# 30 Rock, 1/18 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586 "2007-01-19T14:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![milquetoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@milquetoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milquetoast)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/1 "2007-01-19T14:39:26Z")
I am growing to love this show as I watch more of it. As someone said in a previous thread about **30 Rock** _[feigns looking for previous thread]_ Oh well, couldn’t find it. Anyway, as some said before, this show does a great job of making cliches fresh and funny. But the part of this episode that really killed me was when Jack returns to Brian Williams’ office and we see Kenneth is in the middle of washing a painted message off the wall. All that was left of the message was: KAT COU SU That was frickin’ hilarious! ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/2 "2007-01-19T19:31:30Z")
The way _Goldcase_ fell apart had me laughing out loud! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/3 "2007-01-19T19:49:49Z")
**Labdad** lol’ed. Again, definitely some funny funny bits last night. I still don’t think they get how to write a whole half-hour of TV. The Brian Williams stuff was funny. The way that Lemon’s date fell apart was classic. “Say what number cousin we’d have to be that would make this all right.” Weak night for Tracy Morgan. I still think he’s funny, though. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/4 "2007-01-19T20:28:31Z")
Morbid obesity as one of the classic American art forms was my favorite line. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/5 "2007-01-19T20:36:53Z")
I can’t remember the last show that made so much fun of its sponsoring network (probably _The Simpsons_ and Fox, though that’s a much easier target). Shows like _Studio 60_ involve fictional stand-ins, but _30R_ not only has NBC the butt of many jokes, but last night had them name-dropping real people at the network too. Overall, a very funny show (and Tina Fey just keeps getting hotter and hotter). ---
**Author:** ![jrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@jrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrepka)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2007, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/6 "2007-01-19T22:21:24Z")
Wow, I did not see the incest angle coming! Simply brilliant! [geekstuff]At $700/ounce (I haven’t looked it up) and 12 troy ounce/pound, a suitcase with a million dollars worth of god would weigh close to 120 lbs. It would have killed the joke, but the concept would work if you just had the suitcases sitting on the ground in front of the models, and the model would lift (or attempt to lift) the case only after the contestant made their choice.[/geekstuff] ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/7 "2007-01-20T03:05:17Z")
I thought the most hilarious bit was when Alec Baldwin’s character was describing his previous year’s experience in the welding shop, and he holds up a piece of misshapen metal with some sort of grille in it, and says (completely ingenuously) “I made this.” I was in stitches. I think that Alec Baldwin really has outstanding comedic timing and presence. His recent stint hosting SNL also had some funny moments, and i think it’s no coincidence that the only funny sketches that night were the ones that he was in. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/8 "2007-01-20T03:07:43Z")
I really want to like this show, and for the most part I think it’s funny and hip. But my loathing for Tracy Morgan keeps me from coming back as a regular. His bits and subplots are stupid, predictable and (as always) completely unfunny. He’s a fourth-rate comedian with rotten timing and an unrated actor who couldn’t carry a scene in a wheelbarrow. Maybe I could just mute the sound whenever he’s on screen. . . ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/9 "2007-01-20T03:27:38Z")
After a little bit of reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that 30 Rock is really an updated version of _Mary Tyler Moore_ and Liz Lemon is Mary Richards - a good hearted, unmarried woman in her 30’s who is the only thing keeping her show from careening into total chaos. The twist is that Jack is to Ted Baxter as Charles Emerson Winchester was to Frank Burns – a much more intelligent and capable nemesis with flashes of humanity. Having said all that, it is my favorite new show this season. I was only half-watching last night and didn’t get to play my favorite game. Where was Rachel Dratch this week? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/10 "2007-01-20T03:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=jrepka] [geekstuff]At $700/ounce (I haven’t looked it up) and 12 troy ounce/pound, a suitcase with a million dollars worth of god would weigh close to 120 lbs. It would have killed the joke, but the concept would work if you just had the suitcases sitting on the ground in front of the models, and the model would lift (or attempt to lift) the case only after the contestant made their choice.[/geekstuff] [/QUOTE] Or if you filled the other cases with lead, so all the models were struggling equally… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/11 "2007-01-20T03:35:09Z")
Oh, and Rachel’s not always in it, so she was AWOL (I believe) last night. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/12 "2007-01-20T04:22:15Z")
I love this show. I love that they’re willing to poke such vicious fun at themselves, the network, and GE. They painted Brian Williams as an obnoxious, room-trashing drunk who goes to the liquor store every day at noon. They make fun of GE all the time. They made Conan O’Brian look like an uptight ass. And always to very good effect. And their sense of comedic timing and placement is brilliant. Not just Alec Baldwin, but the writers of the show. For instance, in the scene mentioned in the OP, they cut to a shot of Kenneth erasing something off the wall, obviously written there by a drunk Brian Williams. It said: KAT COU SU Now, if it had said, KATIE COURIC SUCKS it wouldn’t have been half as funny. The creative people on the show got that. A lesser show would have written out the whole thing and hammered the audience with it. “Today, Kenneth, I’ll be your bottom. And I want you to ride me hard!” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/13 "2007-01-20T05:56:58Z")
The host of _Gold Case_ was John McEnroe, right? It’s not listed at his imdb entry. I agree that Tracy Morgan is the weakest part of the show. Watching this makes me realize just how intolerably self-important _Studio 60_ is. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/14 "2007-01-20T09:08:47Z")
I love that Tina makes Star Wars references and watches Heroes. Dratch made a cameo as Dolly Harlan, Liz Lemon’s great grandmother (and Gray’s great aunt). I also enjoyed Krakowski’s shudder in the shot with the Head and Liz Lemon shaking hands with Santa as a child. This show is chock full of heady goodness. Actually, I was just pranking about Dratch. She didn’t play Dolly. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-1-18/388586/15 "2007-01-20T20:33:47Z")
I too love how Liz is a geek. Like when her friend tells her if she wants a man, she’ll have to stop making Star Trek references, and Liz, all offended, says, “Star _Wars_!” 😃 As always, Alec Baldwin was great. I also loved how Kenneth jumped from naive (a toaster oven) to worldly (long list of compensation worthy of a Hollywood agent). Am I the only one who thought Liz should’ve just kept dating The Hair? Anything further out than first cousins hardly seems icky. Or maybe I’ve just lived in North Carolina too long, where you can indeed marry your first cousin. But not your double first cousin, 'cause that would be gross. 😛