The Problem Solvers

"The Problem Solvers" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 63rd overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by co-executive producer John Riggi. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on November 12, 2009. Guest stars in the episode include Josh Fadem, Cheyenne Jackson, Padma Lakshmi, and Shawn Levy.

In the episode, the new cast member for the fictional sketch comedy show The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan (TGS), Jack "Danny" Baker (Jackson) arrives on set and learns the intricacies of the show. Meanwhile, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) offers Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) a chance to create a television pilot based on her "Dealbreakers" sketch but Liz decides to search for other offers. In addition, after offering some advice Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) decide to solve other problems of the cast and crew. Finally, NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) grows annoyed as the cast members begin to ask less of him.

"The Problem Solvers" received generally positive reception from television critics, although some expressed disappointment in the tone. According to the Nielsen ratings system, the episode was watched by 5.8 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.9 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

This episode opens with Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, and the rest of the TGS with Tracy Jordan staff welcoming Jack Baker, the new cast member, to the show. After realizing that Baker has the same first name as him, Jack quickly decides to rename him Danny. In the previous episode, Danny was hired by Jack from his work as a street performer who dressed up like a robot and had very limited recent experience with "real acting".

Meanwhile, Jack offers Liz the chance to star in a new television pilot based on her "Dealbreakers" sketch. She is initially excited, but Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney convince her to test the market and search for other offers before agreeing to work with Jack. Liz signs with a talent agent (Josh Fadem) to explore other options, but later learns he is a low-level agent. Jack cannot stand Liz's dismissal of him, and as a result, he announces through the media that NBC is moving forward with the pilot's production and calls in Padma Lakshmi as a potential new host in place of Liz. Liz threatens to sue Jack and NBC for the rights to "Dealbreakers", but Jack informs her that NBC owns the rights to it. Liz takes a meeting with Sports Shouting producer, Scottie Shofar (Shawn Levy), and Jack meets with Padma. During their respective meetings, however, the two realize that they should work with one another. They shake hands at the end of the episode, agreeing to create the pilot together.

After giving advice to Liz, Tracy and Jenna spend the episode calling themselves "The Problem Solvers" giving the TGS crew advice on their lives. From the moment he arrives, Danny treats NBC page Kenneth Parcell politely and does not ask him to run any errands for him, a break from how Tracy and Jenna treat him. Danny explains to the two that lower-level people such as pages often rise up to positions where they would be the boss of actors such as themselves, and as a result, he is polite to avoid building bad relationships with potential future bosses. Danny even speculates that Kenneth could be running the network someday. Jenna initially dismisses the idea out-of-hand, but Tracy becomes concerned, and tells Kenneth that he doesn't want him to perform any more menial tasks for him; Jenna soon joins him. Meanwhile, Kenneth lets slip that he may have been alive forever. Kenneth becomes upset that he is losing his responsibilities and confronts Danny, driving him to yell at Kenneth. Danny, who is Canadian, has had a hard time pronouncing the word "about", but after yelling at Kenneth, and saying "about" without his Canadian accent, thanks Kenneth for helping him.

"The Problem Solvers" was written by Ron Weiner and directed by John Riggi, both co-executive producers on 30 Rock. This episode was Weiner's fifth writing credit, having penned "Secrets and Lies", "Señor Macho Solo", "Goodbye, My Friend", and "Mamma Mia", and was Riggi's second directed episode, having helmed "Goodbye My Friend" in the show's third season. "The Problem Solvers" originally aired in the United States on November 12, 2009, on NBC as the fifth episode of the show's fourth season and the 63rd overall episode of the series.

"The Problem Solvers" was filmed on October 23, October 28, and October 29, 2009. Jack Donaghy hiring the robot street performer in the previous episode, "Audition Day", was first introduced in the fourth season premiere episode "Season 4", in which Jack explains that the TGS staff have become too elitist and need to change to survive in tough economic times, and informs Liz Lemon—the head writer on TGS—to begin searching for a new cast member to help lessen this elitist image. In this episode, the robot street performer is introduced to the TGS crew as Danny Baker, and was played by actor Cheyenne Jackson, who made his 30 Rock debut with this episode. Series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey had seen Jackson in the Broadway musicals Xanadu and Damn Yankees, the latter that starred Jane Krakowski, who plays Jenna Maroney on the show. According to Jackson in a November 2009 interview, Fey set up a meeting to interest him in a role on the program. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, it was revealed that it was Krakowski who brought Jackson to the attention of the 30 Rock producers. In "Audition Day", Jackson did not play the robot, instead actor Daniel Genalo played the character.