Watching 30 Rock

Did you miss Jack McBrayer’s appearance on Ellen today? You can check it out here! For some reason, she makes him double-dutch. I imagine that bit was more impressive when they discussed it backstage.

Here you go!

Sure she played cousin Vicki in National Lampoon’s Vacation and professed to the fact that her dad said she french kissed the best, but Jane Krakowski is so much more than that. The Parsippany, New Jersey native is actually a Tony award winning, Day Time Emmy nominated veteran of stage and screen.

Jane begun her career at the age of 14 on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1984, playing the role of Theresa Rebecca (T.R.) Kendall, a role she played until the show ended in 1986. In fact, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for the role in 1987. Including her role in Vacation, Jane appeared in many screen-character roles including small parts in Fatal Attraction and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vega.

A trained singer, Krakowski has made numerous appearances on stage. She appeared in the 1989 Broadway musical Grand Hotel as the typist and would-be-film-star for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her solo number “I Want to go to Hollywood” is included on the original cast recording. At the 2000 American Comedy Awards, Krakowski won rave reviews when she performed a sexually charged musical tribute and love letter to Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates.

In 1995, she played the ditzy flight attendant April in The Roundabout Theatre Company’s revival of Company.

However, Jane landed what would become her biggest role, playing office assistant Elaine Vassal on the television series Ally McBeal for five seasons until 2002. Her role on Ally McBeal earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1999.

That is until 2006 when Krakowski joined the cast of 30 Rock, where she plays Jenna Maroney, a cast member of the fictional late night sketch show TGS with Tracy Jordan. Krakowski was cast to replace Rachel Dratch, who played Jenna in the show’s unaired original pilot episode.

Don’t forget to catch Jane, Tina, Tracy, Alec and all the other brilliant performers on 30 Rock on NBC.

Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Ally McBeal

Saturday Night Live alumnus and frequent chest-exposer Tracy Morgan plays Tracy Jordan, a successful comedian and movie star brought in as the new star of the fictional The Girlie Show, renamed as TGS with Tracy Jordan on 30 Rock. While Tracy Jordan got his start after an appearance on Showtime at the Apollo that he claims he doesn’t remember, Tracy Morgan got his start after an appearance on, uh, Showtime at the Apollo that he apparently does remember. (Wow, where to the 30 Rock writers get their ideas?) Morgan then became a regular on Martin. He joined the SNL cast in 1996 and remained as a regular performer until 2003. Among his regular characters on SNL was Brian Fellow, host of Brian Fellow’s Safari Planet. (That’s crazy!) Some of his more memorable impressions include Maya Angelou, Aretha Franklin, Venus Williams, Puff Daddy, and my favorite, Star Jones. (An impression he repeats in a famously gross bit on 30 Rock.)

Here’s a bit more about Morgan: He is married to Sabina Morgan (although they are separated) and has three kids. He had his own show The Tracy Morgan Show which an NBC sitcom which aired one season in 2003. He also was a victim of The Kutch in a 2003 episode of Punk’d when his car was towed from a valet parking lot. In more serious news, he has been arrested twice for DUI and was even fitted with a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) ankle bracelet, which tests him for alcohol consumption. Damn, Liz Lemon! I also discovered this evening that he had a role in Little Man which would drive anyone to drink.

Some generous soul on YouTube put together clips of some of Morgan’s great moments on 30 Rock:
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Ms. Tina Fey was on Conan O’Brien late last week. So in case you missed it, or like us didn’t know about it, here’s the full youtubed segment.

We know this is a 30 Rock blog and are trying to be well rounded with our reporting but our love of Tina Fey is just so damn big! I, myself was a huge Star Wars nerd (originally trilogy, not the new CGI crap). I too had a big Millennium Falcon that held Han Solo and Chewbacca as they set off on distant voyages to Alderon and the laundry room.

That, and we love that we’re not alone in our Tina Fey crush. Since she reveled that her parents discovered she’s #7 on the After Ellen hot 100 list while googling her name. The After Ellen hot 100 list is the hottest ladies according to the ladies who like other ladies. And hell yeah, we agree although we think she should be up in the top three.

Tina Fey, After Ellen, Conan O’Brien, Millennium Falcon

No, not that president. The guy who actually won the popular vote way back in 2000, Al Gore is set to guest star in an episode of 30 Rock this season. We weren’t able to dig up any info about what role the former Vice President will play but we’re sure the uber-talented writers will come up with something good.

