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Cheers & Jeers: Vanessa Minnillo Exceeds Expectations on 30 Rock

Cheers to Vanessa Minnillo for her surprisingly solid 30 Rock guest spot.Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!Nothing in the teen beauty queen-turned-VJ's resumé suggested she could hold her own opposite Emmy winner Tina Fey, but she was sharp, fast and funny as Carmen Chao, an MSNBC anchor of indeterminate ethnicity (in real life, Minnillo's the product of an Irish-Italian dad and a Filipina mom). In an attempt to help Jack's wife, Avery, outmaneuver Carmen for an NBC Nightly News gig, Fey's Liz faked a pregnancy...

Bruce Fretts Feb. 4, 2011 at 8:06 a.m. PT

Cheers to Vanessa Minnillo for her surprisingly solid 30 Rockguest spot.
Want more Cheers & Jeers?Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Nothing in the teen beauty queen-turned-VJ's resumé suggested she could hold her own opposite Emmy winner Tina Fey, but she was sharp, fast and funny as Carmen Chao, an MSNBC anchor of indeterminate ethnicity (in real life, Minnillo's the product of an Irish-Italian dad and a Filipina mom). In an attempt to help Jack's wife, Avery, outmaneuver Carmen for an NBC Nightly News gig, Fey's Liz faked a pregnancy — leading to another predictably hilarious cameo from proven funnyman Brian Williams.Next Minnillo will guest star with her fiancé, Nick Lachey, on CBS' freshman hit Hawaii Five-0 as an engaged couple taken hostage by pirates aboard a cruise ship. Eat your heart out, Jessica Simpson!Were you shocked by Vanessa Minnillo's comic chops?

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