided to sell it overseas in order to get around U.S. safety regulations. At the very least, however, he said he admired Tracy's integrity for choosing to back out of the enterprise.
Jack is a Republican and a firm believer in capitalism, stating in "Hard Ball" that negotiation is his favorite thing in the world since it's, in his words, "the essence of capitalism." Jack's business background clashed with the show's staff when he insisted on having the show use product placement (or "product integration" as he calls it) in the episode "Jack-tor." Citing ''Six Sigma'', Jack has also tried to involve himself with the staff. Much to Liz's annoyance, he has even tried to "help" her with issues in her personal life, as seen in "Blind Date" and "Jack Meets Dennis," his reasoning being that the quality of her life will reflect the quality of her work. In "The Source Awards," he started his own winery "Donaghy Estates" after purchasing a vineyard on the north fork of Long Island. Despite the wine being reviewed in ''Robert Parker's Wine Newsletter'' as tasting like "the urine of Satan after a hefty portion of asparagus," he attempted to market it to the hip-hop community as a replacement for Cristal champagne. In "Corporate Crush" Liz states he goes to the New York Stock Exchange when he's horny.
Jack is shown to be very formal. So far, he has almost always appeared on the show in suits and in "Tracy Does Conan" its revealed that he insists on wearing tuxedoes after 6:00 PM regardless of whether there's any kind of occasion. In contrast, Liz and the other writers wear casual clothing most of the time and appear to be generally laid-back. A line by Liz in the episode "Jack-tor" suggests that he finds Asian women in their twenties especially attractive though he seems to be open to dating women of other races. As evidenced by "The C Word," he is apparently quite good at painting and, as revealed in "The Fighting Irish," he is Irish Catholic, naming his fists after St. Patrick and St. Michael. He apparently dyes his hair.

Family

Jack comes from a very eccentric, Irish-American family characterized by a great deal of drama and infighting. His family includes:

★ Father (Brian Murray) - Jack's father (his name is never stated) is closely allied with Eddie. Jack considers both of them a disgrace to the Donaghy name, which his father pronounces "Donafee"

★ Colleen (Elaine Stritch) - Jack's overbearing mother who lives a Florida retirement home; her maiden name was Murphy, a family Jack considers to be "a bunch of mud farmers and sheep rapists"^[4]

★ Eddie (Nathan Lane) - Jack's brother with whom he's been in constant rivalry with years; Eddie, who apparently works as a swindler, pronounces their surname "Donahe". It is revealed that they both played very harsh tricks on each other during their childhood, such as Eddie blinding Jack with a bottle rocket.

★ Patrick (Boris McGiver) - another brother

★ Patricia (Siobhan Fallon) - a sister of Jack's

★ Katherine Catherine (Molly Shannon) - another sister of Jack's; married to a man named Bobby

★ Margaret (Alice Kremelberg) - a teenage relative seen sitting silently and scowling through the family reunion; her relation to Jack is not explained, but, given her age, she could be a daughter to Bobby and Katherine Catherine, which would make her Jack's niece, although her attitude and the fact that Jack claims they "just found out about her" could mean she is actually his sister, legitimacy unknown

Celebrity love interests

A recurring joke made on the show regards Jack dating women who are celebrities or powerful figures in the media. Jack always hints that he is having or has had a relationship with these women, but it is never spelled out completely. These women include:

★ Greta Van Susteren (implied in "Jack-Tor", "showered with."

★ Condoleezza Rice (implied in "The Break Up", confirmed in "The Source Awards")

★ Maureen Dowd (implied in "The Rural Juror")

★ Elizabeth Hurley (insinuated in "Black Tie")

★ Beyoncé Knowles (insinuated in "Black Tie")

★ Martha Stewart (insinuated in "Black Tie")

★ Alexis Stewart (insinuated in "Black Tie")

★ Shakira (insinuated in "Black Tie")

★ Katie Couric (mentioned in "The C Word")

★ A member of "The Black Crusaders", a group of powerful black celebrities (mentioned in "Hiatus"; possibly refers to Rice)

References

1. This is given that Liz said Jack was twelve years older than her in "Black Tie", that she was stated to be thirty-five in "Tracy Does Conan" and that dialogue in that episode and "Jack Meets Dennis" seem to place her birthday in approximately November, 1971. This is also consistent with Jack's claim that Colleen tried to send him to Vietnam when he was twelve.
2. A longstanding part of GE's corporate culture is a philosophy of moving executives to new divisions every few years. Thus, NBC routinely receives new executives with little or no previous experience with the television industry. For example, Bob Wright—the network's longtime CEO—came to NBC in 1986 with GE's acquisition of RCA after a lengthy career with various GE divisions.
3. This is based on 407 area code given in "The Baby Show."
4. episode "The Source Awards"