(S02E06) "We Parcells are neither wealthy nor circumcised, but we are proud!" - Kenneth, trying to find money to replace Jack's missing pants
This show is less than a half hour long but I have a harder time reviewing it than I do two-hour season finales. How do you review a show that has 25 awesome one liners and a bunch of great comedy bits and scenes without simply repeating everything that just happened to people who have already seen the episode? How do you even pick one funny quote from those 25 lines and put it at the top of the review? The one above might be the funniest, it might not be, who knows. It just stands out to me.
It's not easy to make jokes about terrorism and race. People are either made uneasy by it or it's so forced that it's unfunny. This episode got around that by being...well...funny as hell, and going so out there that you really didn't have a chance to be offended. Liz suspects her neighbor might be up to no good because of the maps in his apartment, his attitude, and his practicing on the monkey bars at the local playground.
This whole episode had a political vibe. Everything from Liz's neighbor to Jack's involvement with a woman he is horrified to discover is a Democratic Congresswoman from Vermont (Jack's a staunch Republican). But he really likes her (Tracy compares the relationship to the Capulets and the Romulans), and he wants to make it work out, even if they have to have the affair in private.
The three moments that stand out for me:
1. Everyone wearing Sheinhardt Wig Company T-shirts (they own NBC). Very subtle, very bizarre.
2. The Lifetime movie about the Congresswoman getting shot in the face by a dog, with the ridiculous title of A Dog Took My Face And Gave Me A Better Face To Change The World: The Celeste Cunningham Story, which if you think about it isn't that much more ridiculous than Lifetime's real movie titles.
3. Tracy practicing his Rerun dance at the start of the show. The way Jack and Liz are talking on the phone in a split screen with Tracy dancing in the middle...I laughed out loud. That big pause at the end of the scene...so funny.
If this strike goes on for a long time, this is the show I'll be sorry to see gone for the rest of the season. I think it's the closest thing we have on the air right now to an Arrested Development or a NewsRadio.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-16-2007 @ 12:26AM
radwimp said...
Good episode, I really laughed hard at times but other parts were a bit weird. It really got rolling later into the show. I'm really going to miss this if the strike lasts as well...
A few things I noticed -
-Anyone catch the hilarious news scroll during the TV interview?
"NEWS CRAWL EFFECTED BY WRITERS STRIKE - USING REPEAT TEXT FROM PREVIOUS SEASON"
"Wolf Blizter injured in Wolf Blitz"
"Anne Heche leaves husband for pony"
-It was great to see the writers, feels like the most we've seen from them all season.
-"I thought you made love like an ugly girl"
-Lifetime movie spoof & Jack's commentary.
-"Oh boy... Oh no... Oh no..."
-The creepy closet scene with Jonathan.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:29AM
SJ said...
This show is pure genius.
"But they are orange!" Hahahaha orange kids!
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11-16-2007 @ 12:31AM
Aileen said...
Meh. It was funny, but, seriously...how can anything top Greenzo? Last week's episode should have been a season finale because anything will pale in comparison. I did, however, think that the look on Liz Lemon's face as she slowly realized, while watching the audition footage, that she made a terrible mistake was very funny. And very Arrested Development-esque. NewsRadio? Well, not so sure since 30 Rock is much more Quirky and, thankfully, without anyone like Andy Dick.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:36AM
Tele-Toby said...
I'm glad Tina Fey and Co. aren't relying solely on SNL for their guest stars, because they'll be running out soon. Tonight had Fred Armisen as Raheem, and Kristin Wiig as the TV movie version of Edie Falco's character.
Seeing them made me realize tonight that Rachel Dratch hasn't shown up at all this season in any kind of role. I really wish Tina could find a character she could play every week, perhaps a writer on the show. I guess I just felt sorry for her, that she got a raw deal after the pilot.....
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11-16-2007 @ 12:45AM
Jim said...
This show has been great from the start and keeps getting better. My favorite line: "For men, it's a Hardy Boy."
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11-16-2007 @ 1:28AM
Pinwiz said...
The best thing about the news ticker was that is was the exact same ticker from the Season One episode "Hard Ball".
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11-16-2007 @ 4:05AM
Greg said...
Erm... the Edie Falco question is three. Three episodes. Ah-ah-ah-ahh....
