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30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 5- “Reaganing” This week’s 30 Rock was just chock full of characters with problems: Kenneth’s family was having money troubles, Tracy was being Tracy, and Liz was going to break up with Carol because her junk closed up last time she was with him. Thank God Jack was Reaganing, going 24 straight hours without failing to solve a problem. This week’s episode kind of kept everyone separate from one another, with Jack and Liz stuck in a limousine for most of the episode getting to the bottom of Liz’s sexual problems. Turns out, when she was 9, due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, she was caught writhing with her underpants down under a Tom Jones poster. Her mom took all her posters away after that, forever locking in Liz’s mind that sex makes the people go away. Jack, was, understandably befuddled by this problem, and it ultimately stopped him from Reaganing. By the end of the episode, though, he had talked Liz out of breaking up with Carol by figuring out that Tom Jones is the trigger. Tracy, meanwhile, was filming a commercial for the Boys and Girls Club of America, because he can’t turn down community service or that judge will make him join the coast guard. However, Tracy, because he’s Tracy, refuses to say the line, befuddling the director. Thankfully, Jack showed up and figured out that he could stuff Tracy’s mouth full of Jelly Beans and does the line himself. Back at 30 Rock, Jenna figured out that she and Kenneth could con Carvel, which had given her a free Ice Cream for life card for appearing on Carvel’s float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Kenneth didn’t know what he was doing at first, but, after being convinced by Jenna that it wasn’t hurting anyone and his family could use the money, went along with it. Once Jenna got caught, Kenneth, who must have been drinking hot beverages because he had some of the devil in him this week, decided to pull a long con on Carvel, brining in Kelsey Grammar, who had also been on the float. After seeing a fired Carvel employee due to their con, though, Kenneth’s conscience reappears, and he pulls out of the Best Friends Gang. Overall, it was a strong week for 30 Rock, with Jack in particular delivering funny line after funny line. Speaking of funny lines, here were my 10 favorites: “I’ll drop you off at the airport, then I’ll swing by MSNBC. I have to talk to Rachel Maddow. Only one of us can have this haircut.”- Jack “I don’t watch the Macy’s parade. If I want to see a 50 foot spiderman, I’ll just go into my rec room, thank you.”- Tracy “You and I have never had an adult conversation about boning.”- Jack “That does happen to men, I’ve faced it myself with Greta Van Sustern before her head transplant.”- Jack, on male performance issues. “You have more sexual hangups than an adult chatline run by Gilbert Gottfried”- Jack, from the computer program they’re developing to replace Liz “I’m sorry, I have an erection. I think it’s the sound of skateboard.”- Tracy “Which everyone thought was a Dorothy Hamill, but was actually a Pete Rose.”- Liz, on her new haircut at age 9. “With enough money, they could buy those magic beans from that hermit. We’d be rich! Hang on, why isn’t the hermit rich? Wait, he is, he has a lot of friends.”- Kenneth Ellen Parcell’s magical thought process. “I mean, Frajer? Come on. I should throw some tossed salad and scrambled eggs at you.”- Frajer himself, Kelsey Grammar. “Hey, you two want some party? $20 for a party, $60 to bite me during it, I’ll do stuff with a dog, but I get to pick the dog.”- The hooker who thought Jack and Liz were pretty uptight for hanging out under a bridge. -Nate (LevyOnTV)

30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 5- “Reaganing”

This week’s 30 Rock was just chock full of characters with problems: Kenneth’s family was having money troubles, Tracy was being Tracy, and Liz was going to break up with Carol because her junk closed up last time she was with him. Thank God Jack was Reaganing, going 24 straight hours without failing to solve a problem.

This week’s episode kind of kept everyone separate from one another, with Jack and Liz stuck in a limousine for most of the episode getting to the bottom of Liz’s sexual problems. Turns out, when she was 9, due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, she was caught writhing with her underpants down under a Tom Jones poster. Her mom took all her posters away after that, forever locking in Liz’s mind that sex makes the people go away. Jack, was, understandably befuddled by this problem, and it ultimately stopped him from Reaganing. By the end of the episode, though, he had talked Liz out of breaking up with Carol by figuring out that Tom Jones is the trigger.

