Thanks for the Detail: 30 Rock

It's easy to get bored. Yawn. What's my point already? OK.

30 Rock is a show that can deftly mock reality television by pointing out nuances that have yet to be parodied, while simultaneously defend them within the context of their own reality serving as a parallel to our own reality. They can also set up a plot with their sad sack character by revealing he is wearing a thong.

The amount of timing and structure in the detail of this show is uncanny. Let's take, for example, the C-plot of last night's episode "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightening" which was the aforementioned Lutz storyline. With the thought of disaster on the minds of the TGS staff, they quickly make their emergency plans which culminates into Lutz having to choose only 3 of the staff because that's all his car can hold.

But before we find out Lutz has no car, and even before we find out Lutz is doing this because he just wants to feel wanted, we have to establish that this thought of disaster is taken seriously. They throw some pretty wild disasters at us (tidal waves taking over New York, tornado of guns, the 2nd biblical flood), but all these are taken seriously. We can tell why, by a subtle action of Pete acknowledging they need to write this down, and then just simply following through with writing it down:

It's not really a joke, but it's kind of funny in the long run (kind of). But the point being is that they didn't have to do that at all, but it effectly but the reality of the situation in the forefront. When reality is grounded , then sure- have Pete reference his Olympic past and Sue say she is willing to fuck cannibals. You've earned it now.

So thank you, innoocuous action of Cerie writing on the white board.

Review: 2010 NBC Thursday Night Season Finale

The Swanson on The Swanson

TV loves its season finales. Its' inherit epic quality and heightened emotional depth just plays out to the fan quality of the show while still setting up the something to happen for the future. What? I can't understand what I just said. OK- A lot of things happen to a lot of our favorite people. Easy enough. Anyway, this post is just going to take my favorite joke from each episode and dizcuzz it to some extent.

Community - Star Burn's Video Yearbook Comment

This joke comes in the PS of the episode. John Michael Higgin's professor was in this episode and Troy ate a giant cookie (remember Kramer's lollipop?), but Star Burns is always pure gold. Initially I thought the line read, 'I just want people to remember there was a guy with these things', making an amazing explanation for the existence of Starburn's starburns. But the real line is quote: "I just want people to remember theres a guy in between these things". Adding an emotional depth to a side character that we really don't care about? Awesome, as long as it's Starburns. The notion of Starburns is such a shallow man whose claim to fame and source for social acceptance are stars that are hair that are on his face. That is hilarious. And giving him a line revealing that he just might be more than that? Nice try, he's Starburns. Please note my inherit bias to Dino Stamatopoulos, one of the funniest people in known existence (Conan, Moral Orel, TV Funhouse, he wrote the Pre-Taped Call In Show on Mr. Show). I am all for him being everywhere anytime probably more than anyone ever, save for real life relationships.

Parks and Rec - Freddy Spaghetti Songs

You know what show nailed it this season? Parks and Rec. I think we'll be talking about the 2nd season of Parks and Rec way on down the line. It is well on its way to being an Arrested Development level of genius situational comedy. So many characters with so many layers of interaction between them. Best scene of the night: the Brandanowitz farewell. Kept it straight, and we really know what these two people feel about one another. My favorite joke from tonight's episode comes from the episode's namesake, Freddy Spaghetti. Not so much a joke, as an existence of character. Freddy Spaghetti writes children's songs to the tune of other popular songs (remember when John Redcorn did that?) but he also adds in a callback to his own name of Italian themed food. For example- "she made an itsy-bitsy teenie weenie yellow polka dot linguini". Kids entertainer's are always ripe for weird, creepy businessmen (see Krusty the Clown) and they established Freddy as in it for the money within his first line. The real payoff is that how lazy he is in turning a song about a bikini into one of his own. Kids don't know and shouldn't know that song, but Freddy is making money. "What was your favorite song?" Leslie asks. "Penne and the Jets". And wow- that song really is all about saying the word Benny, and Freddy Spaghetti is smart enough to rip that off for his own. His other song was also just a call and response with the audience where Freddy yelled: "Spaghetti! Fusilli! Egg Noodles!" O the last one always gets ya. Freddie was played by 'force of nature' actor Brian McCann who helped carry Conan O'Brien the past decade with such characters as Fed Ex Pope, Johnny G: a guy who thinks Max Weinberg is hilarious, Randy the Pyloric Sphincter and Preparation H Raymond. Now he's one of the great minute characters on Parks and Rec. Now go on and win some Emmys, you great massive show you.

