Cannes Film Festival 2013

'30 Rock' - 'Let's Stay Together': Segregation of powers

Things are more forced than last week's classic outing, but still funny in spots

<p>Jack (Alec Baldwin) shows a congresswoman (Queen Latifah) around the studio on "30 Rock."</p>

Jack (Alec Baldwin) shows a congresswoman (Queen Latifah) around the studio on "30 Rock."

Credit: NBC

A quick review of last night's "30 Rock" coming up just as soon as I figure out how a post-apocalyptic society would use me...

After last week's episode gave us a "30 Rock" in peak form, the show was back to more uneven, but still funny, territory with "Let's Stay Together."

"30 Rock" is so loaded with jokes and asides and unexpected connections and random weirdness that it must be incredibly laborious to piece each episode together. The great episodes of the show, though, don't seem labored. "Let's Stay Together," on the other hand, was an outing where I could see the show sweating throughout, but particularly during Queen Latifah's disastrous visit to the "TGS" studios and all the racist pointers contained therein. And when you can feel the effort that was put in to set up, say, the colored/whites recycling gag, the joke just isn't as amusing.

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That said, parts of the episode worked just fine, like Jack's  appearance before the Congressional Subcommittee for Baseball, Quiz Shows, Terrorism and Media, which included the first (and funnier) joke about "Law & Order" being canceled and Rob Reiner saying "rhubarb, rhubarb, peas and carrots." (It's an old Hollywood trick that extras are supposed to say in scenes where a crowd is in an uproar; another version is "Watermelon, canteloupe.") I enjoyed Liz's disastrous appearance on "Right On" (and not just for the guest appearance by "Wire" alum Reg E. Cathey as the host), and the ongoing creative compromises to Dotcom's sitcom idea. (And the John Amos cameo in the tag evoked both "Good Times" and the famous Jack/Tracy therapy session from season two.) And of course I laughed at the shoutout to "Community" star and former "30 Rock" writer Donald Glover, here with Liz pronouncing his name like Donal Logue's.

On the other hand, the Jenna/Kenneth story was almost as weak as the Tracy/Kenneth one from a couple of weeks ago. We saw in the premiere, and in her brief scenes last week, that Jenna still has her uses on the show, but I'm struggling to think of the last Kenneth storyline I genuinely enjoyed. I'm open to suggestions, though, because I want to remember when I still viewed Kenneth as an entertaining surprise and not an overplayed drag.

What did everybody else think?

Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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  • Default-avatar

    John

    For me the Jenna/Kenneth storyline was the most consistently funny aspect of a very funny (but admittedly slightly clumsy) episode. I guess it depends on where you stand with Kenneth. I'm generally indifferent. Despite getting great one-liners, his presence has always been a nonessential. What I loved about the subplot was the hilarity Jenna had to offer.

    It's great to have '30 Rock' back on its game. Three good-great episodes in a row. If it keeps this up, season five will be the best since the second.

    October 8, 2010 at 8:08AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    chex

    Kenneth needs to be used in small amounts. It has been that way since season 1 and characteristic of all '5th characters' especially for a show that has two extremely strong leads.

    The diversity plot was a little heavy handed but I don't think there can ever be a way to handle a serious issue lightly. Enjoyed all the digs at NBC and was surprised at how well Queen Latifah was used.

    Really enjoying this season. The show is back to the level where it requires a lot of focus and attention because there were a lot of throwaway jokes and little details that are hard to catch because the pace is so fast. Which makes next week's live episode intriguing. Don't know how they are going to fit the audience laughter.

    October 8, 2010 at 8:24AM EST Reply to Comment


  • another example of them "working too hard", I thought, was having Congressman Rob Reiner as himself, then having Queen Latifah playing a fictional character... either have a less famous actress play Latifah's part, or don't have Rob Reiner play himself.

    That being said, I laughed a lot this ep.

    October 8, 2010 at 8:57AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Kenny_powers_wig_talkback_profile

      Otto Man My thoughts exactly.

      But Reiner as a spoof of himself was hysterical.

      October 8, 2010 at 9:06AM EST
    • Default-avatar

      Lisa I don't think Rob Reiner is a Congressman . . . he's "political", yes, but not a congressman.

