Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Jack Meets Dennis" was watched by an average of 5.97 million households, according to the Nielsen ratings system. It received a 2.1 rating among viewers in the 18–49 demographic. "Jack Meets Dennis" finished in 70th place in the weekly ratings for the week of November 27–December 3, 2006. This was an increase from the previous episode, "Jack-Tor", which was watched by 5.2 million American viewers.
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times said the series worked because it played "with the absurdities of the television business lightly". Stanley felt that 30 Rock was at its best when it revolved around the characters, and not the show itself. IGN contributor Robert Canning said that although Tracy and Jenna "had their moments in two rather weak storylines", the "unfunny and distracting 'Where's Waldo?' casting " disrupted the flow of the episode. He enjoyed the improvement of the show, and said that "though not every story this week was stellar, you didn't go long without a decent laugh." Canning gave "Jack Meets Dennis" a 7.5 out of 10 rating. TV Guide's Matt Mitovich said the episode was "one of the stronger episodes thus far", citing that "veryone got funny stuff to do, the Jack-Liz scenes were crackling and teaming with Liz-induced self-humiliation, and we even got a Rachel Dratch cameo (as that angry, angry Liz Taylor)." Mitovich who had not been a fan of the Jenna character, said that he enjoyed her in this episode. Alan Pergament for The Buffalo News wrote, "The extent that stars go to literally and figuratively maintain their images probably sounded funny on paper, but most of it falls flat and illustrates why 30 Rock has been sinking like a rock". Pergament gave this episode two out of four stars. Amy Amatangelo of the Boston Herald enjoyed Dean Winters' appearances on 30 Rock, noting that he did a "hilarious turn" as Dennis. Matt Roush for TV Guide reported that Alec Baldwin "stole the show" in this episode.
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