Tracy, meanwhile, was filming a commercial for the Boys and Girls Club of America, because he can’t turn down community service or that judge will make him join the coast guard. However, Tracy, because he’s Tracy, refuses to say the line, befuddling the director. Thankfully, Jack showed up and figured out that he could stuff Tracy’s mouth full of Jelly Beans and does the line himself.

Back at 30 Rock, Jenna figured out that she and Kenneth could con Carvel, which had given her a free Ice Cream for life card for appearing on Carvel’s float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Kenneth didn’t know what he was doing at first, but, after being convinced by Jenna that it wasn’t hurting anyone and his family could use the money, went along with it. Once Jenna got caught, Kenneth, who must have been drinking hot beverages because he had some of the devil in him this week, decided to pull a long con on Carvel, brining in Kelsey Grammar, who had also been on the float. After seeing a fired Carvel employee due to their con, though, Kenneth’s conscience reappears, and he pulls out of the Best Friends Gang.

Overall, it was a strong week for 30 Rock, with Jack in particular delivering funny line after funny line. Speaking of funny lines, here were my 10 favorites:

“I’ll drop you off at the airport, then I’ll swing by MSNBC. I have to talk to Rachel Maddow. Only one of us can have this haircut.”- Jack

“I don’t watch the Macy’s parade. If I want to see a 50 foot spiderman, I’ll just go into my rec room, thank you.”- Tracy

“You and I have never had an adult conversation about boning.”- Jack

“That does happen to men, I’ve faced it myself with Greta Van Sustern before her head transplant.”- Jack, on male performance issues.

“You have more sexual hangups than an adult chatline run by Gilbert Gottfried”- Jack, from the computer program they’re developing to replace Liz

“I’m sorry, I have an erection. I think it’s the sound of skateboard.”- Tracy

“Which everyone thought was a Dorothy Hamill, but was actually a Pete Rose.”- Liz, on her new haircut at age 9.

“With enough money, they could buy those magic beans from that hermit. We’d be rich! Hang on, why isn’t the hermit rich? Wait, he is, he has a lot of friends.”- Kenneth Ellen Parcell’s magical thought process.

“I mean, Frajer? Come on. I should throw some tossed salad and scrambled eggs at you.”- Frajer himself, Kelsey Grammar.

“Hey, you two want some party? $20 for a party, $60 to bite me during it, I’ll do stuff with a dog, but I get to pick the dog.”- The hooker who thought Jack and Liz were pretty uptight for hanging out under a bridge.

-Nate (LevyOnTV)

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30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 4- “Live Show” So, I just realized I never put up a review of 30 Rock’s Live Episode from this past Thursday. I acutally watched both the East and West coast versions, and I thought overall the show did a really solid job. That doesn’t mean I don’t prefer a more polished finished product, but the live show definitely had some charm to it. The thing about the 30 Rock Live show was that it was more like one extended SNL skit than an episode of 30 Rock. I mean, yeah, it had 30 Rock’s signature cutaways, done in an extremely clever way to accommodate the live nature, but the show didn’t feel the same, in both good ways and bad. I found the commercials to be half hit/half miss (as much as I love Dr. Spaceman, did anyone else feel like those lyrics were from a SNL skit that got cut in dress rehearsal?). While most of the cast handled the live format with aplomb, Jack McBrayer felt like a gigantic overexaggeration of Kenneth (Same goes for Maulik Pancholy’s Jonathan). That being said, the live show allowed them to play off live-tv tropes in that meta-way the show does so well. Also, the different broadcasts for each coast allowed for the tweaking of jokes that didn’t work (like the Slumdog Millionaire bit), or allowed for certain things to be doubly awesome (everyone needs to watch both versions of the Jon Hamm commercial. They’re equally amazing). On other good notes, I’m really glad the show brought back Cheyanne Jackson as Danny, a character who seems to disappear from the TGS roster until he’s needed again. Also a welcome sight for sore eyes was Rachel Dratch, who needs to start randomly reappearing on the show in small roles. I miss those. On to the best lines: “Everything looks like a Mexican soap opera.”- Jack, on how something looks weird in the world of 30 Rock. “My memory has Seinfeld money.”- Liz, on why she looks better as played by Julia Louis Dreyfuss in her flashback. “The Chilean Miners are all out and they’re very angry about what you’ve been saying about them.”- Kenneth, to Jenna. “Of course not, his album doesn’t drop until December!”- Tracy, on why his Lizard can’t be the musical guest. “Hello, Welcome to Fox News. I’m Blonde.”- Jenna, in TGS’ Fox News skit.  “I’m a professional. I’ve never broken, ever. I was on stage with Irene Ryan in Pippin whenshe died, and I kept going.”- Jenna “Why are you speaking like a Persian Immigrant?”- Jack “Thanks to an idea that started as a pitch for a horror movie and grew into a charitable organization, hands from executed criminals are now making life better for people all over the world.”- Jon Hamm, advertising for something other than Jon Hamm’s John Ham or Hamm and Bublé. “Is that a surprise party? Surprise! I was totally in on it! It was really expensive!”- Carol -Nate (LevyOnTV)