The Office - Meredith's Van

As pre-established, I am a huge sucker for Dwight, and tonight we got to see him work. The episode was a lot of Jo and Sabre's interrogations of the employees, which I hope they have deleted scenes of the lot of them, but none of them would be able to outshine Dwight's. We also got to check in with 2 of our favorites via one joke each- Todd Packer making a prank call, and David Wallace using an opportunity on TV documentary he used to be on to talk about his new product, Suck It (of course the sweatshirt was yellow, its for kids). We were also treated to one of the finest scenes in The Office lore- the IT Guy scene. Just remarkable on all accounts- no one really caring, even insulting (accidently: Jim not remembering his just announced name. on purpose: "...they use it for games and porn"), sprinkles of character in Oscar's nodding agreement with Dwight's assessment that the old IT guy was a terrorist or Daryl's face when it was revealed he had Facebook. Andy also sang a Woody Guthrie song, and Michael made me incredibly sad at points. But for one joke that stood out: Meredith's Van. This is the place where Michael meets 'the leaks'. Meredith's Van is a safe haven, a secret place, even though it apparantly is never locked. It seats 4 people comfortably though. The joke plays out like this- cut to scene in Meredith's van: With hand full of yellow sheets of paper, Pam: "I've never seen so many parking tickets." Daryl, holding a parking boot he found in the backseat: "This is just messed up." Read into this: Meredith is a classic alcoholic and she drives drunk. She drives her mini van, which she owns because she has kids, drunk enough to accrue a pile of parking tickets, likely from many different violations, and, worse, she is legally allowed not to drive, but took the device of her car anyway. Was she smart enough to hide the evidence, no just lazy enough to put it in there. Meredith has a sordid life- her kid plays soccer and she frequently has group sex with any number of disheveled souls looking for anything. Meredith is a bottom rung kind of women, one who drinks at work and has shown parts of her body to everyone at work. She works at this place, this dark, deeply perturbed character is part of Michael and Jim and Pam and everyone's everyday life. I love that. And she wasn't even in the scene. Kudos.

30 Rock - "...the current tattoo situation in the NBA"

First I want to get the something off my chest. 30 Rock is insane and it really tried pushing the comedic envelopes and has been more closer to 12-16 seasons of The Simpsons but earns triple times the points for not being animated, and is truly in another category all its own in TV history--- so I don't care that you already used Will Forte already as Price Gerhardt's messenger. I don't care because he is an on screen darling, sucking the viewer in with every charming smarmy breath and movement and welcoming vulnerabilty that this man is (MacGruber IN THEATERS NOW). You already used Rachel Dratch multiply, so established semantics over. I would love to give my favorite joke tag to the Jenna Maroney walking in on him as Cher scene: "this isn't what it looks like." Or when he can't control his Cher voice, "that came out wrong." Those jokes work on so many levels, each one hilarious. Everyone did a great at being their characters and when Kenneth becomes so drunkenly depressed that he reveals his true feelings: "Kiss My Face"--- is a totally validating an existence of a character just so we can have him play out that wonderful scene. My favorite joke goes to something bias once again: Carol is just meeting Liz and divulges information about life as a pilot leading to the exchange of him saying, "I don't know what's wrong in this country." Liz: "I know. People wear flips flops to church. And the NBA tattoo situation is out of control." That situation is out of control! In the 80s, those were men playing a team sport. The 90s crept in some individualism (Rodman, pff) and now its just a matter of fact thing that NBA players have tattos. LeBron had them in high school. Our country used to have its star basketball players be respectful and endorse nice products, now they thrive on individualism and making asses of themselves via stupid tattoos that compromise why they are really out there. Sure there is a dress code, but they ain't making up for tattoos. Sure, be yourself- but dammit- you're an image to people. Dr. J didn't have any tattoos probably. (Even Fundamentals Duncan has a dumb tattoo!) Also, flip flops in Church speaks to the lack of conviction in faith based religion. Church is about simply going to church, not about sticking to any higher power code. So much context hidden behind so much funny in one line.

So cool, inherit bias all around. That's how you're supposed to watch TV- for yourself. Develop a relationship with the characters, and like in real life, you'll have ones you like better and marry one of them and watch them with her for just an enjoyable evening of yourselves. That actually made sense, and I am only half patronizing here. Look, great TV inspires, and this inspired me to try a little more. You could tell that by the length of this entry as compared to others.

Review: Pete Hornberger

I recently dissected one Jerry Gergich in a post about him being one of the great sad sacks of television. Now use that as the plank to walk on. Jerry is oafish and cartoony and that is Jerry, but 30 Rock is using Scott Adsit's Pete Hornberger as a sad sack on a much more extremely darker level. Where Jerry is the butt of every joke, Pete is the butt of his own existence. Proceed to jump off the plank into the deep recesses of Hornberger.

