TVSquad

I want answers, people.

Last night we found out that Elisa, Salma Hayek's character on 30 Rock, was hiding a dark secret.

That secret (which I won't reveal) was weird and unexpected. But seeing Salma wearing a "What the Frak?!" T-shirt – complete with the Battlestar Galactica logo on the back, I might add – on the show was even weirder and more unexpected.

It was also way cool, and probably the most random moment in an episode full of random moments (like that Brian Williams cameo). I loved it. It made me kooko for Choco Puffs. But can someone explain it to me?

(S03E19) "It's not product placement, I just like it!" - Liz, wearing a Slanket

OK, can we settle this once and for all? Liz Lemon/Tina Fey is not an unattractive woman. I don't care if she's wearing a rumpled TGS sweatshirt or a casual jacket or has glasses on or has her hair tied back or if she's wearing a potato sack or even a track suit. There's no way a snooty jewelry store clerk would look at her and doubt that Alec Baldwin/Jack would marry her.

Yes, she even looks great in a Slanket. Interesting they didn't go with the Snuggie, but also great that they didn't go with the Snuggie (and kudos to Fey for the above shout-out to viewers).

(S03E12) "Elisa? I was about to do the whole run to the airport thing, like Ross did on Friends and Liz Lemon did in real life." - Jack

Am I wrong or did something look really weird with Tracy's interview with Larry King? There were a lot of shots of King alone and Tracy alone and only a handful of them together, from odd angles. And it kinda looked like Tracy wasn't even on the same set as King, like they actually did it with special effects, the way they used to have two Patty Dukes on the screen at once. Maybe King and Morgan couldn't film together because they're on different coasts?

Anyway, that's just an observation I had about this episode, which I think was the best of the season so far.

A follow-up to my review of last night's 30 Rock.

Did they go too far with the product placement last night? Several web sites today are talking about it, and some of the commenters here last night mentioned it too. The show didn't just have a McDonald's bag in the foreground while two characters were talking, the fast food chain was prominently featured throughout the show. A scene was set at McDonald's (Jack and Elisa getting back together), the couple actually had a discussion about what makes the McFlurry so great, and there was a commercial for McDonald's during the show too.

Did this go to far over the edge and make it a McDonald's ad with some 30 Rock plot thrown in or are you OK with it? Personally, it didn't really bother me for some reason. I'm usually OK with product placement if the show is good enough.

Hmmm...the singer that Jenna impersonated was Michael...MacDonald!

(S03E11) "Nice ... you mean like stew?" - Liz to Jack, about what dinner to make Drew

OK, I think it's officially time to call out an APB on Josh and the rest of the writing staff. They're missing again this week. Not many supporting characters at all this week. Even Jenna had only one quick (though very funny) scene, while Frank was reduced to just handing off one of the subplots to Kenneth. I really want to see this show get back to some episodes about TGS and NBC and the inner working of the show. It's like TGS is on summer hiatus or something.

Having said that, this episode was quite good.

(S03E10) "He gets a golf magazine, so you know he's not gay or poor." - Jenna, about Drew

When I saw the promos for this episode, I audibly groaned. A subplot with an actor on a Telemundo soap opera who just happens to be a dead ringer for Jack? Alec Baldwin wearing a uniform and doing an accent? Ugh, I didn't think it would work at all, and with all of the over-the-top surreal subplots that have been on the show this season, I thought this would be the worst one of all.

But you know what? The subplot worked.

(S03E08) "I need this job, or I'd have to go to work on the late shift at Dunkin' Donuts. The customers are so sad." - Elisa

Is it just me or was this one of the more lacking episodes of 30 Rock? It's not that it was terrible - as I've said before, even a so-so episode of this show is better than the best episodes of most sitcoms - but this one just seemed to meander. It wasn't as funny as other episodes, despite the quotes I list after the jump, and that whole crew-as-zombies-with-the-flu stuff was a little bit too surreal, even for this show.

I'm also still missing Josh and Toofer and Frank.

Yes, your grandfather's network just got considerably cooler. Unfortunately, whether or not this is going to put Jackson on our small screens with any regularity remains to be seen. The deal isn't to join a specific series. Rather, Jackson has signed a first-look deal that will have him develop and produce projects for the studio over the next two years.

We'll have to wait to see what, if anything, comes of the new partnership, but there is an encouraging bit in the announcement. Jackson says he's open to the idea of limited appearances on something he produces, referencing Salma Hayek's run on Ugly Betty. I'm of the mind that the more Samuel L. Jackson on the TV the better, but I'll take what we can get. His only previous credit producing television is Spike's Afro Samurai, which is set to return this fall.

