TVSquad

One of the many things that 30 Rock does well is the video spoof. That part of the plot where they show something that one of the characters did in the past. Most of the time it's not something that they linger on for an enormous amount of time, it's just a quick flash they show to get the point across in the scene (which is probably a good thing since a lot of these jokes could be ruined if they went on for too long). Remember Tracy's "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah?" It was a video he made and they only showed a few seconds of it on the show, but fans loved it and wanted to see more of it.

In last week's episode, we saw the chat line TV commercial that Liz Lemon made when she lived in Chicago years ago. They actually showed quite a bit of it in the episode because it was a major part of the scene with everyone laughing (and "Lizzing"), but after the jump you can see the whole thing. The funny thing is, this ad really isn't that much more outlandish than the real ads I see late at night during Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.

(S03E16) "Computer, when do I get my tang? Also I'm thirsty. Word play!" - Tracy

To put it bluntly, I think this was one of the most explosively hysterical and imaginative half hours of TV this season, and one of this show's best episodes ever. 30 Rock embodies that idea you have of what a great TV comedy can be, the one that is non-stop funny and unpredictable and wild. This episode was a bizarre combination of sex addiction apologies, surreal Muppet appearances, videos of old birthday parties, faked space travel, vomiting, and old late-night chat line commercials.

That paragraph makes it seem like it was a bizarre mess, but it all seems to make sense and come together in the TGS/NBC world.