Do you smell that? What could it be? It smells like a mixture of gold and wings and victory... Oh, I know! It's an Emmy!
Still reeking of its recent Emmy win for Best Comedy, 30 Rock started its second season last night doing what it does best: guest stars, unexpected one-liners, and Liz Lemon eating her feelings in a wedding dress she bought on sale. It wasn't the best episode ever, but it was definitely solid.
It's the first day back from summer hiatus on TGS with Tracy Jordan and Liz waltzes in asking everyone how their summer was, because hers was fantastic: quilting, reading 2 books, and breaking up with Floyd. Things aren't so rosy for Tracy. His wife kicked him out so now he's moving into his dressing room, with Kenneth taking on the role of "office wife" and helping him redecorate.
]]> NBC had been pumping up Jerry Seinfeld's guest appearance for a week or so now, and I'm sorry to say I was a little disappointed. The storyline was great: Over the summer, Jack had Jerry's image computerized into every show on NBC (even the new hit MILF Island which I'm scared someone is going to put into development now), figuring his popularity would equal a ratings bonanza, and it worked. Seinfeld returns from his vacation in a remote European country to find that he was operating on ER and saving the cheerleader on Heroes but not getting a cut, so he meets with Jack to make a deal. A fantastic exchange between Jack and Jerry ends up with Al Roker in a bee suit, a wink, and a plug for Seinfeld's upcoming film Bee Movie.Liz decides to cap off her fantastic summer by being Cerie's "something old" in her wedding. Jenna, fresh off her summer of starring in Mystic Pizza: The Musical and eating 4 slices a night, agrees as well despite being thirty pounds overweight (and wearing an awesome fat suit, I might add). Cerie has Liz try on a wedding dress for her and Liz winds up purchasing it – only because it fit so well and it was on sale and it's totally okay to buy a wedding dress when you don't even have a boyfriend, right? Right.
Liz takes some advice from Jerry and calls Floyd to say she doesn't love him anymore. Unfortunately, like on all sitcoms, Floyd is in the shower and a woman answers. Liz pretends she's taking a survey: How old are you? What is your weight? When was the last time you had sexual intercourse? She doesn't get the answers she needed so she winds up crying to Jerry Seinfeld in a Jerry Seinfeld voice; she's not mocking him, that's just how she sounds when she cries. She finally lets herself wallow in her sadness, sitting on the stage in her "$4000 ham napkin."
It may seem sad and pathetic to buy a wedding dress just because it's on sale, to pretend you had a great summer when you were actually lonely the whole time, and to ask your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend her sexual history, but Tina Fey and Liz Lemon manage to make it understandable and relatable. And I really like how Jack and Liz's (platonic) relationship is actually quite sweet. She's the only one who knows about his heart attack; he gets her out of her ham fog and carries her train on their way out of the studio. It's nice to have a balance of touching-but-not-nauseating moments to go with the wacky storylines. This show's got heart but it's not afraid to put it in a fat suit.
]]>You want a season finale? You got a season finale. The first season of 30 Rock went out with a bang... and a heart attack, a kidnapping, two breakups, and a page throwing himself down a flight of stairs. Take that, CSI.
I don't even know where to begin with the things I loved this week. The one-liners were out of control, from "Now make me a smoothie and let's go clubbing," to "I want five pounds of lobster meat," to "It's not Bianca like Sanka; it's Bianca like Willy Wonka," to "Tell him his mother's here and she loves him... Not in a queer way." There was so much great material in this episode, both dialogue-wise and plot-wise, it felt like it was super-sized, but Tina Fey and company managed to pack all that action into 22 little minutes.
