Watching 30 Rock

With the writer’s strike in full swing, I’m sure many fans of all television are wondering what they will do when the networks run out of new episodes of their favorite shows. What will we do without our daily or weekly hits of our favorite shows? Will we lay awake at night wondering about plotlines and characters? Will our days at work become less productive because we can’t help but wonder “what would have happened next, if the writers could have kept working?” Will those writers have ideas while on the picket line that will never end up coming to fruition? Are they sneaking notepads in their pockets or jotting notes on the back of picket signs? OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH LIZ LEMON AND TRACY AND JACK AND JENNA AND KENNETH THE PAGE? What about Pete? He hasn’t had a decent storyline AT ALL this season and now there is this strike? What happens next?

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After months upon months of previews, teasers and irritating NBC tie-ins, Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie opened to mediocre reviews and a less-than-Shrek opening weekend at the box office. According to the weekend tallies, American Gangster staring the pornstachy goodness of Russel Crowe and Denzel Washington took in $46.3 million while Bee Movie took in $39.1 million.

Sure we haven’t seen a flick in the theater since the Bourne Supremacy, but we’re guessing from the previews that Bee movie is about a neurotic, self-centered bee and his equally self-centered and kooky hive mates - and not our favorite Bea.

But we wonder if Seinfeld could have made a large Bee-ass of himself promoting this flick. Sure he did 30 Rock which was decent (mainly for the Liz Lemon crying the way Seinfeld talks bit). But was it really necessary for him to ride a zip line down an 8-story building dressed as a giant bee at the Canes Film Festival?

And according to our 451 compatriot Pop Culture Buzz, Bee Movie just isn’t terribly original. We’re guessing kids aren’t too keen on Seinfeld’s signature “What’s the deal with…?” kind of jokes. And thanks to TBS, UPN, FOX and just about everyone else rerunning Seinfeld into the ground we’re sure the movie-going public is sick of it as well.

So here’s our advice to you - Hypothetically reading our blog Jerry Seinfeld - take your gagillion dollars, monotone voice and new baby and call it a day. Invest in Ethanol-based fuels, whatever Madonna’s into or even studios that are making good old violent gangster movies. BeeCause to most folks overly CGIed, plotless kid flicks make you look like a part of the female anatomy that rhymes with schmoob.

Jerry Seinfeld, Bea Arthur, Bee Movie, Madonna

Here’s video of Tina Fey speaking about the writer’s strike and what it might mean for the rest of the season of 30 Rock:

We here at Watching 30 Rock admire writers of all sorts tremendously, and support them in this strike. From my understanding, part of the problem is that writers are finally demanding their fair share from DVD and iTunes sales of television shows. And considering how big television on DVD has become (I know I personally own seasons of The Office, Arrested Development, and The X-Files) I say it’s about time. The foundation of any good show is good writing. The most brilliant actor in the world can’t do anything if you give him or her a shit script. And like Tina says in the video above, this doesn’t just effect the writers and the actors …. there’s the crew, the makeup people, the hair people, the caters, drivers, and probably NBC pages (like Kenneth!)

And of course, for my own selfish reasons, I don’t want the strike to go on. There’s nothing I like more in the winter than crashing on my couch with the DVR remote and catching up on my favorite shows. It’s too early for reruns! There are enough 30 Rock episodes to last the rest of the year and it seems like a lot scripted shows are in the same place. But late night shows like The Late Show with David Letterman or Late Night with Conan O’Brien or even The Colbert Report and The Daily Show are apparently already showing reruns.

So, Tina, and all writers, the fans and couch potatoes of the world unite in support of your strike. And when it’s over, find a way to write about it and make it funny!

30 Rock, Tina Fey, writers strike, The Office, Arrested Development, X-Files, Colbert Report, Daily Show, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien

Check out Tina supporting her peeps! She da bomb-diggity!

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Tina Fey and 30 Rock executive producer Robert Carlock both signed their names in this WGA ad, vowing not to do any writing until the strike is over. The ad appeared last Friday in Variety.

