Every week we can be guaranteed that Tina Fey and the people at30 Rock will make fun of NBC in some way, whether it's product placement or The Jay Leno Show or last night's line about the green NBC peacock in the corner of the screen. Fey also isn't shy about dumping on NBC when she's away from the show either.
The other night she gave a speech at an Ad Council meeting at the Waldorf in New York. Her barbs were mostly about NBC's ratings, including pointing out that "NBC is sadly the fourth-place network. Actually we're in ninth place if you count the radio stations ahead of us right now." She also suggested that if the 1200 people in the audience watched NBC for just one night there would be a huge jump in the ratings.
I've been wondering what will happen if and when Comcast takes over NBC. Will they still have the HQ at 30 Rock? Will the show still be called 30 Rock? Fey suggested a new title: Industrial Park on the Schuyikill River.
(S04E06) "Oh brother. Are they really going to do something this year or just put that stupid green peacock in the corner of the screen?" - Liz, about NBC's Green Week
OK, I think we can all agree that this was one of the more disgusting episodes of 30 Rock. It's one thing to have Frank be really gross; we've seen that in previous episodes (the burping, the tank tops, the porn). But now we find out that he's urinating into jars in his office? I think that's officially holy crap disgusting, even if it does eventually help the Earth and give Jack flowers for his office.
It was also one of the least funny in a while, though that doesn't mean it didn't have its moments.
(S04E05) "He looks like all the guys in my magazines!" - janitor, about Danny
Another week, another "30 Rock isn't as good as it used to be" article. This one is from The Atlantic, of all places. The gist is this: "30 Rock used to be funny, but now it's not!" The Onion thinks so, too.
Oh, that's such crap.
I was talking to Joel about this earlier this week, and while it's probably true that the show doesn't have that "new car smell" anymore, so what? It isn't like the show is halfway through it's first season and it has fallen apart, the show is in its fourth season and it's still strong. This show has more jokes (and funny jokes) in one episode than most sitcoms have in six episodes. In fact, tonight's episode had more jokes before the opening credits than most shows have in six episodes.
And ladies, if you date a guy who doesn't think 30 Rock is still great? That's a dealbreaker.
Like most National Football League teams, the Kansas City Chiefs spend their free time creating parodies of NBC Thursday night comedies. So far they've done The Office (below) and 30 Rock (after the jump - warning: it plays automatically).
I don't know how funny these are, but they're well produced and cast. Which one do you think is better?
(S04E04) "That's what I'm talking about, empathy. It's about as useless as the Winter Olympics. This February on NBC." - Jack
Could this be the end of the "new TGS cast member" storyline on 30 Rock this season? Will the robot guy work out well or will he turn out to be a nightmare and Liz will have to find a replacement for him? I'm curious to see if this ends the storyline and they just use robot guy as a visual joke for the rest of the season, the cast member who is always in metallic makeup and never says a word. Or maybe he'll turn out to be someone brilliant and that will mean more jealousy and paranoia for Jenna and/or Tracy. I guess we'll have to wait and see where they go with it.
Allison told you yesterday that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will host the Oscars in 2010. But you probably guessed that others were considered too, right? Three of the people below turned down the gig. Can you guess who they were?
Oscar roulette is usually played when it comes time to figure out the nominations. However, this year there seems to be a wheel of fortune spinning with the names of possible hosts for the show. Of course, the folks running the show have intimated that they might want to have a few stars sharing the duties. Historically, that hasn't worked out too well.
Hey, a lot happens in five shows. Let's get right into it!
COMEDY CORRESPONDENTS Arsenio Hall was featured twice this week. His first appearance was in a segment that had potential called "This Is What They Said/This Is What They Meant." I was expecting to see video clips of celebrities, politicians and the like spouting their same bullcrap, and then having Hall tell us what he thinks they really meant. Instead, it was Leno reading quotes, including historically famous ones like Julius Ceasar's "Et tu, Brute!" The gag didn't make sense anymore, and even worse the bits weren't funny.
Luckily, he came back later in the week with an on-site spot at Yankee Stadium, where he interviewed players from both teams and even set up a bet against a Yankees player and Phillies fan Kevin Eubanks involving Snuggies.