30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 4- “Live Show”

So, I just realized I never put up a review of 30 Rock’s Live Episode from this past Thursday. I acutally watched both the East and West coast versions, and I thought overall the show did a really solid job. That doesn’t mean I don’t prefer a more polished finished product, but the live show definitely had some charm to it.

The thing about the 30 Rock Live show was that it was more like one extended SNL skit than an episode of 30 Rock. I mean, yeah, it had 30 Rock’s signature cutaways, done in an extremely clever way to accommodate the live nature, but the show didn’t feel the same, in both good ways and bad. I found the commercials to be half hit/half miss (as much as I love Dr. Spaceman, did anyone else feel like those lyrics were from a SNL skit that got cut in dress rehearsal?). While most of the cast handled the live format with aplomb, Jack McBrayer felt like a gigantic overexaggeration of Kenneth (Same goes for Maulik Pancholy’s Jonathan). That being said, the live show allowed them to play off live-tv tropes in that meta-way the show does so well. Also, the different broadcasts for each coast allowed for the tweaking of jokes that didn’t work (like the Slumdog Millionaire bit), or allowed for certain things to be doubly awesome (everyone needs to watch both versions of the Jon Hamm commercial. They’re equally amazing).

On other good notes, I’m really glad the show brought back Cheyanne Jackson as Danny, a character who seems to disappear from the TGS roster until he’s needed again. Also a welcome sight for sore eyes was Rachel Dratch, who needs to start randomly reappearing on the show in small roles. I miss those. On to the best lines:

“Everything looks like a Mexican soap opera.”- Jack, on how something looks weird in the world of 30 Rock.

“My memory has Seinfeld money.”- Liz, on why she looks better as played by Julia Louis Dreyfuss in her flashback.

“The Chilean Miners are all out and they’re very angry about what you’ve been saying about them.”- Kenneth, to Jenna.

“Of course not, his album doesn’t drop until December!”- Tracy, on why his Lizard can’t be the musical guest.

“Hello, Welcome to Fox News. I’m Blonde.”- Jenna, in TGS’ Fox News skit. 

“I’m a professional. I’ve never broken, ever. I was on stage with Irene Ryan in Pippin whenshe died, and I kept going.”- Jenna

“Why are you speaking like a Persian Immigrant?”- Jack

“Thanks to an idea that started as a pitch for a horror movie and grew into a charitable organization, hands from executed criminals are now making life better for people all over the world.”- Jon Hamm, advertising for something other than Jon Hamm’s John Ham or Hamm and Bublé.