]]> Continuing from last week's episode, this week started off with the search for Tracy Jordan. He had fled to Cleveland to escape the Black Crusaders, but no one in the cast or crew knew where he was... except Kenneth, ever the loyal page. Kenneth had set Tracy up in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, with his hillbilly cousin, played by guest star Sean Hayes. My favorite part of this plotline was that Kenneth's cousin's threatened to torture Tracy by making him read his screenplay. Kenneth and Tracy's entourage eventually rescued Tracy and managed to get back to New York, but got stuck in traffic. Kenneth gallantly threw himself down a flight of stairs so Tracy could ride in the ambulance to midtown to make it to the show on time. For that, Kenneth truly does deserve the NBC Award of Excellence, even if it doesn't exist.Things were rocky between Floyd and Liz, and when cell phones and web cams didn't help, their long-distance relationship ended. I'm sad about this, even though it makes sense for Liz's character, but I loved Jason Sudeikis and I hope he's able to guest star again in the future. In the other romantic storyline, it turns out Jack was faking his feelings for Phoebe and it took his mother and a heart attack to make him realize it. Jack's mother was played by Elaine Stritch and she was fantastic. As Liz said, she was the perfect "sassy old broad" and I loved when she said Liz had "a good, solid baby bucket."
I thought it was sweet that Jack put Liz as his emergency contact, but I'm also glad that in her live blog of the finale, Tina Fey made it very clear that there will never be a romantic relationship between Liz and Jack. That would just be too weird.
Everything turned out for the best by the end of the episode. Liz and Jack ended their relationships, Tracy returned to the show in the nick of time, and TGS was able to end its season on a high note. The mystery of the Black Crusaders is still out there for next season, as is the fate of Liz's love life and where Rachel Dratch will turn up next (I loved her as Liz's doctor this week). I'm so happy NBC picked this show up for a second season, but I'm not sure what to do in the mean time. I think I'll try to work "By the hammer of Thor" into my everyday vocabulary.
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Poor Liz Lemon. Just when she thinks she has it all - cool job, cute new boyfriend, a closet full of flattering empire waist dresses - she gets sabotaged by her boss's fiancé, Tracy Jordan goes missing, and her boyfriend takes a job in Cleveland. Don't get me wrong; Cleveland's a great vacation destination, but the only place a homeless guy will spit in your mouth is New York City.
After a dream-like vacation in Cleveland, Liz and Floyd have to face reality. Liz wants and needs to stay in New York, but Floyd decides to take the job in Ohio. I know it makes more comedic sense to have Liz single and floundering, but I love Jason Sudeikis as Floyd and I was really pulling for those two. At least if Floyd moves, Liz will have an excuse to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whenever she wants.
Also in Cleveland, Tracy Jordan is hiding out from the Black Crusaders. After a bank loan denial and criticism from Bill Cosby, Tracy's afraid he'll be doomed to oblivion with the likes of Coolio. It's kind of refreshing, in this day of Michael Richards and Don Imus, to see a TV show talk about race in a goofy yet smart way. I don't want to get on a soapbox, so I'll leave it at that.
This was a pretty heavy episode as far as 30 Rock goes. I was confused by all the drama and intensity at the end, but then I realized next week is the season finale. Will Phoebe get what's coming to her? Is Liz really in love with Jack? Will Floyd change his mind and stay in New York? Will Tracy escape the clutches of the Black Crusaders? I'm sure we'll get all those answers and probably more in next week's action-packed episode of 30 Rock.
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]]>Break out the bubbly - 30 Rock has officially been renewed for a second season! Conveniently enough, the night after the news was announced, one of the best episodes of the show aired (complete with fireworks), clearly proving that the big guns at NBC made the right decision.
This week's episode was super-sized and the viewers definitely got more bang for their buck. Good thing there were ten or so extra minutes, because we got not one, not two, but THREE scenes with Will Arnett in a shorty bathrobe. That's right, the man you probably know as GOB from the beloved Arrested Development one-upped all his former antics by appearing in the shortest shorty robe I've ever seen. Seriously - no matter how short you're thinking right now, it was shorter. On a real life note, Arnett is married to Amy Poehler, and I just love that. For some reason it makes me happy that two hilarious people are together and may one day breed more hilarious babies.
Back to the shorty robe for one more second - There's just something about the moment Kenneth the Page begins a sentence with, "My...", as in, "My, that's a short robe." You just know something good is coming after that first word.
