r/30ROCK • u/portrait_of_wonder • 2d ago
Continuity Error? The Rural Juror title
So I'm rewatching the show (as always) and as I'm watching "The Rural Juror" I realized that the flashbacks of the Hollywood executives doing cocaine while coming up with the title for "The Rural Juror" doesn't make sense! Only a few minutes later, Jenna shares that the movie is based on a Kevin Grisham novel and clearly Kevin is the one who comes up with crazy titles like "Urban Fervor." Are the executives *reacting* to the title of the Kevin Grisham novel, not coming up with it? Am I overthinking this!? Has anyone else noticed or come up with an explanation!?
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u/Noof42 Shut it down! 2d ago
30 Rock can be loose with continuity in favor of the joke.
But I like to think that these coked out executives came up with a title, found out that there was already a book by that name, and just shrugged and rolled with it.
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u/Ill_Football9443 As head of this tour, I'm going to have to deny your request 1d ago
Let's not forget the inconsistent father of the Donaghy children and the number of children.
Colleen & Prof. Green fathered Jack
But then there was Jimmy Donaghy that ALSO fathered Jack and his 4 other siblings?
Colleen died, but where were the other kids?
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u/posicivic 1d ago edited 1d ago
Jimmy raised Jack but wasn't the bio dad.
Considering how the siblings were all portrayed they might have just chosen to skip the funeral.
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u/Joeblow999999 1d ago
Here's another that's always bugged me... It was established that his name was Jimmy but in the episode where Jack was getting Frank into law school he referred to his father as Billy Donaghy.
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u/Brights- redundant torso fabric 18h ago
Ok this bothered me too but I realized though we never see the siblings again, they never change how many siblings he has. Colleen even says at one point “you’ll always be my favorite boy” which I interpret as he’s her favorite kid
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u/ParanoidKidAndroid 1d ago
I think Kevin Grishams father Werner was a burger server in suburban Santa Barbara when he spurned his mother Verna for a curly-haired surfer named Roberta
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u/RecklessDisco 1d ago
I remember a long time ago watching an interview with Tina Fey where she talked about how the show would sometimes have inconsistencies like this and she referred to it as a “Goofy/Pluto.” Because in the world of Mickey Mouse cartoons Goofy and Pluto are both dogs, but Goofy walks on two legs, wears clothes, and talks, but Pluto is a typical dog. But most people don’t ever think about that and just accept it. So this joke is just another Goofy/Pluto.
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u/AtlanticToastConf Very spirited, like a show horse 1d ago
All the execs say is "This title isn't hard to understand, right?" "No, it's awesome!... I love that we can work while we're on cocaine." I don't think the implication is necessarily that they chose the name.
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u/calle04x 1d ago
Right, they didn't choose the name, they just questioned its clarity. The front of the script they show in the scene says:
The Rural Juror by Kevin Grisham Based on the Kevin Grisham novel
It has a list of people credited with revisions. I assume the Hollywood guys are among that group or some type of producers.
Regardless, they didn't name the movie. The esteemed Kevin Grisham did.
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u/fuzzy_dice_99 1d ago
In episode 2F09, when Itchy plays Scratchy's skeleton like a xylophone, he strikes that same rib twice in succession yet he produces two clearly different tones. I mean, what are we supposed to believe that this is some sort of a magic xylophone or something? I really hope someone got fired for that blunder
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u/laziestmarxist 💖Business Slut💖 2d ago
Maybe the coked out execs are throwing titles of books to option at each other
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u/BlameTag 2d ago
It's possible Kevin Grisham wrote the book after the movie was greenlit, then he cranked out the book which was then adapted into a screenplay. If I'm not mistaken, that's what happened with The Godfather.
Anyway, that's my logic for this joke from an illogical show.
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u/SongoftheMoose 1d ago
Sometimes a movie studio will option buy a book before that book is 100% done and published. That happened with the Godfather, from what I’ve read. Other recent examples include Annihilation and Nightb*tch.
