(S02E07) "Where did you two meet, an Amber Alert?" - Jack, to Liz
On a night when almost everything else I watch is a repeat, it's great - comforting even - to see that there's a new 30 Rock. It's truly one of the very few shows that I look forward to so much that I actually get slightly bummed out when it's a repeat. It has become "that sitcom from the woman who used to be on Saturday Night Live and will probably be canceled" to a new classic. It's monumentally funny and is still running on all cylinders. It's the best comedy on TV right now. And that's my review. The end.
No, just kidding. There's more...
It's hard to choose which subplot was more bizarre tonight, Jack helping Tracy's little league baseball team or Frank going gay for Liz's new 20 year-old boyfriend Jamie (and only for him - as he says, he's not gay or anything). I think I have to actually give the bizarre award to Jack and the team. Sure, Judah Friedlander in a red and white striped tank top and neckerchief (see photo above) is surreal, but with all the Bush/Iraq metaphors and the sight of Alec Baldwin dressed as General MacArthur, standing beneath a "Fun Accomplished" sign ... that plot gets the edge.
Have we seen this delivery boy character before? I don't remember him being on the show before. I thought that Liz would start dating Jamie for more than this one episode, to parallel what is happening with Jack and the Edie Falco character (glad they addressed that tonight, to tell us that Jack is indeed still seeing her), dating in secret, but it all ends when she finds out that his mom (who he still lives with) looks exactly like her. I guess she's going to go back to spending Saturday nights alone and eating meatball subs, watching Top Chef on TiVo (I've been there many times, only replace meatball sub with pizza and Top Chef with Small Space, Big Style). I'm going to assume that Jenna is going to stop dating her 14 year-old boyfriend too.
I also like the mix of episodes they do on this show. It would be a mistake to have every episode be about network problems or what's going on on TGS with Tracy Jordan. You have to have some episodes that really have nothing to do with the show within a show itself, and tonight's ep did that, even have a couple of plots outside of NBC (the ballpark, the nightclub). I just wish that some of the supporting players, like Scott Adsit and Keith Powell, were on it more.
More great scenes and lines:
- "He's cute. He looks like Zac Efron. That's a thing, right?" - Liz
- "You can't be gay for one person. Unless you're a woman, and you meet Ellen."
Liz's line "I'm 37, don't make me go to Brooklyn!", which could easily become a catch phrase for aging New Yorkers.
- Kenneth giving everyone "Secret Rodney" (not Santa) gifts, iPod cases that don't have iPods in them but his Homemade Country Gum (Bacon Mint flavor). I'm waiting for this to show up on the NBC web site. Hey, if they can sell Jerry Springer beer steins, why not?
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
Giveaway Tuesday: Fastlane - The Complete Series
Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-30-2007 @ 9:20AM
julie said...
Did you also catch that Jamie's mother is "Beth" vs. "Lix"? Very subtle but very funny! We only watch a few sitcoms - primarily the first 3 on NBC Thursday and they are "time shifted" - and this show makes it worth it.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 9:25AM
julie said...
Oops, I meant Liz - sometimes the fingers just go a bit too fast!
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 9:38AM
KMF said...
I absolutely loooooved this episode! Every storyline was great, it was hard to pick which one was best!
I get 20 year olds hitting on me, and I'm 31, but I'm no cougar. I identify with Liz. And make that a tofu meatball sub with repeats of whatever is on CBS, or NBC and there's my Saturday night. Don't make me go to Brooklyn.
Frank being gay for Jamie was icing on the crazy cake of this show!
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 9:52AM
Anthony said...
I kinda saw it coming that his mom turns out to look like Liz - heck, the girl I like reminds me of my mom but she's not a dead ringer or anything; Jamie looks familiar, like he was an arrogant or villanous character on some show... and I believe the sign actually said "Big Fun Accomplished"
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 9:53AM
wade said...
That episode was gellin like magellan.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 10:34AM
freefoo said...
I couldn't believe this show's extended scewering of the Bush administration's fiasco handling of post-war Iraq. From the sign of "Big Fun Accomplished" to the kiddie's pulling down the statue, my jaw was agape. I kept thinking, "I can't believe I'm seeing this on network TV."
Not only is this the funniest show on TV, but it has the biggest balls. This show gleefully jumps into the middle of topics that other shows wouldn't dare to touch: race, corporate hypocracy, weird sexuality, the war. Bravo!
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:42PM
malren said...
You're kidding, right? Because these jokes were like, four years late and out of date. It's been done, and it's not daring in any way. That subplot was just tired.
Now the "gay for Jamie" thing was hysterical, even though it's not a new idea either. As was the 14 year old boyfriend.
11-30-2007 @ 10:58AM
glimpseofdave said...
"meatball sub with extra bread". love it.
the little league team couldn't wear blue in their neighborhood (bloods and crips reference).
the "dominican birth certificates". hysterical.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 11:25AM
George said...
The "Secret Rodney" scene wasn't actually part of the episode, was it?
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:21PM
marah said...
no, it was an american express commercial, right? i mean, basically...
11-30-2007 @ 12:15PM
Michael said...
No, it didn't. I've watched it twice and there's not a mention of any of that. maybe in the Christmas ep?
11-30-2007 @ 11:55AM
edgore said...
"The "Secret Rodney" scene wasn't actually part of the episode, was it?"
Correct - it was part of an AMEX ad.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 11:58AM
C C said...
That may have been the best political satire I've seen on the Iraq War, period. I'm amazed it was on network tv. From "Fun Times Accomplished" to "Stay the Course", it was like a comical Cliff's Notes on the invasion and occupation. It doesn't matter if it's on a little league baseball or on the battlefield, fascism is fascism. Extremism is extremism. Incompetance is incompetance. Any failure on any level to understand and respect other cultures will have disaterous consequences, even if it's just a bunch of minority kids.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:21PM
marah said...
the part at the end where frank was in the gay bar, and he was so cool about not really being gay. "you guys smell great, and you're fun to dance with, but this just isn't me" or whatever. amazing.
also, basically every line tracey said about the baseball team. knuckle beach...
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 12:23PM
Jeff said...
"Practice, meetings... what is this, a marriage?" :D
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 1:43PM
Chip said...
Anyone else notice the throwaway line where someone (I forget) refers to Jamie as Harold? I love it.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 5:11PM
Karen said...
Not just Jamie as Harold, but Liz as Maude.
Hee.
11-30-2007 @ 2:15PM
Daniel said...
My favorite lines of the night....
Kenneth -
I don't know Mr. Donehgy, They obviously have some problem with my grandfather because they keep screaming Kill Whitey, and I'm like, Who do you think you are? Alcohol?
Tracy-
I don't want to go off on a rant here... (silence)
Fat Writer
Why isn't this funny, anymore? (or something like that)
I loved this episode... Mainly because my wife who thinks the show sux... was ROFL throughout.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 2:36PM
Arclight said...
"but with all the Bush/Iraq metaphors and the site of Alec Baldwin dressed as General McArthur, standing beneath a "Fun Accomplished" sign, that plot gets the edge."
You know Bob, I hate the writer's strike as much as the next guy, but there is a silver lining.
Liberal Hollywood out on strike in commie red shirts on an election year, where they are voluntarily muting themselves, with their digs at conservatives like you mentioned above.
Never get in your opponent's way when they are self destructing.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 3:08PM
ac said...
When Frank came in with the sweater for the coffeeboy I fell off the couch laughing. How many episodes are left?
Reply