The quality, variety, and amount of jokes feel like they’re
at the level of craftsmanship when the series was at its best in early seasons.
There’s parody (a sub-plot lovingly in homage to Willy Wonka), sight gags (the skeleton
co-worker dream where Lutz still fails to get things right), meta humor (the
greenscreen joke; “Expensive musical cues are the sort of thing you can’t
afford anymore”), play on words (“I’ll see what I can do, but through back
channels” “BET?” “Back channels”),
and even the cartoonish (“Tramp Store”; a German cannibal advertiser: “Even
Gunther is thinking of backing out”). Highbrow and low brow reside side by
side, and so many jokes are blink and you miss them, and take a second to process.
However, not only is this one of 30 Rock’s funniest half-hours yet, but also one of its best
plotted. Unlike other series that cram in as many jokes as possible without remembering
their characters or story arcs at the heart of it all, 30 Rock has always succeeded at telling stories in the midst of the
crazy at 30 Rockefeller.
The stakes feel high with TGS put in peril, and Liz attempts
to rally the troops, but with little results. No one is taking Liz seriously.
Advertisers are dropping out and the show has to be made on a shoe string
budget. The writers goof off and fail to write anything, while Tracy and Jenna
stir up trouble with the press and end up doing no promotion for the show. Jack
can’t help his protégé because as much as he admires and is endeared to Liz, it’s
not the most sound first decision as the person soon to be CEO of Kabletown.
Liz is so high strung and dedicated to TGS that she’s even willing to miss the
arrival of her newly adopted kids. When her co-workers hear of this, it shames
them so badly that in an odd but touching act of solidarity they all quit in
front of the board members of NBC. Liz rushes to the airport just in time to
meet her adopted twins, who look suspiciously liking mini-Tracy and Jenna’s
(apparently her time practically raising Jenna and Tracy will pay off in her
real-life parenting concerns).
The no less significant sub-plot (especially for how it ends
with Kenneth Parcel the most unlikely of Presidents of a television network),
involves Jack in Willy Wonka fashion challenging the top candidates for the NBC
President position he formerly held. They’re all terrible, including the one
Kenneth has pegged for a “pure heart” (the guy intended to strip the building
for parts as broadcast television is totally an unviable prospect these days). Jack
ultimately realizes that everything he tried to do for the company (even his
dubious attempts to tank it) never went as he planned them to and always played
against his hand. He finds himself convinced that perhaps someone who actually
deeply cares about television and not the bottom line might just save NBC from
disaster.
This isn’t a show plodding towards its inevitable end. This
is a show confidently telling with laser precision interesting stories about
characters we’ve come to like and never sacrificing quantity or quality of
jokes in the process.
Stray Observations:
-“Boy, women who to try to do things sure do die a lot”
-“My whole life has been building to this moment! – Wait really?
That’s terrible”
-Jack admires Willy Wonka. There’s no government regulations
in his factory.
-“TGS sounds like am STD you know I’ve got”
-George Clooney had the perfect role lined up for him post-“ER”:
“Dumb gay batman”.
-The moonlanding was staged at studio 30.
Grade: A
No comments:
Post a Comment