“Is that a surprise party? Surprise! I was totally in on it! It was really expensive!”- Carol


-Nate (LevyOnTV)

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30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 3- “Let’s Stay Together” So, I gotta say, I was underwhelmed by this week’s “30 Rock”. This is not to say the show didn’t have funny moments, it definitely did. But after last week’s heavy dose of absurdity (one of my preferred types of comedy), this week’s episode just wasn’t quite doing the trick for me. The main focus of the episode was Jack’s testimony before the House subcommittee on “Baseball, Quiz Shows, Terrorism, and Media” regarding the KableTown deal. Jack worked his usual magic until Rep. Regina Bookman, played adequately by Queen Latifah, accused NBC of being “whiter than a Wilco concert.” So, as Jack tries to show that NBC has diversity, hijinks ensue, particularly when Rep. Bookman pays an unplanned visit to Studio 6H. Not gonna lie, I saw most of these eventual jokes coming a mile away, particularly the white and colored recycling bins right next to the bathroom door. And knowing where the joke was going to come lessened them significantly. Ultimately, she gives Jack a bit of time to show NBC’s diversity or she’ll kill the KableTown deal. Which I guess means Queen Latifah is coming back down the line. Liz is still not getting any respect from her staff, and I feel like we’ve seen this plot ten times before on 30 Rock. As part of the diversity initiative, Jack, with Liz’s blessing, promotes Toofer to co-head writer. Liz then gets jealous that Toofer is both respected by everyone and being given credit for the work she’s doing. There was nothing new or newly funny about this plot, so I’ll mostly ignore it. The best of the plots last night was about Jenna being Kenneth’s pageant mom, now that applying for the NBC Page Program is as much about spectacle than hard work. As she slowly morphs into her mother (complete with dead-on Jan Hooks impression), she realizes she was treating Kenneth poorly. Jack eventually just tells Jeffrey Winerslav to hire Kenneth back, which, unbeknownst to Jack, is in place of the minority hire for the Page Program. So, yeah, overall, not one of the better 30 Rock episodes I’ve ever seen. There were some good gags (the multiple reactions to Law and Order’s cancellation, Jenna’s pageant-mom sutff), but overall, I thought it was more miss than hit. The Best Lines of the Night: “Radiation canary.”- Jack, on Liz’s post-apocalyptic usefulness. “Just  a pageant? That’s like saying a guy is cool because he has just a speedboat.”- Jenna “I’m gonna have to break you down and rebuild you from scratch, just like Mickey Rourke did to me sexually.”- Jenna. Also, can this please be a recurring joke this season? Things Mickey Rourke did to Jenna? “What? Why did we cancel that? It doesn’t make any sense.”/”Why? It was a tentpole! A TENTPOLE!”- Jack and Tracy on Law and Order’s cancellation “Monty Appleseed and I share a liquor locker at the opera.”- Jack, on why Liz can’t do a Johnny Appleseed sketch. “And there’s a lot of buzz. Can you hear it too? Or is my tinitis acting up?”- Tracy, on Dot Com’s new pilot. “When people think of TGS they think of Tracy Jordan, Jenny Maroney, the mysterious crew deaths, the Angela Lansbury lawsuit.”- Rutherford Rice, host of “Right On!” “The third generation… snowboards and takes improv classes.”- Jack, on how generations of diversity help the country. -Nate (LevyOnTV)

30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 3- “Let’s Stay Together”

So, I gotta say, I was underwhelmed by this week’s “30 Rock”. This is not to say the show didn’t have funny moments, it definitely did. But after last week’s heavy dose of absurdity (one of my preferred types of comedy), this week’s episode just wasn’t quite doing the trick for me.

The main focus of the episode was Jack’s testimony before the House subcommittee on “Baseball, Quiz Shows, Terrorism, and Media” regarding the KableTown deal. Jack worked his usual magic until Rep. Regina Bookman, played adequately by Queen Latifah, accused NBC of being “whiter than a Wilco concert.” So, as Jack tries to show that NBC has diversity, hijinks ensue, particularly when Rep. Bookman pays an unplanned visit to Studio 6H. Not gonna lie, I saw most of these eventual jokes coming a mile away, particularly the white and colored recycling bins right next to the bathroom door. And knowing where the joke was going to come lessened them significantly. Ultimately, she gives Jack a bit of time to show NBC’s diversity or she’ll kill the KableTown deal. Which I guess means Queen Latifah is coming back down the line.

Liz is still not getting any respect from her staff, and I feel like we’ve seen this plot ten times before on 30 Rock. As part of the diversity initiative, Jack, with Liz’s blessing, promotes Toofer to co-head writer. Liz then gets jealous that Toofer is both respected by everyone and being given credit for the work she’s doing. There was nothing new or newly funny about this plot, so I’ll mostly ignore it.

