30 Rock Recap

Original Airdate: 12/7/2006 

This week’s 30 Rock was an episode of recurring themes – Jenna’s professional insecurity, Tracey’s unpredictability, Liz’s fear of being alone and Jack’s condescending, imbecilic superiority. It was also 22 minutes littered at every turn with belly laughs.

So Liz and Dennis (Dean Winters) are roomies now, and it’s everything Liz thought it would be – or wouldn’t be. The conversation is inane – “What kind of name is Bode?” asks Dennis. Their kids will have names like Shannon or Rick.

Now you’d think that kind of talk would make a girl swoon. After all, what typical commitment-phobic guy brings up the topic of kids? But Liz knows he’s not the guy for her. So she resolves to break up with Dennis that night. So she’s off to work with an annoying hair tousle. But first, she stops at the blood bank.

Phlebotomist: Now make sure you get plenty of fluids and something to eat. Don’t do anything strenuous tonight. Don’t hit the clubs.
Liz: No, I’m going straight home. Actually, I’m breaking up with my boyfriend tonight. I can’t take it anymore.
Phlebotomist: Hmmm, 35, single, no children, three sexual partners in the last 10 years. I don’t know doll, maybe it’s time to settle.

Liz takes her buttercrunch cookie, which she admires like a little girl as she walks in to find Jenna (Jane Krakowski) crying. Jack (Alec Baldwin) bumped her from Conan in favor of Tracey (Tracey Jordan). If Jack knew about her film career, he might have thought twice. Cut to a scene from the unpronounceable “Rural Juror,” in selected theaters Dec. 18!

We next see why this is one of the funniest shows on TV, and Morgan is a huge reason why. In his last stint on Conan, he did a “stabbing robot” bit that got him banned from the show. I laughed until I almost peed. Almost. And the Conan cameo rocked.

Backstage, Pete (Scott Asdit) tries on a Stone Phillips wig. Jack loves it. More on this later. Jack explains why he bumped Jenna from Conan, pointing out his job is to look after the good of the show. The fact that Liz has to deal with the fallout is why, he says, his job is better than hers.

Is it a cameo if Conan is back for a second scene? Conan is nervous about Tracey. When Jack threatens to make him do Christmas specials from Kabul until the war on terror is won, he acquiesces.

Meanwhile the writers try and help Tracey prep for the show. But his anecdotes – rape-play with the wife, penis envy with his son and “pooping in the ladies room at the Ivy” – don’t cut it. Suddenly, he’s hearing phones that aren’t ringing, and his hair hurts. Uh oh. When he starts seeing a little blue man with no legs following him around, the writers know there’s trouble. Tracey’s off his meds and going crazy, just in time for Conan. Liz realizes it when she spots him calling the cable company on his sneaker.

Just a note, if I detailed every hilarious little joke in the show, these recaps would be a mile long. But when you watch the replay online, listen for the mindgrapes and blood cookies bits. I’ll say no more.

Jack’s still urging Pete to wear the Stone Philips wig, and Jenna’s still sweating her job security with Jack. Tracey, meanwhile, is hanging from his dressing room ceiling like Spider-Man. A call to his doctor, Dr. Spaceman (pronounced Spa-che-min and played by Chris Parnell) is less than reassuring.

Liz: Hi I work with Tracey Jordan and I think he’s having a reaction to some of the medication you put him on.
Dr. Spaceman: I was afraid this was going to happen. You know he’s on so many neuroleptics and trycyclics there’s no way of telling how they’ll mix. But what can you do? Medicine’s not a science.

Tracey’ll be fine if he’s kept from bright lights, loud music and large crowds – like you might see on a late-night talk show set. But Jack’s not bending, even when Liz brings up Jenna’s movie, which she still can’t pronounce. And Pete has taken to wearing the Stone Phillips wig.

Liz is busy putting out fires with Tracey and Jenna when Dennis pages her (naturally) and tells her she’s got to call and get him Nickelback tickets. She reminds him he has to be home to talk tonight.

Tracey comes running down the hall from the blue man, who’s really kind of cute and who I suspect, but can’t confirm, is played by Rachel Dratch. So Liz sends Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) to pick up Tracey’s pills at the Rite Drug Pharmacy. Of course there’s four Rite Drugs on the same corner, giving us an extended glimpse of an underused character.

Then, in a weirdly sexual tension-filled scene, Liz runs into Conan, but it’s over before it goes anywhere. By this time Liz’s blood sugar is bottoming out because Frank (Judah Friedlander) ate her cookie. By the way, Tracey’s “past Pete/future Pete” line almost made me pee again.

In a dramatic crescendo, Tracey confronts the blue man, the Conan show begins taping, Kenneth returns with Tracey’s meds and Pete and Liz tackle him and pour them down his throat.

The pills seem to work immediately. Tracey walks on stage totally under control. He even spins a few dance riffs along with the band. But then he doesn’t stop. It goes on way too long, he starts to undo his pants and then he just falls asleep. Liz tears off Pete’s toupee in disgust and turns to see the little blue man making squeebly noises at her now. That little fella is cute!

She drags herself home to find Dennis playing Halo. But he got her a burger, and all she really wanted was something finally to eat. So she puts off “The Talk” and promptly falls asleep. Guess Dennis won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

It pays to stay tuned after the final commercials sometimes. We return to the Conan set, now empty except for Kenneth, who is living his dream of being a guest.

Kenneth: Well I got started in the NBC page program, and before you know it I’m making hit movies with my good friend and roommate Zach Braff. What? Who told you that? Well, yes, I do know how to clog, but I don’t think anybody wants to see me do that. You do? Really? OK.
Conan (walking by): You’re a weird guy, Kenneth.
Kenneth: See you tomorrow Mr. O’Brien.

I sense that this show is evolving into more than the sum of its parts. For that to continue, we’re going to have to see more character development like we’ve seen with Liz (Tina Fay) lately without sacrificing the smart writing and the fearless comic bits that already define the show. On a scale of 1 to The Office, I give it a “Getting There.”

When he’s not recapping “30 Rock” or obsessing over “The Office”, Brian holds down a newspaper reporting job in NY that is only slightly more lucrative than his GMMR gig. And he is still mourning the defeat of his beloved New York Mets.