By Curt Schleier
I bring good news for some of you, but sadly bad news for many.
On the Thursday before Thanksgiving, 6.5 million of you gave 30 ROCK its best ratings since the season premiere. My plan to make the show the highest-rated comedy is now well under way. And I owe it all to you. I’d go on singing your praises, but I’m overcome with emotion. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Now the bad news: many have not listened to me. I can’t do this by myself any more; I am forced to report you. On Thursday Dec. 6, I’ll be attending a special event honoring the stars of 30 ROCK in New York City. It’s sponsored by the Television Academy and the cast will be there. I’m going to use that opportunity to turn over your names. It’s time they knew who wasn’t watching.
And don’t think for a minute I’m going to give the info to Tina Fey. She’s too nice. She’ll just say, “Oh, they’re entitled to watch what ever they want.” Blah, blah, blah.
No I’m giving your names to Alec Baldwin. You no doubt heard the “fatherly-like” conversation – assuming your father was an ogre -- he had with his daughter just because she wasn’t around when he telephoned. What do you think he’ll do with you, strangers who don’t watch his show? It’s too late. Stop whining. It’s a done deal. I begged you to watch but you decided SURVIVOR CHINA was more important. Well, it’s out of my hands. Or your names will be Dec. 6.
It’s sad, too. The latest episode, Cougars, is typical of the smart wit the show has demonstrated for the last season and a half. Jamie, the coffee delivery boy has a crush on Liz Lemon (Fey) and asks her out. He’s cute and, best of all, thinks she’s only 29. (He claims he’s 25.) Everyone urges her to go out with him. Jack Donaghy (Baldwin) is convinced it will good for her. And even Liz’s buddy, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), tells her to jump on the band wagon. Older women with younger guys are called Cougars; she read about them in the latest issue of Vanity Fair, the one with Darfur on the cover. Too bad more people don’t know about it, she says. Cougars are important.
But of course it couldn’t last. The timing is bad. He tells her he’ll pick her up for a first date at 10. Liz asks, “At night?” On one date, he suggests that they go to an after-hours spot he knows in Brooklyn that’s until 4 a.m. It proves too much. “I’m 37,” she admits. “Please don’t make me go to Brooklyn.”
Jamie has a confession, too. “I’m 20. Uh-oh. Lemon notes it’s starting to look more and more like Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fuallaau. Even Donaghy noticed. “Where did you two meet, at an Amber Alert?”
The final straw was that it turns out that Jamie is a mama’s boy. Literally. His mom looks exactly like a slightly older version of Liz herself. Oops.
The other story line is an example of the show’s subversive sense of humor. As part of his community for a prior altercation with the law, Tracy Jordan coaches a Little League team from a poor section of the city. But the team isn’t doing well, and Donaghy sees an opportunity to show these urban youth the way to success. “We’re going to bring our superior forces to bear.”
Donaghy installs Kenneth the page (Jack McBrayer) as manager, buys the kids new uniforms and equipment. They pull down a statue of Jefferson Davis. The team rebels. So Donaghy begs Jordan to return. “We can’t cut and run and betray the kids,” he says. But Jordan is reluctant to return. “Just because I don’t support Jack Donaghy doesn’t mean I don’t support the kids.”
It doesn’t make a difference if you get the allusion to the Iraq War. The idea is funny on its own. But the fact is that it assumes that you and I are smart enough to get it. And in TV that’s a rarity.