And here we are the first season finale of NBCs 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 everyones reliefDue 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 didnt find this episode quite as manic as the previous few but thats 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 neednt taunt us with cliff-hangers Just make us laughWhat a one-two punch of guest stars this week Sean Hayes well we knew hed be spot-on as Kens cousin and he was I wasnt sure what to expect from the great Elaine Stritch in this sandbox but her take on the hypercritical mother figure wa
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What did I tell you Good stuff yesIf there was any doubt that NBCs 30 Rock had arrived that it was a keeper that this is a real show and not one of this seasons fly-by-night Saturday Night Live-spoof sitcoms we now find ourselves vested in these crazy neurotic andor ego-inflated people Will Liz lose out on love by forsaking Cleveland-smelling Cleveland Is Jack headed for a fall at the hands of Phoebe the hollow-boned faux Brit Can Tracy evade the Black Crusaders as powerfully staffed as they are with the likes of Gordon from Sesame StreetWill scientific advances ever allow Jenna her three-wayAs the first few scenes played I feared for a moment that Floyd was going to decide that like Liz was a jinx seeing as in fell swoops he lost his dream apartment and a promotion Well-played indeed Garkle But we didnt go there Instead we got a fanciful if all too accurate music-montage travelogue for Cleveland set to some made-for-30 Rock ditty Someone here recently g
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Do I win Shortest TV Show Blog title ever [Crickets]OK anyway Though the My guy friend is dating my boyfriend gag has been done to death on TV sitcoms 30 Rock is to be forgiven if only because the same episode gave us a preview of no not The Real Wedding Crashers [Groan] but Jefferson starring Source Award nominee Tracy Jordan I will admit that for some reason too silly too broad too easy a target I wasnt expecting much from that trailer but as each scenejokemultiple-role popped up tears formed in my eyes I half expected Don Geiss to greenlight it if only as a spoof of biopics But instead hes all about Fat Bitch 2 even though Cocoa died in the originalAm I just so in love with 30 Rock or has there never been a show quite like it I know thats heavy praise but literally as I sat watching it I felt that its specific combination of rhythm humor and reality-merged-with-surrealism is rather unique I suppose that Scrubs is similar y
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Welcome welcome welcome back 30 Rock And congratulations congratulations congratulations on your pick-up for a second season super-sizingSo much to celebrate this week it almost deserves a fireworks spectacular or not As much as I sensed that Jacks super-lame idea would actually go over well with his bosses never did I foresee the most unfortunate execution of it I mean literally shooting off fireworks in midtown Even ones that form a cowboy hat EekThis weeks guest star shrewdly cast as is the Rocks calling card was Arrested Developments Will Arnett currently in theaters with the No 1 movie Blades of Glory Here a different sort of blade was in play as NBC exec Devon took a shine to our poor unsuspecting Kenneth Can you give me a hand Kenneth Yikes that was a short robeHow meaty was this episode Im three paragraphs in and havent even touched on Lizs clumsy pursuit of Floyd Floyd or Tracys discovery that hes a desce
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As our friends over at Idol and 30 Rock apparently knows who they are would say Listen up dawg It wasnt my favorite performance but Yeah something about this weeks episode in which Liz claimed power Jack found family and Tracy sought religion a subplot deserving of far greater screen time just wasnt clicking for me Was it because the Dad isnt dead twist was seen coming up Broadway I dunno That said Nathan Lane was an excellent guest star and as my wife and I agreed actually kinda sorta looks like Alec Baldwin In a squint-your-eyes Barbara-Walters-soft-focus wayThe Dona-heeDonag-heeDona-fee siblings reunion was a fun visual if only to see such a mishmash of SNL vets peppered throughout When did Molly Shannon stop eatingLizs power trip I wasnt quite feeling it I know Im being such a Debby Downer though we all can probably identify with having that rare opportunity to squash a rival by questionable means and he
