30 Rock (TV Series) Subway Hero (2008) User Reviews

Pretty Good Episode!

[g-bodyl · 8/10 · 26 July 2014]

This is the twelfth episode of the second season of 30 Rock and for the most part, it's a rather solid, enjoyable episode. But unfortunately, this may be the weakest episode in this very strong season. This episode features great writing, the usual performances by Baldwin, Fey, and Morgan, and an excellent guest appearance by Tim Conway. But I think this episode was brought down by Dean Winters as Liz's ex. He is just annoying, ungrateful, and not that funny.

In this episode, "Subway Hero," Jack wants Liz to bring the "Subway Hero" onto the show and this hero happens to be Liz's ex, Duffy. Meanwhile, Jack tries to convince Tracy to become a spokesperson for the Republican party after all he could find was washed-up celebrity named Bucky Bright.

Overall, this is still a good episode but I don't like Dean Winters in this episode and it seems like I was the only person who found him annoying. But other than that, everything else is still going strong. I rate this episode 8/10.

Subway Hero (#2.12)

[ComedyFan2010 · 9/10 · 24 November 2013]

Liz's ex Dennis is back as the subway hero. He saved a life in the subway and Jack wants him on the show. It is a very funny story that has some great scenes. One will definitely be how Liz and Dennis first met, they really do seem to be made for each other. Also great was Jenna's line on how the feeling Liz has with Dennis is similar to what people describe freezing to death be. Dean Winters is wonderful in this episode, hope he will indeed be back again.

And Jack is also looking for some Republican celebrities. The one they get is Bunky Bright. Hilarious lines. The jew room as well as Conan O'Brien being a sad giant lesbian!

Subway Hero is a treat of an episode of "30 Rock" with Tim Conway and the return of Dean Winters as Dennis

[tavm · 8/10 · 29 April 2008]

As Liz enters his office, Jack has two requests for her: to attend John McCain's fund-raiser so it won't be a "massive sausage-fest" (she refuses) and to book the "Subway Hero" on TGS, so called because he saved the life of someone about to be hit by a train. As Jack turns on the TV, Liz is stunned since the man Mayor Bloomberg is giving the medal to is her ex-boyfriend, Dennis Duffy, who embarrasses himself on live television by saying "Baba booey!" Still, he seems to get along with the writing staff and Liz herself seems to enjoy him again. Only Jenna thinks Liz can do better. Meanwhile, old-time TV star Bucky Bright (Tim Conway) drops in as a Republican star for the fund-raiser. Jack turns him away but Kenneth decides to talk to Bright about the good old days. Turns out many of them were pretty bizarre such as when men had a spot in their suits where they stored "opium and switchblades"! Kenneth seems flabbergasted until he recounts some of his errands for Tracy and then sees Bucky in a new light. Tracy, after being electrocuted after using a screwdriver to fix a repeat on the word "Nixon" on a CD of "We Didn't Start the Fire", dreams he's in heaven with the late president (Alec Baldwin) and Sammy Davis, Jr. (Keith Powell, who's usually Twofer). As a result, he agrees to be the black Republican in a TV spot. After one in which he says Dr. King had a dream to install a wall to "keep Mexicans back", he tells Jack blacks always vote Democratic, no matter what. So his next spot simply tells his race to not vote. It's paid for by the "Commitee to Re-invade Vietnam". After hearing enough of Dennis' dumb remarks, Liz turns down his proposal in front of a crowd who turn on him after he says "I can have my pick of any woman, not just the fatties and butter-faces". Then when she sees him back at the subway where he did his good deed and is now depressed, because of TGS dropping him after his public faux pas, Liz tries to assure him his luck will come. She calls him a loser again, however, after he tries to push her onto the tracks-not realizing the train was on the other side-in order to save her and she runs away with Dennis saying, "You'll be back!"...Not as funny as the previous episode but funny enough with the subversively funny lines of Tim Conway (especially about Conan O'Brien) and of the welcome return of Dean Winters as Dennis. And I loved Tracy's dance to Billy Joel's song about American history from the '50s to the late '80s! So this was another worthy episode of "30 Rock" for this second season.

Dennis and Nixon

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 29 October 2008]

Subway Hero deserves major plaudits for reintroducing one of the show's most entertaining guest stars: Dean Winters, who returns as the hapless beeper salesman Dennis Duffy. In addition, Tim Conway won an Emmy as best Guest Actor for his understated, hilarious appearance.

Dennis' comeback is caused by him being a local "subway hero" (meaning he saved someone's life at a subway station), which leads to Jack to asking Liz to get him on the show. Liz accepts because she doesn't really have a choice, and Dennis takes the opportunity to try winning her back, much to her horror. Jack also attempts to convince Tracy to become a spokesman for the Republican party, reminding him that Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery, was a member of the party, while Kenneth is given the assignment of showing former NBC star Bucky Bright (Conway) around the building, while the has-been recounts several anecdotes about his glorious period at the network.

Conway's guest spot is a more subdued version of Carrie Fisher's role earlier on in the season, and while he's not as outright hilarious as, say, Will Arnett (who was a more likely candidate for the Emmy win), he calmly steals every scene he's in with various jokes about famous programs and people (his description of Conan O' Brien is wonderful). Tracy gets to be outrageously funny with the Republican subplot, complete with a ghost appearance by Richard Nixon (still not a patch on Thomas Jefferson in Season One, though), but the highlight of the episode is any scene featuring Fey and Winters, especially when he sums up their relationship like this: "We're like Ross and Rachel, only not gay!". How come he didn't get a nomination just for saying that line?

Dennis returns

[safenoe · 8/10 · 26 June 2021]

This is the first episode of 30 Rock I've seen that features Dennis, so I had to do Wikipedia research on his previous appearances and the context of this episode. Alec Baldwin's Richard Nixon interpretation was impressive for sure.

It's easy to forget that 30 Rock and Aaron Sorkin's much ballyhooed Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip debuted on NBC at the same time, but the conventional wisdom is that only one would be renewed for season 2 and that it would be Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. But not to be, and the rest is history.