      October 8, 2010 at 1:21PM EST
    • Lrg-170-dust_free_but_still_pouty_talkback_profile

      anthonystrand See, I didn't even think of that here, whereas a similar thing bugged me on The Office last year (Christian Slater as himself in the same video that introduces Kathy Bates as a character). But the difference, for me, is probably that 30 Rock has been using celebrities of Latifah's stature as characters for years - Isabella Rossellini, LL Cool J, Matthew Broderick, Matt Damon, Steve Buscemi, and many many more.. The Office had never done anything like that before.

      October 8, 2010 at 2:08PM EST
  • Justified-fixer-4_talkback_profile

    conrad

    jack was the best this week - his line about putting a bullet in the head of america's farmers was great.

    "why is it that nbc looks about as diverse as a wilco concert?"

    also - i really just cringe anytime jenna is onscreen. hate that character.

    October 8, 2010 at 9:07AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Justified-fixer-4_talkback_profile

    conrad

    forgot to mention...LOVED all the barbs about law and order.

    it amazes me how much 30 rock busts nbc's balls.

    October 8, 2010 at 9:09AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    isaacl

    " 'Outsourced' is the new Friends! "

    October 8, 2010 at 9:53AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Buchholz Surfer

    I like this show so much more when it doesn't force-feed us a story about Liz or Jack's love-lives. None of that this week, and it was much funnier in my opinion.

    October 8, 2010 at 9:53AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Barbara

    I thought the Law & Order comments were really funny. And L&O references showed up in "The Office" as well. Did all the sitcoms on Thursday (I don't watch "Community") make L&O references?

    October 8, 2010 at 10:19AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Enrico Pallazzo

    I laughed hard at "I'm cutting that fat cracker's head off."

    October 8, 2010 at 10:21AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    John in DC

    I measure my 30 Rock's by how many times I have to rewind because a joke is funny...many many rewinds in this one.

    October 8, 2010 at 10:38AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Madmen_icon_talkback_profile

    LJA

    I find both Kenneth and Jenna to be played out characters. They are only good in very small doses. That said, I loved everything else about this episode.

    October 8, 2010 at 10:47AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Jenn

    I do love when Kenneth's "real accent" comes out.

    October 8, 2010 at 11:58AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    M

    I find it a little eery that DotCom's show was called "Let's Stay Together" when literally yesterday BET picked up a new sitcom with that exact title.

    October 8, 2010 at 12:10PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      lztouchthedream Reply to comment...

      October 8, 2010 at 3:13PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      lztouchthedream Ah, every time I think I've got commenting down.

      Anyway, I wouldn't put it past BET to put '30 Rock's' exact version of 'Let's Stay Together' on the air.

      October 8, 2010 at 3:14PM EST
  • Tps_talkback_profile

    PotatoSolution

    I'm always shocked when John Amos appears in something, because for some bizarre reason I've convinced myself that he died 30 years ago.

    October 8, 2010 at 12:55PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Lrg-170-dust_free_but_still_pouty_talkback_profile

      anthonystrand Maybe, as a kid, you thought his "Good Times" death was for real.

      October 8, 2010 at 3:11PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    Misterpuff

    Poor Grizz, but it could have beenworse.

    The dog could have said "DYN - O - MITE!"

    October 8, 2010 at 1:53PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    BigTed

    How is it possible that John Amos looks exactly the same as he did on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Good Times" in the early '70s?

    October 8, 2010 at 2:19PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Gridlock

    Just as soon as I get the schoolboat...

    Guessed wrong :)

    The drop shadow of DOTCOM PRODUCTIONS at the end was Tracy Jordan backwards :D

    October 8, 2010 at 6:39PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Jizoshula

    The gag where Liz gets taken off stage and she refers to the White security guard as "your boss" was just awful. The guy had on a security guard uniform, including a badge. Ugh.

    October 9, 2010 at 8:05PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Emma

    Totally agree with the diminishing value of kenneth and jenna. Kenneth has become tired and I really didn't miss him at all. Jenna has never been my favorite but certainly provides some out there one liners. Didn't find that story line appealing at all. As always, I can't get enough of the genius that is Alec Baldwin. And Tina Fey has come a long way as an actor.

    October 11, 2010 at 7:15PM EST Reply to Comment

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