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Do the readers of other TV Guide TV Show Blogs look at our titles and go Whaaaaat I always wonder that and lord knows I have trouble arriving at just the right and proper-length sound bite to use each weekBut with that peek inside my scary psyche aside how about that episode of NBCs 30 Rock From where I sit its got to be in the top five if not three It was a case where the A B and C stories were genuinely dovetailed into another as the Source Awards hosted the coming out party for Jacks wine aka the urine of Satan after a hefty portion of asparagus Lizs date with the worst boyfriend ever but not because hes a black or a Black though he was Wayne Brady and a possible truce between Tracy and longtime foe Ridikolus guest star LL Cool J The only trade-off virtually no JennaPeteFrankJoshCerie though juuuuust enough of Kenneth a pit bull of an after-after-after-after-party doormanThings we learned this week about our intrepid TGS crew149
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OK so maybe that wasnt Tracys exact line but it sure conveys the overall sentiment and compelling mental picture For the purists out there though it went something like thisI like this corn bread so much I want to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnantLike I said I summed it up pretty goodThis weeks episode of NBCs 30 Rock was an upswing from the last which had the unenviable task of trumping Prince Gerhardt I think the show really clicks when Jack is trying with varying degrees of success to school Liz on the ways of NBC-GE-Universal management this time bringing her in on Joshs contract renegotiation only to ultimately decide she wasnt ready for the big chair Jack drives a tough bargain though negotiating Joshs agent down from time off for every Jewish holiday no matter how ridiculous to the one where they go in the tent The agent was funny in his own right what with the abbreviating of every word eg Lets skip the foreplay
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Ah shades of the Tracy Jordan Meat Machine episode Its funny I bet if years ago you asked either Alec Baldwin or Tracy Morgan neither would have predicted theyd be a killer 1-2 punch on a hot sitcom And yet here they are on 30 RockI enjoyed all the story line pairings in this episode actually Jack and Tracy Say no more OK I will Seeing Jack fervently try to suck up to guest star Rip Torn only to have Tracy waylay his plan by referring to the only other black guy at the la-de-da golf course function as Carlton prompting Jack to offer a detailed refresher on Fresh Prince was a blast Loved Tracys argyle by the way And then later when Tracy broke hearts with the sad tale of how he realized his daughter had diabetes Well you may have guessed it was a sham to save Jacks bacon but that didnt make Tracys eventual admission to his boss any less funny Now I want to see the casting sessionLiz story with Lutz and the writing staff at large ma
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It would be nearly impossible to measure up to last weeks utterly manic introduction of Prince Gerhardt so forgive 30 Rock if this weeks outing was merely very amusing at times Actually returning guest star Isabella Rossellini seemed to find it extremely amusing at one particular point Am I wrong or did she barely make it through her line Damn it Johnny you know how much I love my big beef and cheddar On the FauxVo replay shes almost chuckling the dialogue Fun to see a pro recognize the Rocks dialogue for being as wonderfully absurd as it isAs for Jacks downward spiral coming out of said divorce-settlement talks meh So-so I got that he was regressing from top-shelf bubbly to canned beer to miniature airplane spirits but I think that sequence primarily demonstrated that Alec Baldwin is best playing opposite the regularsNo I actually wore more grins watching the microscopic B-story with the writers playing Marry-Boff-Kill often to Jennas detriment o
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Before we get started with this weeks 30 Rock debrief a moment of silence please for the just-passed Prince Gerhardt one of sitcomdoms hardest to look at most unsettling and thus and alas funniest creations [Silence]Yes Paul Pee-wee Reubens served up a memorable majesty on a very strong very laugh-out-loud funny installment of the Rock Still I cannot help but fear that his character may have offended anyone out there who employs a prosthetic baby hand and suffers from a malady that prohibits the production of joint fluid as well as the metabolization of grapes NBC may get lettersAlso big props to Reubens fellow guest stars Isabella Rossellini really letting loose as Bianca Jacks now-tortured ex and SNLs Will Forte as the princes stewardWhat really impressed me as a aspiring comedy writer was how 30 Rock deftly handled Lemons date with Jack Lesser shows would have gone there in that final scene and really jacked up the tension between its two
