TVSquad

It seems that Alec Baldwin isn't content with starring on NBC's 30 Rock (and possibly running for office). He also wants to get into producing TV shows. Over at the Hollywood offices of The Hollywood Reporter (gah, new logo!), Baldwin pitches his new show, which he describes as both a family drama and a show where the entire cast has sex in a space capsule over and over again. He says it's a combination of Falcon Crest, Star Trek, and Girls Gone Wild.

In the video after the jump, someone off camera suggests the title Last Tango on Saturn, while Baldwin suggests Interplanetary Pie, though I don't think the networks would go for that. Maybe this is a plot they should squeeze into 30 Rock. Hey, they already had M.I.L.F. Island, right?

What's your title suggestion? How about Melrose Planet? Gossip Aliens? Sex and the Galaxy? Let us know in the comments below.

(S02E15) "I'm just gonna be a kick-ass single mom. Like Erin Brokovich, or Sarah Connor." - Liz

30 Rock fans looking for laughs, plot twists, and a cliffhanger in the finale are probably happy. You got all that, plus a guest star (more than one, actually) that I didn't even know was going to be in the episode. And if you're one of the people who was wondering "what the heck does the episode title 'Cooter' even mean?," well, he's the secret to that (and Tina Fey has been using the term for a while now).

But some 30 Rock fans - I would go out on a limb and say most of you - weren't happy to find out who the father of Liz's maybe-baby might be.

(S02E14) "This smells like hill people milk!" - Kenneth, during the drinking contest

Is it just me or was the first part of tonight's 30 Rock a little ... lacking in something? It just seemed to me to be off a little bit, from the change in the opening (no opening scene before the credits, just straight to the credits then the start of the show immediately following) to the lack of really laugh out loud lines (except for Jonathan's singing "I Will Remember You" to Jack and making him a bizarre collage), it seemed to be rather pedestrian, for a 30 Rock episode anyway. Maybe it was because there weren't too many Jack/Liz scenes.

But then halfway through is picked up and got better.

(S02E13) "That was so easy, like taking candy...from one of those guys who gives out candy at gay nightclubs."

Sorry this review is a little late this week. 30 Rock is one of those shows that I have to watch once, take notes, then watch again quickly so I can make sure I didn't miss any good lines. And this episode, like all 30 Rock episodes, had a lot of great lines.

But if there's anything that I took away from this episode, it's this: the porn video game that Tracy invented better be revisited in a later episode, or sold in the NBC online store with the mugs and t-shirts.

(S02E12) "Save it for your iVillage blog, Lemon." - Jack, to Liz

Tonight's episode of 30 Rock had more jokes and one-liners - the kind where you actually smile and laugh out loud - in just the two minute opening teaser than According To Jim and Unhitched have in an entire season (combined). It got me thinking that the show is sort of like the live version of Family Guy: lots of crazy one-liners and non-sequiturs, often punctuated by a bizarre, seconds-long flashback. And I mean that comparison in a good way. There's no other comedy that's running on all cylinders like 30 Rock is right now.

While Liz deals with having Dennis back in her life, Jack looks for a new celebrity spokesman for the Republican party and Kenneth gets involved with an old TV star.

NBC is becoming quite the experts at creating real products from the made up products and companies you see on their TV shows. Sure, every network's site has hats and shirts and mousepads that have something from a TV show on them, but the Peacock Network seems to be taking things one step further. We've seen Sheinhardt Wig t-shirts and Me Want Food t-shirts for 30 Rock, and now, after Thursday's episode, the network has quickly put up for sale MILF Island t-shirts! It's pretty much the Survivor logo, only with three hot chicks. I'm sure parents are just going to love seeing their kids wearing these.

(S02E11) "When you Google 'class A moron', my name comes up first now...so step aside Randy Quaid." - Jack

Is this a happy day or what? No more writers strike, no more hiatus, no more repeats, no more Thursday nights spent crying, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, eating tons of chocolate, depressed that new NBC Thursday comedies are nowhere on the horizon. Sorry, I may have just told you a little too much information there.

Anyway, 30 Rock is back! It's almost as if this was the season opener, but it's actually the 11th episode of the season (four more new episodes to follow this season), and it features a call back to a joke in an episode from earlier this season.

(S02E10) "I've become one of them. I've been Sodomized!" - Kenneth, explaining how the 21st century Sodom (NYC) has changed him.

OK, so I was wrong. In my review of the previous episode, I mentioned that it was the last one finished before the strike. But this episode is the last episode finished before the strike. No, seriously, it is! I was bummed out after I realized the previous episode was the last (I thought). Now I have to be bummed out all over again.

But it was a good episode to go into the hiatus with, if that makes things better.

This feels weird. Normally, there is a good bit of excitement around the nominees of the Golden Globes, particularly since it's the first big award ceremony of the year and a precursor to the Academy and Emmy awards. However, with the WGA strike in full swing, and the awards ceremony stripped down to a simple one-hour press conference televised by NBC, it all seems a bit anti-climatic.

But, taking a page from my heroes Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, I shall press on in true television reporting style and present my prediction for winner of the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy.

Gallery: 2008 Golden Globes Nominees: Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy

The media can spin the death of the sitcom all they want. I'll even give them that the traditional multi-camera format that Lucy and Desi founded does seem to be dying a slow death, but comedy itself is alive and well on television. Ever since Ally McBeal stretched the definition of television comedy by daring to be nominated in comedic categories despite being an hour long "drama" (don't you know that dramas are one hour and comedies 30 minutes; it's the only way to tell the difference), the "sitcom" has morphed into the "comedy."

Almost gone is that multi-camera stage set and the live/canned studio audience. Instead we have shows that are filmed just like their dramatic counterparts that happen to be funny. And all of this year's Globe nominees for best musical or comedy TV series fit into this category (sorry According to Jim, maybe next year). Check 'em out after the jump, along with our picks for who should win!

Gallery: 2008 Golden Globes - Best Series Musical or Comedy

(S02E09) "That's not a Christmas tree. It's a way to lure tourists into the basement for $20 salads." - Kenneth, about the Rockefeller Center tree

I'm a sucker for Christmas episodes. The plots, the lessons learned, the music. And it doesn't matter if it's a corny, traditional type of holiday episode or a modern, irreverent look at the holiday. This 30 Rock episode is more the latter, but it doesn't mean that there isn't some crazy traditional aspects to it too. These characters - even the ones who get on each others nerves - care about each other in their own way. When Jenna sings "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" and you see a montage of people arguing and Guatemalan kids destroying their Christmas gifts, that's a nice mix of the old and the odd, and the capper of having Jack and his pain in the ass mom wish each other a Merry Christmas just fits so perfectly.

Here are the Golden Globes Award nominations (TV division), announced this morning. Some predictable choices, but lots of surprises too.

Best Drama Series

House
Mad Men
Big Love
Grey's Anatomy
The Tudors
Damages

Best Comedy Series

30 Rock
Californication
Entourage
Pushing Daisies
Extras

(S02E08) "I got a squeezer from an Indian girl on a bunk bed, so I think I got the whole Harvard experience." - Frank

This episode has two plots we haven't seen much of this season: a solid plot involving the writing staff and a return to the whole Tracy/Jenna battle that was a main part of the first season. And that's good to see, since it was tilting to all Liz/Jack stuff or guest star plots. Not that this episode didn't have a lot of Liz and Jack and guest stars (the return of Edie Falco and a really bizarre cameo from political strategist James Carville), but 30 Rock has always shown a knack for balancing all of the plots really nicely. And for once I was glad to see Kenneth for the most part take a little breather.

Oh, and if you're wondering, I'm doing this review Cajun Style.