Watching 30 Rock

So Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend> Either her presence or the end of the writer’s strike seems to have thrown a little life into the show (which hasn’t been the same since she left.) Below is my favorite moment from the show … not just because Tina was back behind the Weekend Update desk, but because she did a little politickin’ for Hillary Clinton.

Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Hillary Clinton

Here’s a little spoiler about an upcoming episode of 30 Rock that I found on TV Guide. I like it because it has some continuity from a previous episode AND because of the enormous comedy potential that can only be properly handled by the crack writing staff of our favorite show.

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!

MILF Island! Jack’s dream come true. I wonder if this will be written as part of Jack’s rebound after breaking up with C.C. They can’t just let that go with his invitation to Liz about getting drunk. I’d think there would be some more fallout than that, including Jack being cranky, Jack yelling at either Frank or Kenneth, and Jack pushing Liz to write for stupid shows like MILF Island that will not only probably make the network lots of money, but will plop him right in the middle of a casting call full of beautiful, age appropriate women to help him get over his lost liberal lover. And maybe Cerie’s mom will show up as a contestant? Remember Cerie? Wasn’t she getting married and Liz and Jenna were to be her bridesmaids? I wonder what ever happened to that storyline.

But I digress. MILF Island coming to a fake NBC network near you. Who should they get to guest star as some of the MILFs? Helen Hunt? Angela Bassett? Anderson Cooper? Connie Britton? Vanessa Wiliams? Kim Bassinger? So many good and potentially funny options, whether it is a funny actress or an actress that would get a laugh just by being cast.

No matter what, there is only a few more weeks until we get some new episodes. Finally!

30 Rock, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, MILF Island, NBC

Yay! The Writer’s Strike is finally over and we all can get back to sitting on the couch watch our favorite shows as opposed to sitting on the couch watching crappy, hastily thrown together reality shows and weird stuff on cable. Hey, what was I supposed to do? Read? (Just kidding, in case any of my literature professors happen to be reading this.)

The New York Times is reporting that the first new show back on the air is likely to be Saturday Night Live which will return February 23rd, with our girl Tina Fey as host. Following on March 1st as host will be Juno star and Academy Award nominee, Ellen Page.

30 Rock will return on April 10th, with five additional episodes. Only five? I don’ want to be complainy, because I am happy to get anything at this point, but really, only five? Entertainment Weekly has some hints to spill about possible plots, apparently straight from an email from one Tina Fey: “Liz has a pregnancy scare” (Go Liz! Get some already!) and “Jack may be called to serve his country.”

There is some hope that more than five episodes may be shot, but Alec Baldwin is scheduled to begin work on a new movie at the beginning of March. The film is called My Sisters Keeper and costars Abigail Breslin and Cameron Freakin Diaz. Jeez, Alec Baldwin, isn’t NBC paying you enough? Why you doing a movie with Cameron “I Used to Do it With Justin Timberlake” Diaz? You know you’re going to have to put up with Drew Barrymore on the set every day and the fact that she and Cameron will constantly be raiding the craft services table with their daily attack of the munchies. Better hide some donuts in your trailer.

Sorry, got off track there. What I meant to say is that the strike is over, 30 Rock will be back on your TV soon, Tina Fey will be there even sooner, and Alec Baldwin is making a probably crappy movie. Back to business as usual!

30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Tina Fey, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin

So tonight, Amy is liveblogging the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards for our sister site, Trashy Celebs. And since our hero Tina Fey is presenting the first award (and showing off her bare right shoulder — pretty racy there, Tina Fey!) with Steve Carrell, I thought I’d pop over here and tell you about any of the 30 Rock angles to the event. Fey and Carrell are presenting Best Actor in a Drama Series, which must be a bit awkward because you know they will be making jokes and those serious, serious actors will just be all “shut up, so I can be pretentious!” Oh, James Gandolfini won! And he gave Tina Fey a peck on the cheek and totally did not order a hit on her. That’s a relief!

Other, more obvious 30 Rock connections to the SAG Awards:

Tina Fey, nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (along with Christina Applegate, America Ferrera, Mary-Louise Parker, and Vanessa Williams.) Guess what? TINA FEY WON HELLS YES! She thanked the SAG for “considering her an actor at all” and then she thanked Alec Baldwin, comparing doing scenes with him to “Fred Astaire dancing with a hat rack.” Funny and humble, even after winning. And thanking SAG for supporting the Writers Guild, because she is selfless and giving.

(See that NBC, you bitches? She won. WON! And I have been hearing too many rumors suggesting that with the writers strike and all, 30 Rock might get cancelled. DO NOT DO THAT YOU WILL BREAK MY HEART.)
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You can be friends with Kenneth! Some very nice person has created a MySpace page on behalf of Kenneth the Page from 30 Rock. I’m guessing it isn’t an official page created by the actor or by the show or by NBC, but that is okay. Kenneth totally would/should have a MySpace page. Can’t you imagine him writing his blog every night after work, giving his totally awesome Kenneth the Page viewpoint on life at 30 Rock.

So here is Kenneth the Page’s (unofficial) MySpace page.

Why would you want to be friends with Kenneth? Why would you NOT want to be?

30 Rock, Kenneth the Page, MySpace

Good news, 30 Rockers! According to the NBC website, 30 Rock will be returning in January with new episodes! Now presumably, these are episodes completed before the writer’s strike shut down production of the show. I guess NBC was smart to hold some back, because I know I am aching for some new episodes …. I mean, I dig the reruns and all, but my DVR hasn’t recorded anything new for me in over a week! And after all the holiday madness, when we are in post-party hangover mid-January blues, some new TV shows will definitely hit the spot. And if this strike drags on, do not despair, as we will start recapping season one episodes (from DVD) as well as discussing DVD extras and Tina Fey commentary in the new year. What a way to start 2008!