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First off I need to strongly admonish NBC for utterly ruining the outcome of Lizs budding unlikely romance with The Hair guest star Peter Hermann via this weeks promos I mean if you want us to watch your channel at other times for heavens sake dont penalize us for it But if you managed to evade the spoiltastic promo you enjoyed a very funny resolution to the relationship that was too good and too well coiffed to be true I guess Liz draws the line at trying certain new things Still it was fun to see her successfully dating and enjoying the latest in saffron-infused oxygen treats while it lasted And just when shed pulled the trigger on lap-sitting tooElsewhere we had Jack tearing a page out of Kenneths book a job-reversal that had me at Im going to be your bottom Ride me as hard as you can amusing on its own and then punctuated by Kenneths superb and yet still ambiguous reaction shot And though we didnt get to see Dona
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Whereas last weeks episode of NBCs 30 Rock was a tad too theme-y for me The Rural Juror moved so dang fast and was so crackling who had time to pick up on any such thingas a theme What a lot of funSpeaking to one frequent complaint about the show I think Im starting to get Jenna now and how she fits here Shes supposed to come off as flighty and disillusioned at times when in reality shes not completely flighty and not quite so disillusioned kinda like how bread maybe always eats away at your brain We now see that she and Liz go way back as friends and as a comedy team even though as Jenna noted Liz had no chance at an acting career being brunette and allWhat else did we learn this week That Jack is now dating the New York Times Maureen Dowd Did Condi tell him shes just not that into him That best-selling author John Grisham has a lesser-known and apparently sucky screenwriter brother named Kevin That Lizs brother Mitch is disgusting in bed
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Oh how I love impressionists No not the painters but guys like Rich Little Fred Travalena Yeah Im old But back to my point I was glad to see TGS Josh get a story on this weeks 30 Rock Granted Lonny Ross didnt appear to actually be doing Jack DonaghyAlec Baldwin but his Tracy Morgan was pretty good if not missing a few of the tonal spasmsThis episode at the risk of being the kind of warmfuzzy TV that Seinfeld made an art of avoiding had a theme of sorts mothers Liz spurred on by the insight of Cerie of all people aka she who wants to name her someday-daughter Bookcase or Sandstorm but not Hat because thats obviously a boys name now feels her maternal clock ticking This elicits way way too many babydaddy offers Judah for one can promise a child with strong flat feet Jack meanwhile is trying to avoid the dreaded 407 call meaning from his mother Yes the cocksure alpha dog has a mess of Mommy issues Example She
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Now this is what Im talking about Second-tier cast integration multiple stories going on intimations that Condoleezza Rice likes phone sex just not when shes en route to a state funeral Another winning week for NBCs 30 Rock See a lesser show would build a whole episode around Jack Donaghys on-the-QT romance with Condi but the Rock made it that much funnier by playing it in the background and thus getting to be more outrageous with it For what its worth I dont think the union was meant to be considering the assorted suggestions Jack had for his honeys hair teeth etc and his drawing the line at Abu Ghraib role-playing in the boudoir Its a bit sad to see Dennis get sent packing as he was an excellent way to make Liz exhaustedembarrassed But aside from what we knew about him already did you freeze-frame Lizs list of cons I did Among them Loves Family Guy Has seen me throw up Wears acid-washed denim Reads the P
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Sure 30 Rock gave us yet another riff on what a wild and crazy guy Tracy Jordan is but any episode that has my wife laughing so hard that she almost falls off the sofa gets high marks 30 Rock is really finding its footing The addition of Dennis Halo-playing pager-pimping shaves-in-the-kitchen-sink manchild Dennis offers Liz groans at home as well as at work While over at TGS the occasional B-story bone tossed to Tom Kenneth or Jenna helps the show feel even less claustrophobic A quick aside about Jenna Shes one sad case Not only was she fired from a ShopRite commercial gig and not only is her biggest big-screen credit the unintelligible Rural Juror an audible joke that never got old but she brags of having a vacation home in Florida Clearwater Florida My family trekked to the Tarpon Springs-adjacent city every spring during my childhood and while adequately sandy and sunny Im pretty sure Amy Poehler does better Moments of the week