First and First Most, we must say kudos to the actor- Scott Adsit. Brother has put himself in the pantheon of great comedy: Mr. Show (classic Adsit moment: Monster Parties; Fact or Fiction), one of the most under appreciated shows ever Moral Orel, was the original shiny beast in Tenacious D's Tribute, and let's not get started on his Improv. Scott Adsit, you are great. Done. Now, Pete Hornberger is a man weighed down by his job. Flashes of happiness are shown at the expense of others ("you shut your wet mouth and get that cord"). But usually when we are shown Pete, we are shown a defeated man. He puts thumb tacks in his neck, he sneaks around with his wife to add spice to their marriage, he lets Kenneth overtake his only free time, he yells at Liz for telling Cerie to dress more appropriate (he has nothing else to live for), had his Olympic dream shattered by Jimmy Carter, he lost his wedding ring in a poker game when he still had money left, overuses the word 'hate', and didn't feel anything when he learned Jenna died. That is what we are shown of Pete (though in hi def, we are shown an old, old man). So reading into these things is reading into a dark undercurrent of someone openly denying their happiness and living a life full of regret. But what has he to regret? He no longer teaches high school math. He works at an enviable job in New York. He has a wife and kids (though he is afraid of one of them, and another only responds to his Elmo voice). Well, Pete allows those chains in his life to weigh him down, because he understands what life is. Being affected by his problems so openly is Pete allowing those problems to exist. This is why Pete is, if not the most, coherent member of the TGS staff. Liz often confides her problems with Pete, who is always more than helpful. Pete hates his job, but he is good at it ("there is no internet or Spectravision in the hotel rooms, so plan ahead gentlemen. Porn-wise"). He offers sage advice ("Love is like an onion, and you peel layer after stinky layer until your left crying over the sink"). He's a liason for the writers to the actors, because he knows his place in the world of 30 Rock. As a viewer, Liz always give Pete the details of what is going on - allowing exposition for the audience, thereby Pete's intelligence level is that much respected as ours- we are a mirror to Pete.

Now this has been nothing more than examples and stating facts about Pete Hornberger. He is a dark character. He does offer a different sense of humor in an already humor packed show. So he cane be appreciated for the dynamic that humor creates. Pete's life can be seen as a microcosm in the episode "Milf Island". He is set to watch a TV show where women take their top off AND he is about to get free food because there is a dangler in the vending machine... of course he gets his arm stuck. And of course the vending machine eventually falls on him. But in between that, there was Pete fighting for his happiness- weighted down by a vending machine. He finds success at knocking the phone off the hook and dialing three numbers by throwing items at the phone, but for all that took out of Pete- for all his might and vigor- he dials the only number that can't help him- his own. Pete is out there. He is not pretentious or fawning, and he probably doesn't like you. The crassness of Louis DePalma meets the wit of Murray Slaughter? Sure, everyone is bald in that scenario, so it works.

Friendship Benefits

I don't sit like this. I wish I did. I cross 'em.

Dot Com and Grizz. You know them. They're your family. They offer a voice of reason, sthey provide a solid consistent back drop to the delightful Tracy Jorgan (wordplay!), and you get disappointed for them and sometimes in them. Now I'm not here to provide quotes and say how much I love them because I save that for real life. No, this is just a friendly reminder to appreciate them, which you already do. Redundancy and blog-hood are like this (guess which fingers I used!). What this review aims to point its rounded edge shovel at and dig is the inter co-minglings between Grizz and Dot Com and how their friendship is what defines the 2 characters. Surface level defines them as Tracy Jordan lackeys, the entourage with hilarious specifics to their job. and they do that ably, grounding Tracy Jordan in only a way Tracy Jordan can understand. They know Tracy Jordan, and know what is best for him (ie getting him small dogs for his dog fighting experiment), but the way they ground themselves in order to deal with Tracy Jordan is by confiding in each other. They make origami for one another, go ice skating after advice from their couples therapist, and even fall in love for the same woman. They go deep together, which really grounds them. So when they do say their lines, they are met with an heir of class and dignity. Grizz being the class, Dot com providing the dignity. Short punctual jokes in which they can really say anything thus giving 30 Rock another shining example of what good comedy does- lets you in on the laugh, but not the punchline. And with Grizz and Dot Com, that punchline could come anytime- and not knowing when to laugh but knowing to laugh is the strongest thing a show can make you do. Unpredictability and refreshment, you can find that within most characters in 30 Rock, but Grizz and Dot Com's seldom use provide examples of characters to behold and to entrust in. We believe in you because we love you. Doth a sun rise, dire a sun set. Moon Beam Snow, I do not know, for thy question is bleak, and thoust picnic in a miserly sort. For now- thy blood drain through the dampest swallows. Amen.