Valentine’s Day is an easy target for comedy. I mean, look at the recent movie that just came out in theaters this week, so cleverly titled “Valentine’s Day.” (Another case in point: the movie—which I saw on Friday — was basically “Love, Actually” with American actors … it was a romantic/comedic copy of a romantic comedy). “30 Rock” never ceases to amaze me in its ability to take a comedic theme that’s been so overdone or so obvious and making it novel and enjoyable.
For starters, Jenna and her problems with her stalker were fantastic. I don’t consider this passé or overdone, since I can’t think of an instance where stalking is funny. But the fact that they tackled a story about a stalker on the Valentine’s Day episode was surprising. And it certainly was funny. Was it just me, or did the stalker look a lot like Horatio Sans (of “Saturday Night Live” fame)?
It was great to see Jack not be on top of everything. I hope to see Avery Jessop more often; Jack has met his conservative-intellectual match with her. Now that I think of it, all of Jack’s girlfriends have been great — he’s dated Condoleezza Rice, Edie Falco (who played a Democratic powerhouse), Salma Hayek (a Puerto Rican pseudo-skank) and now a political and intellectual equal! (I know I skipped Julianne Moore. That was on purpose.) I hope to see a lot more of Avery, because I like seeing Jack in a non-dominant position.
Liz was (and is always) great. Her conversation with the receptionist where she said she was black and then immediately took it back was one of my favorite parts of the episode. It’s a small wonder how Liz even functions in the world when she’s so dang awkward.
It was also great to see all of her old boyfriends together in one hallucination. I liked all of them a lot. Even her fling with Danny was funny and fun. I’m hoping that soon, she’ll get another really cool boyfriend.
Good work, ’30 Rock.” Good work.