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This first Must-See TVpaired-with-Scrubs episode of NBCs 30 Rock was actually postponed from an earlier air date apparently bumped and saved for an important outing because its one of the stronger episodes thus far andor could not be supersized Something about it just felt more normal to borrow Tracy Jordans most-feared word Everyone got funny stuff to do the Jack-Liz scenes were crackling and teaming with Liz-induced self-humiliation and we even got a Rachel Dratch cameo as that angry angry Liz TaylorI dont know if I like Liz having a boyfriend let alone a live-in one but I suppose that as long as Dennis Rescue Mes Dean Winters is delivering the occasional noogie and fast Saturdays-only sex or proffering the occasional factoid about rat society hell afford Alec Baldwin some great reactionnon-reaction shotsI know a lot of us have our problems with the character of Jenna But this week I really enjoyed her because its becoming clear that she is
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There was a good idea here a TV show albeit somewhat improbably in this case a sketch series being compelled by Corporate to work in some product shills Alas I am sad to opine that NBCs 30 Rock missed the bulls-eye Sometimes in comedy I have observed big targets are the hardest to hitThere was also the fun idea of putting Jack Donaghy on TGS but that for some reason fell a bit flat for me too Interesting paradox our own Angel Cohn who admittedly is not a huge Alec Baldwin fan found him to be hilarious in this episode whereas I a longtime Baldwin backer didnt Maybe 30 Rock played the Jack-on-camera card too soon Or went in too obvious a direction with the hes actually awful angle The concept would have been saved for me if come show time hed turned out to be stellar Or if Baldwin had given the camera a wink when Jack said Ive never done a live TV broadcast just days after Baldwin hosted the real SNL and right after Jack slighted sel
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Yeah its pretty scary when Tracy Jordans Biscuit and Ching-Chong start to look like winning sketch ideas This episode of NBCs 30 Rock raised an interesting question though Which is the worst Girlie Show possible one written by Tracy starring Roberto the 2-foot Spanish hustler one begotten of GE exec Jack Donaghys mind featuring Monkey Senate and entire bits written around the catchphrases Nuts to you McGullicuty and Beep beep ribby ribby or the actual TGS we hear being produced in the background offering the likes of Homophobic Gays Queasy Stuffed Shirts and Who Wants to Eat a DictionaryTough call there But at least you get the sense that 30 Rock isnt actually trying to deliver Saturday Night Live-worthy sketches unlike that other NBC show about a late-night comedy program Speaking of which the best moment this week by far had to be that big fat wink to Aaron Sorkins Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and West Wing and Sp
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This morning presented a first for me watching a full TV episode online via streaming video at NBCcom Blame it on my Wednesday night out at a ShowtimeWeeds soiree combined with a skittish FauxVo The bold venture delivered to me some unsettling news I have the same bi-curious Converse sneakers as Liz Lemon But maybe theyre only bi when worn by a gal Once I got past the fact that Sex and the Citys Miranda went through the exact same choking to death alone in my apartment scareepiphany as 30 Rocks Liz albeit just once not twice and as the episode shed new light on Kenneth who was at risk of becoming a cipher of a character I was all in as the poker players say Speaking of cards laugh as you might at Tracy Jordans crazy rules Face cards are wild fives are a jinx fives are twos Ive been known to deal a wacky game myself After all without plenty o wild cards I would never win a single hand I am that badThe very start of this weeks
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Newly hired Tracy Jordan causes plenty of friction on “The Girlie Show” set: His larger-than-life persona pushes insecure star Jenna Maroney out of the limelight; he rubs writers the wrong way; and the meddling Donaghy will do anything to keep him happy, including changing the title of the show to “TGS with Tracy Jordan.” It's up to Liz to unite the crew and pull the show together, and she ends up getting help from a most unlikely source---Jordan himself.
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Head writer Liz Lemon battles an unbearable, focus-group-obsessed network bigwig who wants to retool her TV variety show by adding an erratic film star (Tracy Morgan) to the cast. Lemon endures a lunch meeting with the loopy actor and his posse, only to be swept up in their wild world.
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