By Curt Schleier

I’ve spent the past several weeks trying to convince you that 30 ROCK is the funniest laugh-out-loud show on television.  Some of you have resisted my clarion call; I will be visiting each of you.  Late at night, when you think you’re safely tucked in bed.

But those of you curious for a sample of the show’s willingness to walk (actually drag one foot) an extra mile, you almost had a shot at it.  On the season’s second episode, Tracy Jordan’s (Tracy Morgan) wife Angie (Sherri Shepherd) kicks him out and brings him a box of memorabilia from his former home.  Included is a god record of his one big hit single, Werewolf Bar Mitzvah. 

Other shows may have let matters rest there, but the folks at 30 Rock put together a brief snippet of the song’s video in a kind of Michael Jackson parody.  It was just six seconds long, but a) it was funny and b) it showed a creative team backed by a business team willing to spend a little cash to make a show special.

Those six seconds, of course, soon found their way on to the web, where presumably thousands – perhaps hundreds of thousands – viewed them.  Until NBC, in its infinite wisdom, ordered the Werewolf Bar Mitzvah video taken down from YouTube.  Which sounds like something the fictional top network exec Jack Donaghy (Alex Baldwin) would do, but is something that happened in the real world.

Sure, why would you want extra exposure for a great but ratings-starved show?  NBC guys: Do you think I can do this all by myself?  No, I can’t.  I would appreciate a little help.



Meanwhile, the show continues to maintain the highest laugh quotient on television.  Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) wins the GE Followship Award.  That’s not a misspelling.  She gets the award and a cash prize for caving in and doing pretty much what ever Jack wants – including GE Product Placements.

Meanwhile, Lemon meets her idol, Rosemary Howard (Carrie Fisher), the first female writer for Laugh-In and promptly hires her.   But Rosemary’s idea of comedy no longer jibes with what corporate networks allow.  Rosemary takes her case to Jack, who seems to agree.  But the moment she’s out of the room, insists that Lemon fire her adding “and don’t ever let me talk to a woman that old again.”

Meanwhile, Tracy has ordered his minions to get him fighting dogs, because Donaghy said he could do anything except own fighting dogs.  And as Tracy himself points out: “What can you do when someone tells you what not to do.”

Jack believes that Tracy has unresolved father issues, so brings the NBC psychologist.  And in a hilarious bit of role playing that would usually wind up on YouTube, except for – well, see above.  Baldwin plays several roles including Tracy’s father and Tracy himself, helping his important star get over his neuroses.


For those of you who have missed early episodes this season, you can catch up on NBC.com – where incidentally the Werewolf bit is also found (if you don’t mind sitting through a commercial).

Again, I strongly urge you to watch this show. Otherwise you might be condemned to that special place in heck where the only TV is re-runs of MY MOTHER, THE CAR.  That’s not a place you want to go.