Perfection

No, no not me! But thank you!

I have already watched and rewatched last week's triumphant return episodes of The Office and 30 Rock on TV and Hulu. I couldn't be happier, as a huge fan of both, to see them back and in fine form.

The Office ratcheted up the awkward factor to a disturbing level, but that's where we like it, isn't it? There are so many amazing things happening in this episode--from Jan's Andy Warhol-esque picture of herself on the wall (see the clip below) to her former assistant Hunter's song, to Dwight's "carnal" relationship with his babysitter and Michael's hand-shaped chairs. I could go on and on. What this episode proved is that you don't need Jim and Pam to have a fight or any other standard sitcom angst to keep this show moving. It's in a class almost by itself in the way it can take a situation and turn it on it's head thanks to these insane yet somehow endearing characters and their mundane lives. Just watch the clip of "The Tour":



I say almost by itself because 30 Rock is right there too, except it can be even wackier, in a sense. This week's episode was a callback to an early season reference to a show Jack had in development called MILF Island, which is now airing on bizarro-NBC (Jerry Seinfeld is one of its executive producers, as a matter of fact). It features terms like "erection cove", "you've kept it tight" and "we no longer want to hit that". Aren't we just inches away from this show, anyway? And the whole thing was just a metaphor for Liz trying to frame any other member of her staff for calling Jack a "Class A Moron" in the elevator while unknowingly bitching about him to a Page Six reporter. As usual, it's Alec Baldwin who makes the episode, and I think I almost hyperventilated during this scene:



If you need some more fun this sunny Monday, bop on over to spunkybean, where you will find my idea of the ultimate summer mix tape...

Good News

I read this today at tvguide.com and just wanted to share:


Question: Just 50 days until new 30 Rock episodes! Spoilers, please! — Joel

Ausiello: Jack Donaghy's dream of creating a TV show that strands a bunch of middle-aged whores-for-hire on a deserted island is about to become a reality. Rock is casting a slew of attractive females in their late thirties to early fifties to serve as contestants on the fictitious "MILF Island". The twist? The male contestants courting the hot mamas on the show-within-a-show are described as being "of eighth-grade age." Yep, 30 Rock's back, folks. Rejoice!

I can hardly wait! And you know, we don't have too wait much longer than two days for a heapin' helpin of Tina Fey! She'll be back at the old stomping grounds, hosting SNL this weekend! Too many exclamation points? Never!

Can you believe the Oscars are this weekend? We are planning to live blog it over at spunkybean, so come check us out!

"I don't drink coffee, sir. I don't drink hot liquids of any kind. That's the devil's temperature."

Praise the Lord, 30 Rock was back with its first new episode in five weeks! I have to check, but I think that may it until the strike ends (damn you, AMPTP!) Of course, it was another brilliantly created piece of comic joy.

There were three basic plots: Kenneth discovers the joys and pitfalls of coffee addiction (Don, how are you not watching this?), Liz falls madly in love with a swanky New York apartment and must impress Rory Gilmore's grandfather, and Jack and C.C. decide to throw it all away in the name of love. Oh--and actual German is spoken. Can any of this end well?

Rather than being laugh-out-loud funny from start to finish, this one was more of a slow build. Liz's trying to impress a co-op board culminated in a white-wine fueled drunk dialing session that topped the humiliation of Jon Favreau in Swingers. ("I've moved on. I've bought a whole bunch of other apartments. I bought a black apartment.") And in the process, we found out Jenna owns several pieces of real estate, which shocked me.

Jack and C.C. discovered that the exact mid-point between NYC and D.C. is a small town in the coal-mining country of Pennsylvania. Did you know that they have a park there that looks exactly like Central Park? Amazing! In the end though, when Liz accidentally sold NBC to a German TV station instead of buying the station for NBC, Jack realized he couldn't throw everything away to live in a small town where everyone called him "Pap". C.C. also missed an important vote--the Lott-Specter bill legalizing recreational whale torture passed by one stinkin' vote! So, he and C.C. decided they'd have to be together in another life, because for them it's all or nothing.

C.C: "We only know one speed, Jack. The drive, the ambition, our belief that sex is a competition."

Kenneth was seduced to the dark side of the life, and coffee had a profound effect on our little country bumpkin. Basically, he turned into a crackwhore. ("I love how it makes me feel. It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain!") Ashamed, he changed into his overalls and planned to hop on the Midnight Train to Georgia, for real. The guys did their best to dissauade him:

Kenneth: "I'm going back to Georgia."
Tracy: "What? No you can't leave, Ken. Who's going to help me tell white people apart?"
Dotcom: "What about our tickets to Spamalot?"
Grizz: "And who's going to be my wing man at speed dating?"

This resulted in one big, twisted, beautiful musical number that defies written description. And we got a cameo from Ms. Gladys Knight herself. Plus, did you know they change the Pips every five years, like Menudo? It's totally true!

Ludachristmas

If there's one thing I want for Christmas (and I'm entitled to nothing, but whatever), it's an end to this stupid writers strike! I can't believe I'm going to have to go months without a new episode of this show.

