What does the following article say about the previous writers' strike in 2008?
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A decade after 30 Rock finished its run, the series still feels like one of TV’s most talked about shows. Part of this is because of the rise of streaming. While 30 Rock was never a ratings winner in its day, people have consistently discovered it years later on Netflix and Peacock. But it’s also the way that the show’s astute satirization has aged so well. This past winter, for example, saw the premiere of MILF Manor on TLC, a show with more than a passing resemblance to the 30 Rock cinematic universes’s MILF Island.

The “MILF Island” episode comes in the series’ second season, a high point in a show full of them. It’s a season that also sees Jack Donaghy’s relationship with Congresswoman Celeste “CiCi” Cunningham (Edie Falco), Carrie Fisher’s guest appearance, “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah,” Sandwich Day, and the whole cast coming together for a rousing performance of Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train To Georgia.” The latter moment comes at the end of “Episode 210,” an installment that serves both as a midseason premiere and a makeshift finale. The script was the final one written before the 2007-08 writers’ strike, and when the episode was filmed in November, no one knew when they would be able to return to production.

The strike wasn’t a surprise; the series included a joke four episodes prior about a news crawl on MSNBC being affected by it. “Episode 210” was filmed a month before the strike officially kicked off, so it stands to reason that there was enough time to plan a gag to go out on. The whole episode builds to this gag. When a cappuccino machine finds a home on Kenneth’s desk, he becomes addicted to caffeine, eventually dubbing New York the “21st-century city of Sodom,” and now that he’s been “sodomized,” he chooses to pack it up and board the train back to his home in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Cue Gladys Knight, who herself had been mentioned previously in the episode.


The previous writers' strike took place in the years 2007 and 2008, and the season two 30 Rock episode "Episode 210" was the final script written before the strike began. The strike was also something that was expected to happen, with the series joking about it in an episode filmed a month before the strike began. 