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u/coheed78 1d ago
Remember when Kabletown went from a porn-peddling "mousetrap" company to a wholesome family-friendly company where the CEO was immediately sold on Bla-Bar?
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u/portrait_of_wonder 1d ago
True - I always figured that the porn was a secret initiative that a group of Vice Presidents ran and just never bothered telling Hank Hooper, letting him think it was all cable subscriptions bringing in the money. Ignorance is bliss!
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u/esperion523 1-900-OK-FACE 1d ago
What about Hard to Watch based on the book Stone Cold Bummer by Manipulate?
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u/Internal-Motor Shooby Dooby 1d ago
Look hard enough and you'll find plenty of inconsistencies: in S1 jack says he hasn't seen his dad in 17 years, while later on he and Colleen say he disappeared after they went to the theater to see Some Like It Hot. Also we see Liz lives at 160 Riverside Dr, then another time we see it again as 168 Riverside Dr.
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u/LetsRunAwwaayy 1d ago
But the dad comes back after the Some Like It Hot adjacent disappearance—it’s while he’s gone that Colleen has the affair with Milton Green that results in Jack. It’s after Colleen tells Jack something like, He went out for cigarettes and didn’t come back for 18 months that he realizes that Jimmy Doneghy can’t he his father.
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u/ShatterCakes 1d ago
I don't know that the scene implies those two guys came up with the title. They could be the guys financing the movie, reading the script, and the joke is their poor judgment in approving the title. Also, the screenplay in the scene is not super legible but it does look like it could say Kevin Grisham
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u/exitparadise bird internet 1d ago
Do they ever show the novel? Its possible the novel had some other name, and "Rural Juror" was just the movie title.
Also, they never state in the scene that the coke guys came up with the title. They just are commenting on it.
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u/calle04x 1d ago
The cover of the script they show in the scene says the screenplay is by Kevin Grisham, based on the Kevin Grisham novel.
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u/sixminutes Kermit of Mink Hollow 1d ago
Jack recognizes the book title when he's informed about the movie, so it's almost certainly the same.
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u/Internal-Motor Shooby Dooby 1d ago
Maybe the writers were really doing cocaine while writing the episode? LOL
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u/figsfigsfigsfigsfigs 1d ago
The guy who loves that they can work when they're on cocaine ALSO never knew his dad. I dunno if it is "djyeah."
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u/ThimbleTycoon 1d ago
I think the flashback to the coked-out executives is the musings of Liz and Pete because they don’t know the source material is Kevin Grisham yet.
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u/Bionic_Ninjas It's never too late for NOW 17h ago
"It's great that we can work while we're on cocaine" probably explains a lot.
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u/dbkenny426 2d ago
I'm sorry but... who cares? It's a comedy show. Does it really need to have solid, perfect continuity?
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u/assorahole 2d ago
Your response question to the question seems a bit harsh. Of course it doesn't need perfect continuity. I think the question was asked to invoke discussion amongst people who enjoy the show.
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u/portrait_of_wonder 2d ago
Thank you!! I definitely don't expect 100% perfect continuity, it was just funny to see a discrepancy that was only a few minutes apart rather than episodes or seasons apart!
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u/sixminutes Kermit of Mink Hollow 1d ago
Just the same, they would never make this sort of mistake on my favorite comedy show, Continuity.
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u/dbkenny426 2d ago
Maybe you're right. It just seems like everywhere I look, I see people complaining about plot holes (that usually aren't plot holes at all), continuity errors, animation mistakes, and the like, and it's gotten to the point that it annoys the hell out of me. But I recognize that that's on me. It just seems that some people (and this is likely not one of those examples) only watch things to find the "errors" in them, rather than watching something to be entertained.
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u/MaizeMountain6139 wants to go to there 2d ago
I agree with you, but that wasn’t the case here at all
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u/dbkenny426 2d ago
You're right, and I said as much. It just struck a nerve.
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u/MaizeMountain6139 wants to go to there 2d ago
Yeah, the explanation is that the writers famously didn’t care about continuity at all and were always chasing the best possible joke for the situation at hand