Salma Hayek, who produces ABC's Ugly Betty, says that fans shouldn't expect her to reprise her roles of Sofia and the nurse in the telenovela the Suarez family watch.

Hayek appeared in six episodes of the show's first season as Sofia Reyes and in one episode as the nurse, an uncredited role. Sofia was a newcomer to the Mode scene and was in charge of a new magazine. The character ended up being romantically tied to Daniel Meade but things didn't end happily for him after he learned some of Sofia's secrets.

For the third year in a row, FHM has named Lost's Evangeline Lilly one of its 100 Sexiest Women. Apparently, Lilly is much sexier than she was in 2006. The actress was #73 last year, and has moved up to #35. I'm sure that she's flattered to have cracked the Top 50. The magazine failed to recognize the sexiness of Lilly's co-stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Ravin, and Kiele Sanchez.

Other ABC stars to make the list include Kelly Ripa (Live With Regis and Kelly), Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), Salma Hayek (executive producer/guest star, Ugly Betty), Katherine Heigl, and Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy). Teri Hatcher of Desperate Housewives took Evangeline Lilly's old spot, #73. She was #10 last year. I guess sexiness is fleeting. The highest-ranked TV star is Ghost Whisperer's Jennifer Love Hewitt at #14.

Lilly is set to star alongside John Malkovich in Afterwards; it will be her feature film debut. Afterwards begins filming this summer, and will be released in 2008.

(S01E20) Betty is back and in fine form. The writers have officially ditched all the weak links - Constance, Nico, the warm-hearted version of Wilhelmina. The bitches are out in full force, and the camp is in overdrive. And, oh my god, I think we have a new word in the pop culture vernacular - "faux-mo!" This week was great, but we're clearly just setting up for next week's Medieval meltdown. Who doesn't want to see a bunch of fashionistas plopped down at a RenFaire to dissect the tragedy? But, that's next week, let us focus our attention on Betty as Carrie, hairapy and little orphan tranny.

(S01E19) This episode we found Daniel Meade reverting back to his old womanizing, irresponsible ways, but did he really ever change? Last thing I remember, he was bedding [fill-in-the-blank-random-model]. Oh, but this time he bedded the wrong random model, didn't he? Eh, I guess that counts as personal change.

While Daniel worked on spreading his genes, Betty, as usual, worked on keeping Mode together and chasing down her boss. Is it just me or is Betty's true secret love really Daniel? She's constantly stalking him, keeping tabs on who he's sleeping with (or not), and treats him like he can't pee without her holding his goods.

(S01E17) Here's the formula for a great Ugly Betty episode - let Wilhelmina be bitchy, let Marc and Amanda be campy and send one of the Manhattanites to Queens to have a fish-out-of-water bonding experience with Betty. Throw in a little geek chemistry, and you've got yourself one shiny Betty episode.

(S01E15) This show wows me on so many levels - the humor, the subversion, the eye candy, the emotional pay-offs, but damn, the writing - on a structural level - is so freaking good. This may have been the best episode of Ugly Betty yet. They took what is a soap opera mainstay and typically written off as a joke - a man becoming a woman - and turned it into something real. Honestly, it was just plain artful how the writers thematically connected Justin's story of playground bullying and his father's concern about his sexuality to Alexis' story of her own father's disapproval and eventual sex change. In the Suarez home, being accepted for who you are and seeing beauty in the people around you wins the day. In the Meade home, your father would rather see you dead than happy. That wasn't the only structural parallel at work in this episode either - Betty and Daniel were, as always, playing out the same stories in different universes. Betty forced Daniel's hand in confronting Alexis, but Daniel didn't let Betty out of confronting Walter. "It's a lot harder avoiding people than facing them."

As part of February sweeps, last year's American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee is going to guest-star on Ugly Betty. McPhee will be playing herself, a celebrity guest at Mode's Fashion Week runway show, in an episode entitled "I'm Coming Out". No word yet on whether or not this hour will be Justin-centric... Oh, c'mon, don't tell me I was the only one that read the title and immediately thought of him.

McPhee's appearance will air February 1 (8:00 PM EST). Hmm... Sounds like ABC wants a little bit of FOX's American Idol glow. Also, McPhee is probably doing this to promote her self-titled debut album, which drops later this month.