Reception
According to the Nielsen ratings system, an average of 7 million viewers watched "The Bubble" during its original United States broadcast, placing it in fourth place for its timeslot. The show also claimed a share of 3.2/8 among viewers aged 18 to 49, meaning that 3.2% of all people in that group, and 8% of all people from that group watching television at the time, watched the episode. For their performances in this episode, Jon Hamm and Jack McBrayer received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively.
The episode received generally positive reviews, although most reviewers found some of the storylines more effective than others. Robert Canning of IGN wrote that "the main portion of this episode was quite funny, even if the ending lacked bite." Similarly, Margaret Lyons of Entertainment Weekly found that the episode was "another strong showing for 30 Rock ... although Jenna's plotline was pretty tired." TV Squad's Bob Sassone was similarly positive about "The Bubble", calling it "another good episode." James Poniewozik of Time, also responded favorably to the episode with the exception of the Jenna storyline, writing that it "was the first one in a long time that I enjoyed almost completely without reservation (Jenna's subplot was off, but it was barely a blip)." Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for The Star-Ledger disliked the bubble concept, reporting, "he idea that attractive people get away with things that the more average-looking can't is an old joke, even on 30 Rock (with Cerie)", but nonetheless enjoyed the "variations" of the joke saying they were "well-conceived". Sepinwall concluded, "this was one of the funniest 30 Rock's of the season. Zap2it's Rick Porter was also favorable to "The Bubble" in his recap, opining that 30 Rock "gave us a very well-done episode". As with Lyons and Poniewozik, Porter felt Jenna's story "didn't really click", but liked the scene with Jenna and her stylist team firing off words to describe Jenna's beauty as "scathingly funny."
The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin enjoyed Hamm's role as Drew, reporting that his character "initially seemed too good to be true but the show gradually revealed him to be imperfect and even fucked up enough to be plausible. The Hamm subplot was very funny and well-executed". Sepinwall also praised Hamm, writing, "Finally! It took three episodes ... but Tina Fey (who wrote this one) let Jon Hamm be funny on his way out the door."
Not all reviews were positive. Matt Mitovich of TV Guide wrote, "I must be honest ... This A-story was ridiculous, and not in the hysterical way. When I first read the logline about Drew 'getting by on his good looks,' I thought we'd witness the occasional favoritism. But horrid doctor skills and flailing at the very public sport of tennis, and his obliviousness to it all? Hamm got a turkey of an exit story, sorry."
Read more about this topic: The Bubble (30 Rock)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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