I’ve gotta admit, I’m not a fan of when two episodes of “30 Rock” play in one night. They put all their comedic capital into one episode, and it’s hilarious. The other episode, though, isn’t so funny – it’s just marginally amusing. But let’s look at the good episode first.
Maybe I’m just getting soft, or maybe she’s getting better at it, but Nancy’s horrible Bostonian accent didn’t seem so horrible in this episode. I also like her character a lot more than I did. She’s a good foil to Avery. The show does a good job of making it difficult even for the viewers to choose between two great choices of potential partners for Jack.
Without fail, any episode where Liz is dating is an awesome one. I think it just gives Tina Fey a chance to write in ridiculous and ironic characters that could never fit into her story arc. Fine by me…in fact, I’m glad they didn’t try to write in a major plot point revolving around singles dodgeball.
“Bitch Hunter” was one of the funniest clips I’ve seen on “30 Rock” to date. What a clever way to describe the rationale behind the making of TGS! I really didn’t see that coming at all.
Now, to the not-good episode.
The Tracy-Kenneth subplot was fine, but nothing you wouldn’t see in a typical comedy. I laughed, but most of the laughs were cheap laughs. You can do better, “30 Rock” – in fact, you did the hour before!
The thinly-veiled satire of the Leno-Conan debacle of a few months ago was just plain bad. It felt like NBC was trying to show its own view of the situation. It wasn’t appealing. It wasn’t cute. And it definitely wasn’t funny. They didn’t even to a good job of making it subtle—they just beat us over the head with it (a character named “Khonani”?! Really? That’s the best you could come up with?). How disappointing.
However, there was one bright beam of light in the sea of darkness. Yet again, they hinted at a Jack-Liz pairing, with her silly “love is right in front of you” motif. It was purposely goofy, and it was goofy even within the show, but still, I can’t help but feel like they’re still setting us up for a relationship between those two. And that would be a great way for both of them to find happiness after multiple seasons of loneliness.