After a somewhat rocky start in the beginning of the season, it appears Tina Fey has figured out how to write and play the lead character in the romantic comedy storylines of the show. Thanks to the NBC promos department, I knew the kiss with Floyd was coming, but Tina and company sure found a hilarious way to get there. The Tootsie DVD menu and Liz's feet falling asleep were my favorite parts, but I can't leave out the whole AA thing. It was one of those moments where I was yelling, "Nooooo don't follow him, nooooo don't lie about it"; you could just see her digging herself deeper. I'm glad she came clean, and her monologue about all her weird stuff was great. It made me think about all my weird stuff, most of which my boyfriend knows, but I'm sure not writing any of it here.
]]> The great thing about Liz's storyline this week is that sure, following a guy to an AA meeting kind of takes the "Anonymous" part out of things, but I could totally understand why she did it. Her outrageous action became endearing because haven't we all done something crazy or borderline creepy to get closer to a crush? Just me? Oh, okay. Seriously though, her character is becoming more and more relatable while still maintaining a good level of goofiness.Liz's somewhat serious storyline was balanced with your standard wacky storylines focusing on Jack and Tracy. Tracy found out he was related to Thomas Jefferson and Jack aired a live fireworks special that made Rockefeller Center appear to be exploding. Notably missing from this super-sized episode was Jenna, Jane Krakowski's character. I've felt all season that her character is uneven and kind of out of place (hard to do on a show full of oddballs), and Zap2it.com's TV Gal made a prediction regarding Krakowski this week: "I think when the series returns next season, Jane Krakowski won't be part of the show. She's been the weakest, least funny and most unnecessary part of the series all year long. Listen to me now and believe me later, she won't be back next year." I have to agree; I wouldn't be surprised if Krakowski was missing from the halls of TGS next season. I assume they'd try to integrate another female character, but I think Fey more than holds her own with all the boys in the cast.
A final PS to the promos department at NBC: As I mentioned before, you kind of ruined the kiss between Liz and Floyd this week, and it wasn't the first time you spoiled a third act twist for the audience. Remember the Head, and how he turned out to be Liz's distant cousin? Too bad I had heard that line in the promos earlier in the week. The show is hilarious and goofy but it does have story arcs and I'd like to follow them. By all means keep promoting the bejeezus out of the show, but keep it to funny lines that stand on their own, not important plot points. Thank you for your time.
]]>It's pop quiz time, 30 Rock fans: What do Isabella Rosselini, Nathan Lane, and LL Cool J have in common? Nope, they're not all starring in a revival of Shakespeare's Othello (although that would be interesting to see). Give up? Each of them has done a turn as a guest star on 30 Rock. For a show in its first season that's still struggling a bit in the ratings, those are great names to get, but don't forget about Ghostface Killah, Conan O'Brien, Joy Behar, or Paul Reubens either. And that's not even the whole list. I took it upon myself to do a little research and I found, in just seventeen aired episodes, 30 Rock has boasted eighteen different recognizable (at least to me) guest stars, some of whom appeared in multiple episodes. If there were a Guiness Book of World Records for things like this, I'm sure 30 Rock would take the title.
The guest stars snuck up on me a little bit until the most recent episode, "The Fighting Irish." Not only did Nathan Lane show up as Jack Donaghy's brother, but Molly Shannon and Siobhan Fallon (she did one season of Saturday Night Live back in the early '90s - hey, I said recognizable to me) were their drunk Irish sisters. Jason Sudiekis, currently breaking out on SNL, reprised his role as the guy who mistakenly sent Liz flowers on Valentine's Day. The piece de resistance was none other than Vada Sultenfuss as Flower Guy's girlfriend, Liz Lemler. Okay, her real name is Anna Chlumsky, but she'll always be Vada from My Girl to me and many others I'm sure. Good news - she's looking a lot better now than in her awkward My Girl 2 days.