Tina Fey was supposed to be on The Jay Leno Show several days ago but didn't make it for some reason. But last night she showed up. Well, via satellite, to do the Ten@Ten (not sure what that means to viewers who watch the show at 9 PM).
(S04E03) "I met JJ Abrams once, and I don't know what this means, but he said that the island was just Hurley's dream." - Jenna
In a typical 30 Rock episode, not all of the plots always work. While the A plot will be great, B and C will be lame. If A and B are great, then C will be lame. If A and C are great, B will be lame. Sometimes A is great and B is fair, but C will be really unnecessary and forced. Sometimes there will just be an A and it's great, and there will be dashes of B and C. I don't know where I'm going with this because I was terrible at algebra.
Oh yeah: tonight A, B, and C all clicked, and that made for a very good 30 Rock.
(S04E02) "This isn't the auto industry, Pete. The auto industry was run by a bunch of out of touch white guys selling consumers a product they didn't want. We're GE damn it, and we're going to make a giant, flimsy microwave." - Jack
It's funny how Liz Lemon wrote the book titled Dealbreakers (a plot from last season they've continued this season). You can actually picture a book like that getting published. There must have been a hundred humor books like that released in the past five years, so this doesn't seem like one of those "crazy" fake books that a TV show comes out with. Actually, I'm surprised NBC hasn't actually published a book to cross-promote the show. Hey, Castle did it.
I just hope that the book that Tina Fey is writing isn't like that.
(S04E01) "We'll trick those race-car loving wide-loads into watching your lefty homoerotic propaganda hour yet!" - Jack
One of the many, many reasons 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows is because it's well aware of its own world. For example, one of the running jokes tonight was about Josh (Lonny Ross). I spent most of the last two seasons wondering where Josh was. He'd make a cameo here and there, but he's been pretty much missing since the first season. Liz and Jack talked about this tonight when Jack revealed that TGS needed a new cast member and Liz wondered about Josh's popularity on the show. Jack said "Oh, that's right, Josh. I forgot about that guy. You think that's a good sign?"
For the record, Josh was indeed in this episode, for a few seconds. He quit and then attempted to tip over the table when he found out a new person was coming on to the show.
Tina Fey was on The Today Show this morning to promote the new season of 30 Rock (tonight at 9:30 on NBC), and besides showing a clip from the episode, Fey kisses someone from the morning show.
But that's OK. Meredith Vieria kisses Tracy Morgan too. What the hell is going on over at NBC?
[Watch full episodes and clips of 30 Rock and other shows at SlashControl.]
Tracy Morgan has a new tell-all book, I Am The New Black, coming out next week (and he's doing some crazy stuff on his new Twitter page), and one of the things that fans will find out are his true feelings for some of his old Saturday Night Live castmates.
He talks about what he could have brought to the NBC late night show, but that they didn't really listen to him. Instead, he says they... "felt bad for me. None of the cast I came up with saw this future for me. No sir. All I have to say about that is, where's Chris Kattan now? Where's Cheri Oteri now? That bitch can't get arrested."
I'm not sure how this is going to change the show (though a show with freaky sponge/squirrel mutant children might be interesting), but SpongeBob SquarePants is getting married! Yes, the yellow square will finally tie the knot with the lady squirrel in the bowl, Sandy.
Every week we can be guaranteed that Tina Fey and the people at 30 Rock will make fun of NBC in some way, whether it's product placement or The Jay Leno Show or last night's line about the green NBC peacock in the corner of the screen. Fey also isn't shy about dumping on NBC when she's away from the show either.
(S04E06) "Oh brother. Are they really going to do something this year or just put that stupid green peacock in the corner of the screen?" - Liz, about NBC's Green Week
Allison told you yesterday that 
Hey, a lot happens in five shows. Let's get right into it!
I'm not sure how this is going to change the show (though a show with freaky sponge/squirrel mutant children might be interesting), but SpongeBob SquarePants is getting married! Yes, the yellow square will finally tie the knot with the lady squirrel in the bowl, Sandy.
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
