Comedy Night Done Right. This Week, Anyway.
NBC photos: Chris Haston, Ron Tom
Who needs Seinfeldvision? America's favorite comedic non-actor came to 30 Rock last night. Sure, it was a pleasure to see him--"How about I buy NBC and turn it into the biggest Lane Bryant in midtown?"--and if he brought a few million new viewers with him, all to the good. (Bit of trivia: he has a movie coming out this fall. No, really!) But really this excellent episode shows how 30 Rock has come into its own, because most of what was best about it had nothing to do with its big guest star.
The great thing Tina Fey has done with his show is to combine no-rules, off-the-wall humor with real character comedy. Half the episode was hilarious throwaways you just want to repeat over and over (Mystic Pizza: The Musical; the country only rich people know the name of), half was equally hilarious stuff that also served to define the charaacters, especially Liz Lemon: the flashback to serious little-girl Liz, with her teddy bear husband and his child "by a previous marriage," the whole bit with the impulse-bought wedding dress ("I don't need society's permission to wear a white dress!"). As Liz says, let's hope this is her year.
Meanwhile, Ryan is back and so is The Office, with another hourlong episode that was sharper, funnier and truer to the characters than last week's overstuffed 60 minutes. Where last week's episode seemed to turn up everyone's quirks a notch or two past the point of believability, this week's did right by just about everyone, from Michael, trying to buy back his customers and confidence with chocolate turtles, to sad-sack Toby, expressing his heartbreak over Pam in a passive-aggressive HR memo.
The Office, the way it does at its best, struck just the right balance of wackinesss and pathos. It's funny that Ryan should be the boss ("You're like our little man now!") and that Michael should feel so threatened; then again--as we saw just a flicker of in Ryan's outburst--Ryan really is the boss, and Michael really should feel threatened. The rivalry between the two of them should be interesting, and even as Michael ended up salvaging his gift basket, but not his car or dignity, from his attempt to show Ryan up, he actually did manage to outmaneuver him briefly, genuinely rattling his old intern with his ageism accusations. ("Well, new ideas are fine. But they are also illegal.")
The Jim and Pam story, meanwhile, is playing out well, because the writers aren't allowing it to overwhelm the rest of the show. Rather than zooming in on them, we got to see how the news of their dating affected the rest of the office. (My favorite: Phyllis, who hides an iron lady underneath those layers of blush, telling Pam not to direct sales calls based on "who you're sleeping with.") The expanded hour gave nearly everyone a chance to stand out: Creed dyeing his hair and announcing his fondness for Red Bull to appear young; Dwight trying to reconcile with Angela by offering a "feral barn cat" to replace the one he killed; and Andy falling in guy-love with newly powerful Ryan: "He has a killer job. He's rich. He smells like what I think Pierce Brosnan smells like."
All in all, 90 minutes of first-class human comedy. Because as they say, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake.
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1
My favorite part: Jim, at the end, grinning and noting that Ryan can't get ANY girl he wants! Go PB&J!
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2
Loved Creed 2.0 -- when has such a minor character gotten so many laughs in a sitcom, particularly with just one or two lines every other episode?
I remain concerned about the "documentarians" making the show; now they have access to security camera footage, too? That seemed to overstep logic a bit, but I guess I'll continue to look the other way.
NBC Universal is determined to make sure we all see every last little bit of "Bee Movie" before it hits theaters -- aren't the Bee Movie "minsodes" supposed to crank up soon... the movie opens in a month.
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3
My favorite moment was the cutaway to Kelly shaking her head at the camera right after she tells Ryan she's pregnant. Their scenes together are great. But I also loved Jim's little wave to Ryan as he listens to him get shot down by Pam - I think John Krasinski plays that character so well.
Haven't gotten to 30 Rock yet, but I plan to over the weekend, and now I'm particularly looking forward to it.
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4
The "Ryan is Boss" plotline better be played for laughs, because it doesn't make much sense otherwise. Ryan was a temp and a salesman (and not a particularly good one) and he's suddenly in corporate because he's got a community college MBA? Don't buy it.
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5
Thank you Seymour - for voicing my problem with the episode last night. They veered off character with Michael, too, in the past - no matter how bumbling and awkward he was with co-workers - he (and Dwight) always managed to make the sales needed.
I still enjoyed the show, though. It just irked me a little.
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6
I was thinking that too, Seymour, until one of my fave parts of last night, when Jan makes sure to note to Ryan that he has a different title and he's not getting paid as much. Corporations love to do this--take someone who isn't doing so well at their job, and then replace them with someone with much less experience so they can not only pay the new guy much less, but be able to boss him around more.
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7
Jim - how about gift baskets full of cash?
Andy - cash baskets! nice work, Tuna!
Funniest exchange of this whole series (although Creed last night was unbelievably funny).
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8
I've never taken the time to watch a single episode of 30 Rock until last night. I admit it, having Jerry on enticed me. Now I'm sorry I have not been watching.
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9
@Keith - and the amazing thing? That was actually (by some of the high standards of last season, at least) a WEAK episode.
Then again, a weak episode of 30 Rock is still funnier than 99% of the non-Office programming on television (and maybe even funnier than many Office episodes).
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10
The Office was Great!!!
Check our kids clothes line out...
http://www.filthunlimited.com/ -
11
I dunno -- I love "The Office", but I'm beginning to worry. Fans of "The Simpsons" used to complain about the show being taken over by the phenomenon they dubbed "jerkass Homer" -- that is, every episode began to center on Homer doing incredibly dumb stuff. And while it's fun watching Jerkass Michael screw up -- and the writers are very, very funny at devising ways for him to do so -- it's beginning to stretch credulity for me. (Scarfing down a plate of pasta right before a big race? Driving directly into a lake?) Maybe "The Office" is simply becoming a broader show, but it feels to me like the generic Dumb Guy character is a pretty common trope on TV sitcoms, and so I'll miss the more inerestingly complicated Michael of seasons 1 and 2 -- the Guy Who's Just Smart Enough to Realize He's Screwing Things Up, But Not Smart Enough to Keep From Doing It.
- poniewozik Loved the season. Mrs Tuned In wd have put u on the main list RT @boredtodeath Thank u for incl us in Time's Top 10. We'll take hon mention. - 3 hours ago
- poniewozik @carr2n Virgin is the best, LAX-JFK - 4 hours ago
- poniewozik Did NPR interview abt multiscreen multitasking. After, automatically reached for iPhone in pocket. Like don draper wd have for cigarettes. - 5 hours ago
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