The best of the plots last night was about Jenna being Kenneth’s pageant mom, now that applying for the NBC Page Program is as much about spectacle than hard work. As she slowly morphs into her mother (complete with dead-on Jan Hooks impression), she realizes she was treating Kenneth poorly. Jack eventually just tells Jeffrey Winerslav to hire Kenneth back, which, unbeknownst to Jack, is in place of the minority hire for the Page Program.

So, yeah, overall, not one of the better 30 Rock episodes I’ve ever seen. There were some good gags (the multiple reactions to Law and Order’s cancellation, Jenna’s pageant-mom sutff), but overall, I thought it was more miss than hit.

The Best Lines of the Night:

“Radiation canary.”- Jack, on Liz’s post-apocalyptic usefulness.

“Just  a pageant? That’s like saying a guy is cool because he has just a speedboat.”- Jenna

“I’m gonna have to break you down and rebuild you from scratch, just like Mickey Rourke did to me sexually.”- Jenna. Also, can this please be a recurring joke this season? Things Mickey Rourke did to Jenna?

“What? Why did we cancel that? It doesn’t make any sense.”/”Why? It was a tentpole! A TENTPOLE!”- Jack and Tracy on Law and Order’s cancellation

“Monty Appleseed and I share a liquor locker at the opera.”- Jack, on why Liz can’t do a Johnny Appleseed sketch.

“And there’s a lot of buzz. Can you hear it too? Or is my tinitis acting up?”- Tracy, on Dot Com’s new pilot.

“When people think of TGS they think of Tracy Jordan, Jenny Maroney, the mysterious crew deaths, the Angela Lansbury lawsuit.”- Rutherford Rice, host of “Right On!”

“The third generation… snowboards and takes improv classes.”- Jack, on how generations of diversity help the country.

-Nate (LevyOnTV)

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30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 2- “When It Rains, It Pours” This past Thursday’s 30 Rock really centered around allowing Jack and Tracy to do what they do best, spew utterly ridiculous and hysterical lines. Sure, Liz and Kenneth had biggish roles this episode, but is anyone really going to remember Liz getting mad that editing monkey Paul Giamatti, looking even less flattering than he has before, created a fake-relationship with her in order to make one of the other editing monkeys like him? No. They’re going to remember Tracy in the Cash Cab and Jack’s tapes to his future son. Future children were the big thing of the episode, with Tracy’s daughter about to be born and Jack and Avery learning they’re gonna have a son. So,Tracy werewolfed himself (locking himself in a room so he wouldn’t miss his daughter’s birth, not to be confused with werewolf bar mitzvah-ing himself, which is turning from a boy to a man and discovering a hell of a lot of hair where it wasn’t there before). However, all that was undone by a 30 Rock fire drill, where, even on the buddy system, Tracy accidentally got away. Which of course is when Angie goes into labor. So, despite any money, he flags down a cab, and, in a rare moment of Tracy being a legitimate person, decides to go to the hospital so he can’t miss the birth. And luckily, he gets in the Cash Cab, where we get some of the best Tracy lines we’ve ever gotten in a while. While Kenneth pretends to be Tracy until he gets there, Tracy manages to get there just as things are finishing up, successfully duping Angie. Meanwhile, Jack, realizing he’s going to be an old dad, decides to record DVDs for his son to guide him through life in case he’s not around. Again, this is really just an excuse to let Jack riff, spouting off lines about his ridiculous life and how his son should go through life. But it’s all for naught, as it turns out “that Russian skank”, as Avery calls her, misread the ultrasound and they’re having a girl. Overall, it was a decent episode, not a series-high but not a series-low either. Tracy and Jack got in some great lines, and there was nothing that stuck out as really terrible. The Best Lines of the Episode: “Not because you’re not cute. You are, like a pretty refugee on the news.”- Jenna, on Liz getting cat-called for the first time. “And my mood ring. And I don’t know how I feel about that.”- Tracy, about the things Grizz and Dot Com have taken away during his werewolfing. “I’m gonna kill that man.” “You just described my morning”- Angie and Dr. Spaceman “I won the Amery Blaine handsomeness scholarship to Princeton and then went to Harvard Business School, where I won Most”- Jack “Your new vibe is a double-edged sword, much like the one Mickey Rourke tried to kill me with”- Jenna “SHE is an Orca, Benjamin. FYI, they’re very difficult to keep in a home aquarium.”- Tracy, answering a Cash Cab question about Shamu. “The secret to a strong, healthy head of hair is Dove… blood.”- Jack “And we have this just in to us. Ritchie and Liz spotted in tree. Eyewitnesses report K-I-S-S-I-N-G. For more, we go to Andrea Mitchell.” “Thanks Brian… SLUT”- Brian Williams, making another awesome cameo, with an assist from Andrea Mitchell “The lazy susan was invented by Thomas Jefferson. I know because I’m a descendent of Thomas Jefferson AND Lazy Susan herself”- Tracy Jordan, Trivia Genius -Nate (LevyOnTV)

