Skip to main content

NGS Fridays at C30 on TB10: Tracy Causes Confusion, Fear, and Fondness for "Teen Wolf" on "30 Rock"

I may have to take the X train to Zorgonia Avenue Station.

Just a few quick thoughts the morning after the latest episode of 30 Rock ("Jalisa"), previously known as "Larry King," in which Liz and Kenneth attempt to retrieve her lost mobile phone (with a saucy "adult" photo of Liz on it) from a cab driver in Queens, Jack and Elisa try to take their relationship to the next level, and Tracy causes pandemonium in Manhattan when he speaks about the Asian market crash on Larry King's eponymous CNN talk show.

While this week's episode didn't feature any of Jon Hamm's Drew Baird, he was an integral part of the plot nonetheless as the "boobies picture" he snapped of our Liz Lemon on her phone lead to a standoff with a extortion-ready Queens cab driver who didn't quite understand the point of "opposite day." I loved the fact that only Kenneth was willing to accompany her to Queens but wanted her to actually call him her "friend" out loud as traveling outside of Manhattan on official page business was verboten... and Liz returned the favor by lying to Kenneth about the real reason she wanted the phone back, making up an elaborate story about Nana Lemon, Nena's "99 Luftballons," and her birthday.

What else did I love? Kenneth getting tagged; Liz getting her purse snatched by a gang of unruly pre-schoolers; the guys tearing up the TGS offices looking for Tracy's secret treasure... and Kenneth realizing that he is the answer to Tracy's riddle; Pete getting confused for Peter Frampton; Jonathan's video of himself bare-chested and playing the flute; Don Geiss' prescient warning to "avoid the noid" on his video to GE executives; the return of Jorgensen; Elisa's present of a caricature of herself on a skateboard to Jack; Kenneth inviting Liz to an "asbestos removal" party at his apartment; Geiss having a "manstress" as well as a mistress; Tracy recounting the entire plot of Teen Wolf to an incredulous Larry King; his recounting of his casting in Rush Hour and how he was replaced by Jackie Chan; his warning about how "your Lexus is going to turn back into a pile of hot rats fighting over a human finger." Basically anything involving Tracy this week, really.

Best lines of the evening:

"Adult? You mean like you’re driving a car or wearing a suit?" - Kenneth to Liz, attempting to define "adult picture."

"Capitalism is ending. Either because of the Soviets or something crazy like a woman president." - Don Geiss

Next week on 30 Rock ("Goodbye, My Friend"), Liz befriends a pregnant teenage doughnut shop employee, in an effort to adopt her baby; Jenna demands more attention from the TGS staff as her birthday approaches; Jack bonds with Frank over their shared issues with their fathers on a night out with the guys.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I actually wasn't that crazy about this episode, although it did have some great one-liners (Kenneth's definition of an "adult picture" was my favorite too). I just thought that the Liz/cell phone storyline was ho-hum. I really enjoy Liz/Jack storylines and the two of them haven't shared many scenes together since Elisa came into the picture.
par3182 said…
hopefully that's the last we'll ever see of salma hayek and her comedy-sapping ways

she ties with charlize theron on arrested development for the prettiest woman with no comedy chops award

Popular posts from this blog

Have a Burning Question for Team Darlton, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, or Michael Emerson?

Lost fans: you don't have to make your way to the island via Ajira Airways in order to ask a question of the creative team or the series' stars. Televisionary is taking questions from fans to put to Lost 's executive producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and stars Matthew Fox ("Jack Shephard"), Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen"), and Michael Emerson ("Benjamin Linus") for a series of on-camera interviews taking place this weekend. If you have a specific question for any of the above producers or actors from Lost , please leave it in the comments section below . I'll be accepting questions until midnight PT tonight and, while I can't promise I'll be able to ask any specific inquiry due to the brevity of these on-camera interviews, I am looking for some insightful and thought-provoking questions to add to the mix. So who knows: your burning question might get asked after all.

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

In Defense of Downton Abbey (Or, Don't Believe Everything You Read)

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. Which means, if I can get on my soapbox for a minute, that in order to judge something, one ought to experience it first hand. One can't know how the pudding has turned out until one actually tastes it. I was asked last week--while I was on vacation with my wife--for an interview by a journalist from The Daily Mail, who got in touch to talk to me about PBS' upcoming launch of ITV's period drama Downton Abbey , which stars Hugh Bonneville, Dame Maggie Smith, Dan Stevens, Elizabeth McGovern, and a host of others. (It launches on Sunday evening as part of PBS' Masterpiece Classic ; my advance review of the first season can be read here , while my interview with Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and stars Dan Stevens and Hugh Bonneville can be read here .) Normally, I would have refused, just based on the fact that I was traveling and wasn't working, but I love Downton Abbey and am so enchanted with the proj