In this episode, we're in guest star heaven, with Elaine Stritch (who just kicks all manner of ass) as Jack's mother, Colleen, and Buck Henry (who thinks Jack looks like an "Arrow Shirt model") and Anita Gillette as Liz's parents, not to mention the awesome Andy Richter as Liz's brother, Mitch, who thinks it's 1985, due to a freak accident. He even hits on Cerie by asking if she likes Wham!, since he's the "George Michael of his school." He doesn't remember poor Jenna, whom he's apparently slept with, and thinks she's a friend of his mom's. The Lemons are kind of like the Fockers in a way, all gushy and praising of their children to an absolute fault. Jack, whose family is the picture of dysfunction (when will Nathan Lane return as his brother? It'll be 2012 at this rate!), does not get it. He asks why Liz's mom referred to her as a "beautiful genius. Was she taunting you?" (Her dad calls her "Wilma Shakespeare")

Crusty Colleen (according to Jack, there are terrorist cells more nurturing than she), who managed to get to NYC by getting Jet Blue to take an Amtrak ticket, surprised Jack, who figured she was stuck in the hurricane devastating her hometown of Jupiter, FL. Evidently, he'd only invited her out of his "paralyzing Irish guilt" and at one point looks up at the destruction on the TV and mutters, "she should have been there". Ultimately, she ends up poking and prodding the Lemons until she cracks their perfect veneer and even jogging poor Mitch's memory of the ski accident that caused his little condition. It's a great scene.

The rest of the gang is wrapped up in the annual Ludachristmas party, and throwing out their corporate gifts of a Photo Scanner/Paper Shredder (do you see all the inherent problems there?). Kenneth is upset, naturally, at everyone's lack of the proper Christmas spirit, fondly recalling the holidays in his backwoods world, where they sat around a roaring fire, "waiting for the owl meat to cook", while Tracy is lamenting his newly acquired ankle bracelet that comes at quite the inopportune time (Ludachristmas, "Nude" Year's Eve and Martin Luther King Day all involve heavy alcohol consumption for Tracy Jordan...and probably for Tracy Morgan, let's be honest).

All in all, a fabulous episode of 30 Rock. And if that Disney cruise is still on for March, I'm in!

"Where'd you two meet, an Amber Alert?"

Oh, Liz Lemon, how much more could I love you? I'm not really sure. Right off the bat she orders a meatball sub with "extra bread", and turns down offers to go out in favor of catching up on her Tivo. Sometimes I think Tina Fey really knows me.

Well, in this episode, Liz ends up dating a guy, Jamie, who is 17 years younger than her (she lies that she's 29, he that he's 25--their really 37 and 20), but so adorable that even Frank falls for him:

Frank: "I'm gay for Jamie!"
Liz: "You can't be gay for one person...unless you're a woman and you meet Ellen."

Now, Liz the "cougar" has to go out at 10 o'clock ("at night?") and Frank is buying Jamie french-cut, slim-fitting sweaters that weren't on sale or anything and making him paintings featuring rainbows, mermaid/unicorns and King Kong. I want one!

I could basically make an entire post of quotes from this episode, there were so many great ones. And I haven't even touched the Jack/Tracy plot which has Tracy coaching a little league team from Knuckle Beach, a neigborhood so tough that "orange soda is a totally acceptable substitute for breast milk!" Jack takes over to try and improve the team's performance (the kids think he's a king, btw) and subtle (well, not really) Bush bashing ensues in a way only Alec Baldwin can do it, complete with a glimpse of Jack in a General McArthur uniform.

In the end, it appears Jamie's attraction to Liz is a little, shall we say, Oedipal? Turns out Mom (whom he lives with, natch) could be Liz's double. Maybe he can take Frank up on his offer, and be "two straight guys who just wanna enjoy each others' bodies!"

Stay tuned for the Project Runway recap, coming soon!

"Ape Attack!"

I don't quite know how to say this, so I'm just going to come right out with it...30 Rock was about twice as good as The Office last night. Whew, that sort of hurt to type! I have always been a staunch Office supporter, and I still say a bad episode of this show is better than any episode of, say, According to Jim or Rules of Engagement (then again, so is a root canal), but last night was just...meh.

I know it's all about the awkwardness on this show, but I just wanted to hug poor Michael, having all of his dirty laundry aired in that deposition. I mean, reading his diary was funny, but I really felt for the guy. How is he still with Jan at this point? I'm not getting it. The B story with the ping-pong? Amusing, but nothing more. Where was Creed? My new buddy Andy? Stanley? I knew we were in trouble when I wasn't familiar with the writer for this episode. Lester who? Nice try, Les. Thanks for playin'. Next time I see his name pop up, I'll brace myself like it's an episode of Gilmore Girls written by Daniel Palladino (I'm guessing there's exactly one person who will get that).

On the opposite end of the comedy spectrum, there was 30 Rock, which had the us rolling with laughter from start to finish! Let's hit a couple highlights:

--Jack wanting his hair styled like Ronald Reagan, and learning that he gets it cut every two days.
--Tracy's "Re-run" dance (which was spot-on) functioning as both sight gag and commentary on the writers' strike.
--Liz being so torn about wanting to report the questionable behavior of her Middle Eastern neighbor, only to find out he and his cousin were trying out for "The Amazing Race".
--Tracy giving Kenneth the advice to just shout for something's he's lost until it appears, then shouting "Pants!" over and over until Griz and Dot Com show up with several pair.
--The attack referenced in this post's title that was 100% visual and absolutely hillarious.
--Tracy's trip with Jack to see his new lady friend, played by Edie Falco, at Clinton's office in Harlem. First he actually gets away with saying "Tig Old Bitties" and then he talks to a pigeon. Genius!

I love this show!!!