Mr. Gore has already won an Emmy for his internet network, Current so that’s not his guest start motivation. Still it doesn’t hurt to speculate as to his part on the show will be. Since Gore is such a huge proponent of the environment, maybe he’ll play a right-wing Halliburton type who’s trying to get Jack (Alec Baldwin) to sell him Trivection oven technology secrets.

Or maybe he’ll play Kenneth’s Pig Farming father who travels from Stone Mountain Georgia to pay a surprise visit. But most likely, Gore will play himself and will just exchange some witty banter with Liz Lemon. Still we’re really impressed by this news and whatever the role we’re sure it’ll be awesome.

Al Gore, 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin, Emmy, Current

This is my first shot at recapping a show, so lets see how it goes.

In the cold opening, jaunty music plays while Liz Lemon comes back to work after TGS’s summer vacation. The camera pans past a Girly Show and we see that Seinfeld’s picture is now part of it. (Spoiler!) A chipper Liz asks everyone about their summer. I’m surprised she’s noting who got their ears pierced or who grew boobs or who got fat (another spoiler!) No, wait, that was me after summer vacation in junior high.

Liz greets Jack and discuss his “big hit” summer replacement shows — America’s Next Top Pirate, Stronger Than a Dog, and MILF Island. Hey, I would totally watch that show.

Next Jack drops his new great idea on Liz — Seinfeld Vision. Using the hundreds of hours of footage from Seinfeld, Jack and his tech guys can digitally insert America’s beloved Jerry Seinfeld into any current NBC show. For the month of October, Seinfeld will appear in all prime time shows! Brilliance! A montage of digital Jerrys ensues, including Jerry as a suspect on Law & Order, uttering the famous line “save the cheerleader, save the world” from Heroes, and as a winning contestant on Deal or No Deal. Does Jerry know about this? Short answer is “no.”

Liz tells Jack that she had a great summer — and that she and Floyd broke up. But this is her year! She’s gonna meet a great guy! The ever-supportive Jack points out that women her age are more likely to get mauled at the zoo than get married.

Let’s all hum along to the theme music!
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So just to make sure you have a day complete with 30 rockness check out these before, after and during 30 Rock related activities.

First, check out fabulous interviews with Judah Friedlander and Tracy Morgan courtesy of AV Club.

After the show, be sure to check out the one and only Tina Fey answering your questions (and marriage proposals from certain bloggers who shall remain nameless) on a live chat beginning at 9PM eastern time.

As for during the show…c’mon, it’s 30 Rock, it’s Tina Fey, it’s Jane Krakowski in a fat suit, it’s the season premier of 30 Rock! So laugh your ass off, or stare blankly at the tv if you have no soul or sense of humor, you still get to watch Tina Fey.

Tina Fey, 30 Rock, Tracy Morgan, Judah Friedlander

Dear Tina Fey,

It has been documented several times already on our very young blog, as well as on our other, less classy blog, that we love you. We love you because you are pretty and smart and funny and geeky and that is pretty much perfect for us. We sometimes argue over which of us you would like more. You may think we are kidding, but we are not. In fact that is pretty much the only thing Amy and I fight about, except occasionally over where to go to eat dinner.

(I bet you and I would never argue over where to eat dinner.)

But what it comes down to is that we love you because we want to be more like you. Very funny, very smart, very nerdy, and writing for a funny, smart, nerdy television show. (And we wouldn’t mind being smoking hot as well.) If we ever have babies we want them to have role models like you.

In this picture, from an ad in Vanity Fair for American Express, there are so many examples of why we find you freakin’ awesome.

1. The MacBook. We have MacBooks too! I just got mine! Do you use iTunes too? Where is your iPod? What is on your iPod? Do you have secret guilty stuff on there, like the new Britney Spears song?

2. The adorable child who hangs out in your office and is using the MacBook and who isn’t dressed in stupid frilly clothes. Your daughter is a-freakin-dorable. We are a little concerned that she appears to be taking hair styling tips from Jimmy Fallon, however.

3. The desk that is more like a table. Just like mine! Except mine came from Ikea and yours probably came from some store where people with more money and better taste shop.

4. Chattery teeth on the desk. Classic, classic, comedy.

5. You ain’t no neat freak. We aren’t either, which anyone who has visited our apartment could tell you. Especially our office. In fact, I am writing this from my couch right now because the office is too messy to deal with.

