30 Rock is going live on April 26, (8:30-9 p.m. ET) from Studio 8H in Rockefeller Center in New York. The storyline: When their Kabletown bosses announce they will no longer pay for TGS to be a live show, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) realize their lives will actually be easier if they shoot canned episodes fast and cheap. Only Kenneth the Page (Jack McBrayer) objects, urging that nothing can replace the communal experience of live television. He tries to convince the TGS staff to fight for their right to be live by taking them and our audience through a magical look back at the illustrious history of Studio 6H.
Two versions of the same story will be telecast – one live for East Coast viewers and a second for the West Coast. The first show will be telecast at 8:30-9 p.m. (ET) and the cast will perform the same episode for a new broadcast at 11:30 p.m.-midnight (ET) for the West. Central time zone viewers will be able to see the first live show at its regular time (7:30-8 p.m. ET). Elizabeth Banks is set to reprise her recurring role of Avery Jessup on 30 Rock. Banks will appear in an episode this season, although it won’t be for the live episode. Banks portrays the wife of Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy.
