April 26, 2007: "I Nearly Wet My Other Pair of Underpants!"
And here we are, the first season finale of NBC's
30 Rock. Before we get started, I want to thank all of you who have frequented this blog and supported the show. Because of such passion for quality comedy, the "TGS" gang earned that early Season 2 pickup, much to everyone's relief.
Due to a FauxVo glitch, I missed the first few seconds of this episode, but ultimately deduced that, what, Kenneth was narrating a "Previously on
30 Rock" sort of thing? Cute. All in all, I didn't find this episode
quite as manic as the previous few, but that's probably because it had actual story to progress and threads to tie up. Make no mistake, I love the Jim-Pam kiss last May, but every post-
Cheers sitcom needn't taunt us with cliff-hangers. Just make us laugh!
What a one-two punch of guest stars this week. Sean Hayes, well, we knew he'd be spot-on as Ken's cousin, and he was. I wasn't sure what to expect from the great Elaine Stritch in this sandbox, but her take on the hypercritical mother figure was a blast, punctuated by scorching dialogue.
That said, the Liz-Floyd long-distance discomfort fell a bit flat (those were the biggest laughs they could get from iChat?), and as much as I wouldn't blame them for dropping the arc cold turkey in the fall, I'd still feel a bit cheated if this was the ending. Same for Phoebe. No big reveal coming out of the slipped accent? She's not some black-widow type targeting big Jack D.? Hmm.
Maybe I'm just melancholy over our show being among the first (
the first?) to officially bow out this season?
FYI, I just swung by Tina Fey's live blog at NBC.com and there wasn't much to chew on there - conspicuously, not a word about the Alec Baldwin/"I asked to be released from
30 Rock" sitch - though she did say that Liz and Jack will never hook up, because it'd be "too icky." Yay!
Ladies and blurghs, the season's last quill of quotables:
" Spaceman after Jack's three head-turns-and-coughs: "OK, now let's start the examination." (Side note: Fey's blog said they literally flew in Parnell for his scenes and then flew him back.)
" The doc again: "310 over 280 - we have a winner!"
" One more Dr. S, seeing as the Rock went to so much trouble: Touting his book "You're Doing It Wrong" by saying, "My techniques
guarantee male orgasm." Some don't...?!
" Cerie! Alas, no dancing.
" Jack telling Tray, "My ex-girlfriend is a member of the Black Crusaders. I can make this all go away." A Condi shout-out?
" Liz and Jack in unison berating Kenneth as a "mouth-breathing Appalachian!"
" Jack's ma re: Liz: "She's got a good, solid baby bucket."
" Kenneth and Jesse alternately deriding each other as a "hillbilly" and a "hayseed."
" Tracy hungry for an account of Russell Simmons' party: "Were there girls there with butts?"
" Jesse: "We don't go out at night - because of the wolves."
" Liz names her price to join Jack, Phoebe and his mother for dinner: "I want two lobsters.... A total of five pounds of lobster meat."
" Colleen making Phoebe repeat her nonsense about petunias blooming: "I just wanted to make sure
you could hear you."
" "She's like a white geisha."
" OK, maybe this was the best line: "I can't [be on top]. I have vertigo."
" "I look like Admiral Akbar!" (Has every episode had a
Star Wars reference?)
" Spaceman "calming" any concerns about the blood on his lab coat: "I was at a costume party and the hostess dog attacked me, so I had to stab it." Had to?
" "Tell him his mother is here and she loves him. But not in a queer way."
" Jack's life flashing before him, including his coining of the phrase, "What's the upside?" and, of course, Hands Across America.
" Jack's deathbed epiphany: "I should have worked more." But no one is supposed to ever think that, the saying goes, right?
" "How's the Dow doing?"
" Kenneth using Liz's exclamation: "By the hammer of Thor!"
" "They've got pretzels downstairs!"
" The NYC traffic being caused in part by "a guy in suspenders doing a chalk painting down on Canal Street." (Perhaps an "in" joke for Manhattanites.)
" Kenneth saluting Tray and then taking one for the team... down a flight of cement stairs."
" "It's Cowboy Hey-hey!" Now that looked like a funny sketch!
" "In case of emergency" Liz gets her true compliment from the boss man: "I'm gonna pull the plug now!"
Aww, no, don't. As much as it would solve the Alec situation, we don't want to see Liz in prison.
OK, maybe Frank does....
See you back here in the fall,
30 Rockers!