(For now, that is)
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11-16-2007 @ 4:12AM
nickmagoo said...
"if we don't poison the world, the terrorists will." - Scheinhardt Wig Co.
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11-16-2007 @ 4:18AM
nickmagoo said...
After CC goes on about working in Harlem at Clinton's office to help Hilary retool her universal healthcare plan:
"God I want to kiss you on the mouth to make you stop saying such ridiculous things." - Jack
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11-16-2007 @ 5:07AM
edd said...
I love this show!
it's still no Arrested Development tho!
www.arresteddevelopment2009.com
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11-16-2007 @ 8:25AM
Brian said...
Is somebody making waffles?
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11-16-2007 @ 8:39AM
puddy77 said...
The maple syrup smell killed me. They should have promoted it as "ripped from the headlines" a la Law and Order. Did they ever figure out what the smell actually was? Northrax?
And the terrorism signs - when you see anything, do everything.
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11-16-2007 @ 8:46AM
horsenbuggy said...
Not the funniest of the season, but it's still 30 Rock. I personally didn't see the chemistry between Falco and Baldwin - maybe it's just me.
Jack yelling at the TV, "Take the gun away from the dog." - AWESOME
I also loved the completely "natural" product placement for Verizon Wireless. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair when Tina Fey looked at the camera and said, "Now can we have our money?" That took on an even deeper meaning considering that the writers are on strike.
Don't ask me how, but I saw the Amazing Race reveal from the first scene when Tina was suspicious of the maps. But the video of Raheem jumping up and down while screaming, "I love America!" was priceless.
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11-16-2007 @ 8:52AM
SHANNON said...
The one's that got me--
"Can we have our money now??"
and
"Tell her she's got tig old bitties!!"
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11-16-2007 @ 10:20AM
Mark said...
Best episode of the season so far, with the best line that I've heard in quiet a while:
-"I thought you made love like an ugly girl" - Jack
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11-16-2007 @ 11:01AM
Verbal said...
My favorite line was: "Tell her ass is like an apple and you just want to take a bite."
Oh man, I love this show.
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11-16-2007 @ 12:34PM
khamel said...
when tracy question the pigeon's dignity? i almost passed out laughing. tracy is so ridiculous and i love it. "PANTS! PANTS! PANTS!". classic
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11-16-2007 @ 2:51PM
David Woods said...
I think one of the lines was something like...
"Your hair is your head suit"
Am I close?
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11-16-2007 @ 3:00PM
Karen said...
I thought this episode was vastly superior to last week's, but then I've never been a big David Schwimmer fan. The only thing I liked last week was the Gore cameo and the burning globe. Whereas this week? Man!
From the moment they opened with the mysterious and somehow threatening smell of maple syrup (a true event, from NYC, October 2005) I was utterly in love with this episode. It was very New York-y. Not just the maple syrup smell, but the bus shelter billboards starting with the [genuine campaign] "If you see something, say something" up to the Sheinhardt Wigs terrorist poster. I don't know if anyone else in the country gets this stuff, but as a New Yorker myself I feel so happy being in on the joke.
Edie Falco and Alec Baldwin played off each other perfectly, Tracy Morgan was incredibly funny (from the Rerun dance to the pigeon lecture), Kenneth was in rare form, the SNL cameos worked, the Verizon Wireless produce placement was GENIUS, and Fey herself was golden. I just loved it, and I don't know how I'll get by if the strike cancels the rest of the season.
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11-16-2007 @ 6:31PM
Dan said...
Simply put, 30 Rock is the best comedy show in terms of intellectual laughs on TV today. It has become the highlight of Thursday night's NBC lineup for me after being the only show I DIDN'T watch. This episode was almost too funny, I didn't catch most of what was going on in the background because the main jokes were so funny. Good comedy merits multiple viewings and gets funnier each time you watch. I'm a Family Guy fan (to an extent, it can be dumb sometimes), but multiple viewings prove how good a show is, and 30 Rock gets better (like NewsRadio, Arrested Development, Futurama, The Office and Seinfeld) the more you watch and not the other way around like with Family Guy or 99% of sitcoms. If only 30 Rock could find some ratings...but we all know, the more intelligent something is, the less likely that it will succeed. People are really stupid...
Let's just hope there is more Cerie in slutty outfits, and hopefully her hot cousins from last week too...
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