]]> Rounding out my list of guest stars are Chris Parnell (in a recurring role as Tracy's physician, Dr. Spaceman - which is not pronounced like you'd think), Will Forte, Whoopi Goldberg, John McEnroe, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, and Wayne Brady. Though you might think it would be distracting to see so many familiar faces on a show that's not super popular, it actually adds a lot. When I wrote about Rachel Dratch's recurring appearances on the show as different characters, I mentioned Tina Fey saying that Dratch's roles add a sketch sensibility to the show. The guest stars do the same thing. Each week on Saturday Night Live, viewers get to see the guest host play unexpected roles, so on 30 Rock, it's fun to see Joy Behar in a Vagina Monologues rip-off or Isabella Rosselini beating up Tina Fey. Though bigger names and roles, like Nathan Lane's, are publicized in promos, the tinier roles like Behar's are nice little surprises tucked into the corners of each episode.Though it's not on the subject of guest roles, NBC recently announced a scheduling change that's very much in 30 Rock's favor. It was supposed to be off the schedule for over a month to make room for Andy Barker, P.I., but it will return sooner rather than later, with a super-sized episode on April 5th. On April 12th, it will move to 9 pm (instead of 9:30) and stay there until the season finale on April 26th. Scrubs is also moving around, so check out this article for all the details. And please, keep watching this show! Think of it as the Where's Waldo? of sitcoms and make a game out of it.
]]>Is the future of television the infomercial? Is NBC's 30 Rock the most sophisticated infomercial in television history, an amazingly effective and often blatant commercial message for GE? What's the line between programming and advertising and how clearly defined should that line be? Although 30 Rock is an expensive, well written and brilliantly acted primetime series, how different is it in context from the Auto Finance Network, a local market late night thirty-minute infomercial that presents itself as a TV program, introducing individuals with low credit ratings to Crazy 88, a service where they can buy a new car for $88 down and $88 a month, no matter how bad their credit rating. It's amazing how they can extend that singular message for thirty minutes, but it's also amazing how 30 Rock can keep GE references fresh and clever for 22 weeks (at least fans hope the series will last that long). It's likely that GE is conducting research on the affect 30 Rock is having on opinions and perceptions of the corporation. If, in fact, they are conducting such research, they recognize 30 Rock as a corporate communications tool -- aka infomercial.
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]]>In case you haven't noticed, 30 Rock is a funny show. If you happen to watch it, you might catch yourself laughing quite a bit. I've conducted a small-scale scientific study (read: I was the only subject) to investigate the different types of laughter this show generates, which directly correlate to three levels of comedy that I will dissect below.
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]]>Rachel Dratch vs. Jane Krakowsi: Who would win in a fight?
Depends on how they're fighting. Pure fisticuffs? I'd have to pick Dratch; she looks pretty scrappy. Jello wrestling? Dratch again; she can hit low and take blondie down. Playing a delusional actress on a sitcom? Krakowski. She just has more experience. And that's why I don't mind the much publicized "demotion" of Dratch from the role of Jenna to a variety of characters on 30 Rock, ranging from a blue man in Tracy Morgan's drug-induced hysteria to, most recently, an Eastern European prostitute-slash-maid.
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]]>If you clicked on this link, you probably fit into one of three categories: 1) you're one of my close friends or relatives, 2) you think this article is about REM, or 3) you're interested in 30 Rock. If you're in category three, chances are, you don't watch 30 Rock yet, but you're thinking about starting. Maybe you've heard about Alec Baldwin's whispery, Golden Globe-nominated performance as NBC bigwig Jack Donaghy, or maybe you're a fan of Tina Fey from her days at Saturday Night Live. Either way, I'm here to convince you to take that chance and tune in to this show, but not just for the reasons I've already mentioned. There's something else lurking just underneath the surface, and it's definitely a worthy reason to start watching. Its name? Kenneth the Page.
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]]>Can NBC's 30 Rock beat the sitcom curse?
Anything's possible. Julia Louis-Dreyfus this year beat the Seinfeld curse with a successful new series, CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine, and a surprise Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
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