30 Rock- Season 5 Episode 2- “When It Rains, It Pours”

This past Thursday’s 30 Rock really centered around allowing Jack and Tracy to do what they do best, spew utterly ridiculous and hysterical lines. Sure, Liz and Kenneth had biggish roles this episode, but is anyone really going to remember Liz getting mad that editing monkey Paul Giamatti, looking even less flattering than he has before, created a fake-relationship with her in order to make one of the other editing monkeys like him? No. They’re going to remember Tracy in the Cash Cab and Jack’s tapes to his future son.

Future children were the big thing of the episode, with Tracy’s daughter about to be born and Jack and Avery learning they’re gonna have a son. So,Tracy werewolfed himself (locking himself in a room so he wouldn’t miss his daughter’s birth, not to be confused with werewolf bar mitzvah-ing himself, which is turning from a boy to a man and discovering a hell of a lot of hair where it wasn’t there before). However, all that was undone by a 30 Rock fire drill, where, even on the buddy system, Tracy accidentally got away. Which of course is when Angie goes into labor. So, despite any money, he flags down a cab, and, in a rare moment of Tracy being a legitimate person, decides to go to the hospital so he can’t miss the birth. And luckily, he gets in the Cash Cab, where we get some of the best Tracy lines we’ve ever gotten in a while. While Kenneth pretends to be Tracy until he gets there, Tracy manages to get there just as things are finishing up, successfully duping Angie.

Meanwhile, Jack, realizing he’s going to be an old dad, decides to record DVDs for his son to guide him through life in case he’s not around. Again, this is really just an excuse to let Jack riff, spouting off lines about his ridiculous life and how his son should go through life. But it’s all for naught, as it turns out “that Russian skank”, as Avery calls her, misread the ultrasound and they’re having a girl.

Overall, it was a decent episode, not a series-high but not a series-low either. Tracy and Jack got in some great lines, and there was nothing that stuck out as really terrible.

The Best Lines of the Episode:

“Not because you’re not cute. You are, like a pretty refugee on the news.”- Jenna, on Liz getting cat-called for the first time.

“And my mood ring. And I don’t know how I feel about that.”- Tracy, about the things Grizz and Dot Com have taken away during his werewolfing.

“I’m gonna kill that man.” “You just described my morning”- Angie and Dr. Spaceman

“I won the Amery Blaine handsomeness scholarship to Princeton and then went to Harvard Business School, where I won Most”- Jack

“Your new vibe is a double-edged sword, much like the one Mickey Rourke tried to kill me with”- Jenna

“SHE is an Orca, Benjamin. FYI, they’re very difficult to keep in a home aquarium.”- Tracy, answering a Cash Cab question about Shamu.

“The secret to a strong, healthy head of hair is Dove… blood.”- Jack

“And we have this just in to us. Ritchie and Liz spotted in tree. Eyewitnesses report K-I-S-S-I-N-G. For more, we go to Andrea Mitchell.” “Thanks Brian… SLUT”- Brian Williams, making another awesome cameo, with an assist from Andrea Mitchell

“The lazy susan was invented by Thomas Jefferson. I know because I’m a descendent of Thomas Jefferson AND Lazy Susan herself”- Tracy Jordan, Trivia Genius


-Nate (LevyOnTV)