Tina and Robert join The Office creator Greg Daniels, House writer David Shore, Matt Groening and other Simpson’s crew and just about every other great television writer in the biz in supporting writer folks slugging it out in the trenches. Text from the ad says:

“You guys will still break stories, right?” “Your people can still write scripts. I mean, who would know?” We would. We would know that doing so undermines the very cause for which we’re fighting. We would know that it sends the wrong message to those who honor our picket lines. We would know that it only serves to prolong a strike. So, just to be absolutely clear: In the event of a strike, we, the following showrunners, will do no writing and no story breaking — nor will any be asked of our writing staffs — until we get a deal.

The tag at the bottom of the ad says “You have our word.” As of last night, negotiations about the writer’s strike were still ongoing but we hope a deal is made soon so the writers get their cut of DVD sales and we don’t miss nothing on our favorite shows. See it’s all about us.

Variety, Writer’s strike, 30 Rock

Well, if you are a fan of My Name is Earl tonight was your lucky night, because there was an hour long episode on this evening, involving Earl doing something, undoubtably, zany. I don’t watch Earl but I heard somewhere that tonight’s episode involved some takeoff of COPS so I have to say that sounds pretty funny. I think my sister watches, so maybe she’ll fill us in later. In the meantime, I can offer what WOULD have happened on 30 Rock if it was on tonight.

We would open with Liz, probably arriving to work, and probably having some sort of discussion with Jack. Jack would be over-the-top business and perhaps wearing a tuxedo. Jack’s assistant might be there too, seething with jealousy over the attention Liz receives over him. Then we might have a scene with Tracy doing something zany or perhaps taking about something zany that he has already done. There would probably be a third storyline with Jenna using her “sexuality” to try and get something from someone. Or perhaps she’d create some other humiliating moment for herself, either by making another movie with a title no one can pronounce or by trying to become a lesbian so she can marry herself off to a long lost (and rich) member of a Canadian royal family. (It could happen.) In the meantime, Liz is trying to juggle all these crazy people without going kinda crazy herself. Pete would have one or two lines, (leaving me to wonder if Scott Adsit said something mean about Tina’s baby causing the lack of screen time.) Frank would be wearing a trucker hat that says “Chicken Fingers.” Liz would clean up all the messes at the 25 minute mark and Kenneth the Page would spend the episode so nice and earnest and naive that it almost becomes creepy.

But if you are like me and you’ve just got to have a taste of 30 Rock tonight, then check out this reenactment of a scene from season one, staring the models from Deal or No Deal. Good stuff, for reals!

Tracy Morgan has completed his probation for DUI, and has been OKed to remove the alcohol monitoring anklet he’s been wearing on and off for almost six months. He was originally ordered to wear the anklet thanks to everyone’s friend, beer. On May 25, Morgan was fitted for a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring device, which detects booze in sweat and vapors released through the skin. This was after he plead guilty in February to driving under the influence last year in New York—which, in turn, violated his probation stemming from his December 2005 DUI bust in Los Angeles. So yeah, this ain’t the first time Mr. Michelle Rodriguez.

Apparently Morgan had a momentary lapse of common sense, or ran face first into an open bar because he admitted to drinking alcohol on Aug. 4, a violation of his probation that got him another 80 days in the loving company of his SCRAM ankle bracelet.

However last week Morgan removed the anklet way before it was suppose to come off. But Morgan did manage to catch a break. On Tuesday, a Los Angeles County Judge told Morgan’s attorney, his “probation terms have been fulfilled.” Before making his decision, the judge looked over several letters submitted by medical doctors, and a letter from the SCRAM company verifying a medical issue. The court was given five photos showing proof of Morgan’s medical problem, which caused him to remove the SCRAM early. As of now, we do not know the exact nature of the ailment.

However in his defense, Morgan has been voluntarily going to a daily blood/breath test and has been attending AA meetings. All kidding aside, we wish him the best in hopes of recovering.

Coming up tomorrow, remember a couple years ago when there was no such thing as 30 Rock? Well you get to relive that time thanks to an hour long My Name is Earl. New 30 Rock next week.

Tracy Morgan, SCRAM, Michelle Rodriguez