As for last night’s rerun, it’s a reviewing of “Jack Get’s in the Game,” featuring guest star Will Arnett as Jack’s nemesis, Devin Banks. If you recall they are both competing for the job of General Electric’s CEO … Jack through “getting noticed” and Devin through marrying the boss’s unattractive daughter while convincing himself and everyone else that he’s not gay. Good times! In addition, we get a fat Jenna who spent the summer eating pizza and a Tracy who takes Kenneth the Page for his “work wife,” since his own wife Angie kicked him out. This is also the episode that features the classic “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah” and one of the funniest moments of the season thus far:

So if you missed the show last night or don’t have your Tivo set to record reruns, you can watch the full episode at NBC.com or reread our recap. And now we all have January to look forward too!

30 Rock, Tina Fey, Will Arnett, 30 Rock recaps

Greetings fellow 30 Rockers! As I’m sure you all know, tonight’s episode is a rerun of “Seinfeld Vision,” the first episode of the second season, which featured Jerry Seinfeld as a guest star. This episode also led off some of this season’s product placement, as Seinfeld’s Bee Movie was promoted heavily. (We still haven’t seen the movie, so I guess that promotional money was wasted, at least in our household.) If you missed the episode, you can read the recap or watch the full episode at NBC.com.

In other 30 Rock news, our beloved Tina Fey was named one of the 11 Most Influential Women of 2007 by MSN.

Tina Fey is like that super-talented, super-smart, super-pretty girl you knew in high school who you really wanted to hate, but you just couldn’t because she was also super-nice. Fey was head writer at Saturday Night Live for years, then used that experience as fodder to create the Emmy-winning show 30 Rock, in which she not only stars, but also writes and co-produces. Wearing three hats could make it hard for Fey, as the current Writers’ Guild strike conflicts with her acting/producing roles. But just like that girl in high school, she seems to be keeping her integrity while not pissing too many people off. Now that’s true talent.

Tina is in good company, as this list includes Hilary Rodham Clinton, Benazir Bhutto, and Pat Summitt. On the other hand, the list also includes Elizabeth Hasselbeck (famous for arguing with Rosie O’Donnell), Carrie Underwood (famous for dating Tony Romo), Miley Cyrus (famous for, huh, something Disney-related), and the Obama Girl (famous for being on YouTube.) Quite a mixed bag, but as always, we like to see Tina get the recognition she deserves for being so freaking awesome.

30 Rock, Tina Fey, Seinfeld, MSN Influential Women of 2007

Hollywood Reporter recently published an article about product placement in 30 Rock. Anyone who watches the show on a regular basis has noticed the product placements and the clever way the show deals with them …. basically by making fun of both the product being placed and themselves for, uh, placing it. Here’s an example, from the recent episode “Somebody to Love:”

According to the article linked above, Nielson tracked almost 13 minutes worth of product placements this season on 30 Rock. I have to say that some of those placements must not be working so well, because I can’t say that I remember what they are. I remember Verizon from the clip above, because it was one of the most obvious (and funniest) and one from last season, involving all the writers complaining about being forced to do product integration, then all talking about how much they love Snapple. (I also remember the guy in the Snapple suit because, again, that was some funny stuff.)
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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!

Want to have an amusing little ditty stuck in your head for the next, oh, MILLION YEARS OR SO? Check out the full length video at College Humor for “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah,” Tracy Jordan’s novelty song.

Are you inspired? If you are, why not try your hand and making your own music video? You can go to the 30 Rock site at NBC.com and download the song and shoot your own video. You can even go to the Werewolf Bar Mitzvah Group site at myNBC.com to upload and share your video. Just in time for Halloween!

Have you visited the 30 Rock site on NBC.com? No? Well why not? There is a convienent link right over there to the right.

“Lori, you Tina Fey freak,” you might be thinking. “Why do I want to go to the 30 Rock site on NBC.com?” Well because it’s a good place to hang out (besides here at Watching 30 Rock, of course) during the long week between episodes of your favorite show.

“Okay, I am intrigued,” you might be thinking. “But what can I do when I am there.” I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED, LIZ LEMON. Let me give you a rundown:

Did you, god forbid, miss an episode of the show? Did your cable go out? Satellite dish caught in a storm? DVR screw the pooch? Tivo get its priorities messed up? Or do you just want to rewatch a favorite episode while you are waiting at jury duty or all sneaky-like at work? Well you can go to nbc.com and watch episodes, both full length and two-minute replays.

Do you have a slower internet connection or do the moving pictures on your computer screen frighten you? Well go check out the photo galleries with pictures from both season one and season two!

NBC exclusives! Still bored at work? Have a good wireless connection in your office? Watch Kenneth the Page’s plea to “Leave Katie Alone!”, watch the writers play Marry, Boff, or Kill, get some words of wisdom from Jack Donaghy, or watch some behind the scenes video.

Shopping! Friend or loved one have a birthday coming up? Give the gift of 30 Rock! DVDs! Tshirts! And rumor has it, there will be a Kenneth the Page bobblehead doll sometime soon!

You won’t be surprised to hear that my and Amy’s favorite part of the NBC site is “Ask Tina.” When we aren’t fighting bitterly over who Tina would like more (Tina! Pick me! I make awesome guacamole!) we are watching her answer questions from viewers at the Ask Tina! site. Our favorite is the one where she says that Jack McBrayer is technically a dwarf.

So that’s just a bit of what you can find on the NBC 30 Rock site. Be sure to check it out today! But then be sure to come back here, for your daily dose of Tina Fey adoration!

The Office also has a great site on NBC.com!

30 Rock, Tina Fey, NBC, NBC.com, Jack McBrayer