Okay, so it may seem like we are a little obsessive here, but trust us, Tina Fey, we are not crazy. We just think you are the greatest. We’d love to have Octopus Time with you and I totally don’t mean that in a dirty way. But maybe it’s better if we never meet, because if you were mean to me I would never forgive myself.

Stay righteous, Tina Fey.

Lori

P.S. One more thing. Do you have cats? I bet you have cats. We have cats! We’ve decided that someday, when we get a new cat, we are going to name her Tina Fey. Not Tina, but Tina Fey. Then we are going to get a slightly smaller cat with rumpled hair and name her Amy Pohler. Then we will build them a tiny Weekend Update desk and …. Wait. I’ve said too much, haven’t I?

Tina Fey, 30 Rock, Amy Pohler, Vanity Fair, American Express, Octopus Time

So without giving away any major stuff, we’ve learned some plot points about the upcoming season of 30 Rock from a recent blurb in Entertainment Weekly. According to EW:

Seinfeld arrives in the first episode as himself to settle a beef with Jack, and several previous standout guests are slated to return (Will Arnnett, Dean Winters as Liz’s beeper salesman ex, and Chris Parnell as Dr. Spaceman). Liz will struggle with being single again after her breakup with Floyd. Tracy will try to win back his wife (”in a Kobe Bryant kind of way”, Fey says) after he’s caught by paparazzi with a transsexual prostitute. Jenna will battle weight issues (complete with fat suit for Krakowski) after spending her summer scarfing four slices a day on stage in Mystic Pizza: The Musical. And Kenneth may get a new love interest, and appear in clothing other than his page uniform.

If all that is true we’re super excited and not because of Jerry Seinfeld guest staring…not that there’s anything wrong with that. (We know, easy joke but give us a break. Seinfeld was on the air when we were watching nothing but X-Files and Hal Hartley movies so our Seinfeldian humor is way below that of average TV consuming humans).

So anyway, the reason we’re excited beyond the obvious Tina Fey stuff is Mystic Pizza: The Musical. Sweet! I must have seen that Indy Baby Momma of all chick flicks 97 times in high school. (12 more than I saw Dirty Dancing). If you happen to not have not been a card carrying uterus holder in the late 80’s or just didn’t see Mystic Pizza, I highly recommend you check it out. Like Now! This gem is your chance to see Julia Roberts before she totally started sucking and Lili Taylor being awesome even in fluorescent leggings. It also features Anabeth Gish (a very early 30 Rock blogger-Amy crush, guess I like the smart ones) who actually took over the hot FBI agent role on X-Files after Gillian Anderson left. Boom! Full circle people, I love it when that happens.

So yes, Mystic Pizza references and fat suits aside, we’re reallly excited about the new season of 30 Rock and you should be too! Don’t forget to tune in to NBC at 8:30 Eastern time for the fall premier of 30 Rock and of course be sure to keep your butt planted on that Barcalounger for The Office at nine.

[tags] Tina Fey, Annabeth Gish, X-Files, Lili Taylor, Julia Roberts, Mystic Pizza, 30 Rock

Edie Falco, best known for her ass-kicking role as Carmela Soprano on the legendary HBO series The Sopranos will have a three episode guest appearance on 30 Rock this season.

We here at Watching 30 Rock are still reeling in disbelief that Falco did not win the Emmy this season for her role on the Sopranos. She is an awesome dramatic actress, as showcased in roles on the HBO prison drama Oz (where she played a prison guard who gets romantically involved with both an inmate and another prison administrator), as well as roles on Law & Order and Homicide: Life on the Street. We are happy to see that she’s moved on (more than us, it seems) from the disappointing Emmy loss to a role that will allow her to show her comic skills as well.

“I have laughed out loud at this show, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to work with such great comedic actors,” Falco said. “I am very excited.”

No word on what sort of role it will be – I wonder if she’ll still be on one side of the law or the other? How awesome would it be if James Gandolfini, Aida Turturro, or Lorraine Bracco were to show up in a cameo? Or if Tina Fey wrote in a character named Meadow or AJ that Falco got to slap the shit out of? (Somehow I suspect that would be more satisfying to the audience than to Falco herself.) Let’s just hope they don’t parody the famous “fade to black” series ending of The Sopranos, we all know all too well that has been done to death already.

Don’t forget to tune in this Thursday, October 4th, for the season two premiere of 30 Rock!

30 Rock, Edie Falco, the Sopranos, Carmela Soprano, James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Aida Turturro, Oz, Homicide, Law & Order