30 Rock is easily one of the best shows on TV. It's clever, has good writing and doesn't talk down to you. They're not one of these shows that will make a pop-culture or political reference and then tell you what the reference is (The Big bang theory does that a lot). You don't know who Ann Coulter is or what Haliburton does? Too bad, you're not going to get the joke, google it later. This is probably the reason the show is more popular with higher income households. One of the most common criticisms of the show that I've heard is that it “tries too hard to be funny” and this makes the jokes seem forced. I understand where this is coming from, as the show does have a high number of bad jokes an episode. The differences between me and the people who don't like the show for this reason are:
1. I like enough of the good jokes I can sit through the bad ones without it ruining an episode.
2. I respect them for swinging for the fences on every joke- they'd rather risk a bad joke that repeat one (like every CBS comedy) and to me that shows a level of respect towards the audience that other shows don't have.
This weeks episode followed 3 tracks- each about having a main character with a moral dilemma and a choice being made at the end to do the right thing. Liz has to decide whether to keep wearing jeans she bought at a store that pretends to be a hip left-wing place but is really owned by Haliburton. Meanwhile Jack is conflicted by supporting a nut-job candidate for congress to make his merger with Kabeltown easier, and Jenna (the worst character on the show by far) is busy sabotaging Tracy's chances at a Golden Globe. I in the end they all end up doing the “right thing”. Compared with the strong episodes this season, I was a little disappointed with this episode- it didn't enough of the snappy dialogue that usually characterizes a solid episode of 30 Rock, and no funny side characters (Twofer, Pete and Frank) were used but it had enough to make it watchable.
Episode Rating:
6 (Above Average Quality TV)
Episode's Best Line:
“Ah! Lesbian Mario Brothers!” - Jack (When he saw Liz in denim overalls)
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