Author: Nick K

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘Kidney Now!’

All these stars support Kidney Now! Shouldn't you?
All these stars support Kidney Now! Shouldn't you?

Again we have season finales going off on all NBC comedies Thursday night and that means 30 Rock is seeing its end for the year and they left us with something oddly touching and funny as they know how to do best. I’m glad to see this show getting the respect it deserves because I remember the fear of when the first season wasn’t getting great ratings and that it might not last for more than a season or two. Luckily they paired it up nicely with The Office and it’s become more of a staple of how comedy now needs to be done after kicking ass at the Emmys and the Golden Globes. So we get one more inspired and well detailed episode before we’re tossed into months of heat and a TV wasteland.

So we continue now with jack finding his real father in the form of Alan Alda and with the reveal that he now needs a kidney it is a mad dash to see if Jack is even a match for the man. Luckily when medical questions come into play on this show they tend to always bring on probably the oddest character they have on the show Dr. Leo Spaceman played by the perfectly daffy Chris Parnell. I always love when they have this character on because it usually means he’s going to say something great as when he tries to tell Jack the results but everything is in medical jargon that he can’t understand. There’s even a sweet scene where Jack and his dad end up playing catch with something and they realize it and just decide to go with it.

Then there’s Liz who becomes a relationship advice expert after she is invited on to what I can only describe as a jab at Jerry Springer, Maury, and more especially Tyra Banks on the hybrid Vontella. I like that people are mocking Tyra Banks a little more now because her show is just a huge waste of time and she’s one of the worst hosts for a talk show I’ve ever seen. But I’m still addicted to her show because it is so outlandishly terrible so I guess I can’t get too mad at her. But anyway, Liz of course becomes addicted to her new relationship altering powers and gives terrible advice to women without hearing the whole story.

Tracy actually gets a pretty nice story as he is asked to speak at his high school’s senior graduation. He is ambivalent though because he never finished high school because he couldn’t dissect a frog. Kenneth eventually sway him towards it though and we get a patented crazy speech from Tracy Morgan to the lucky graduates. Also near the end we get a stampede of famous musicians who show up for a benefit concert to get Jack’s dad a kidney. Most are used to good effect such as Clay Aiken who admits to riding on subways and Elvis Costello or should I say Decklind MacManis, international art thief! And they actually do bring in a lot of good talent such as the Beastie Boys, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryle Crow and the guy from Maroon 5 that I find to be a little bit of a jerk sometimes. So of course there’s a great big musical number at the end with the rockers taking jabs at each other and making a nice little tune for us all to enjoy. So thank you 30 Rock for another good season and I’m sure we will see you on the return of Fall.

TV Review: ‘Parks and Recreation’ Episode: ‘Rock Show’

Clap for Scare Crow Boat! They didn't completely suck?
Clap for Scare Crow Boat! They didn't completely suck?

Well now we’ve reached the end of the first season of Parks and Recreation and surprisingly it’s shown that it’s got some legs. I thought that by at least the end of the season they would’ve made some headway with getting the park built but we’ve been left with very little done with that and more of an ending episode focused on giving us a cavalcade of revelations. This show has definitely changed my opinion of it and I’d very much like it to get another season. I’m not exactly sure what its ratings ended up being but it may have done well enough to secure at least one more season. If it deserves anything it maybe could get one more season and get the park all wrapped up and done and all the interplay of relationships as well.

Basically in this episode Andy is getting his cast off his legs and has a gig with his band at a bar and invites everybody to come see it. Unfortunately Leslie has to go to a dinner meeting wit a local government figurehead that even more unfortunately turns more into a real date for Leslie, the man is also over sixty to make things their most awkward and best. The stuff with Andy’s band at the bar is pretty good and he of course goes through a list f all the names his band used to be but actually churns out some decently funny ones, Jet Black Pope and Scare Crow Boat to name a few. Also Anne finds out some interesting news about Andy’s casts from his doctor and gets royally pissed at him and does what she should’ve done along time ago.

There’s also some great interplay from the other cast members as we finally meet Tom’s wife who is pretty hot and thereby adds weirder dimensions to Tom’s character. Also the boss Ron has a pretty fun time in this one as he introduces everyone to his ex-wife’s sister he is now dating because they both hate the sister. I really didn’t like this guy’s character in the beginning but I now see some more purpose for his character as a person who only gets continuous odd quirks given to him and just gets some really good lines. I thought it was hilarious when later they were all getting in a cab and he asked with vigor, “Who wants to see me climb a tree?” I also liked what little was given to the college intern girl to do with the person she brought to see the band. She’s funny but she’s only good for a few one liners here and there.

And then of course there’s still the oddly continuous budding romance between Mark and Leslie. They made some pretty good headway in getting something started up between them but near the end they might not have had the same intention in mind and the pit claims one more victim. So I wish this show success in getting its next season because six episodes was good but I guess I can say I’m really wanting to see some more episodes and see what plays out with all these people and the whole deal with the park. It was a tall order to hope they’d have the park all done and up and running in that short of time but it seems that means they may have enough material to give us some interesting episodes to come.

TV Review: ‘Reaper’ Episode: ‘My Brother’s Reaper’

Who brings a gun to a demon fight?
Who brings a gun to a demon fight?

Many of you may know of my love for calling Sam’s fellow devil brother Morgan a douche. It’s hard not to when there’s not a scene he’s in where he’s not acting like a flaming douche bag to all those around him. Well guess who’s coming to dinner then? Actually instead of coming to dinner, since all of his money and fancy lifestyle has been drained away, he is coming to live with Sam and the guys in this episode. And that’s not all! After their fiery reconciliation that left her den of sin in cinders, Nina has decided to move in as well and basically we’ve got a real Full House situation on our hands. Now I could waste everyone’s time and go through this whole article trying to figure out which character corresponds most precisely to that of the characters of that charming 90s sitcom, but there’s really more pressing story lines to be told.

To be perfectly frank this whole episode is full of nothing more than one douche bag move after another. Not only do we get Morgan’s regular none so benign attitude towards everyone but we also see that Nina is attracted to the bad boy type, and Morgan plans on taking full advantage. Then we have an extreme douche maneuver pulled pretty late in the game by none other than Ted the former manager in I guess could be an evil bid to reclaim what rightfully should be his. Now that only leaves the main crux of the story that involves a douche extraordinaire that refuses to sign his soul away to the devil and plans on repenting minutes before his death and get absolved from all the less than kind things he’s done in his life. In this episode alone he shoots a butler with a paintball gun, tosses beer cans whichever way possible, and has Sam chased by a polar bear.

I like that Reaper is branching off as much as possible from soul catching territory and allows Sam to deal with other aspects of hell such as just simply getting a guy to sign his soul away forever. I know they did that last season as well with the episode where Jamie Kennedy guest starred as a musician who kind of sucked major balls. I do feel kind of bad for Jamie Kennedy though. I mean the guys been in some decent movies but I think he really ruined himself with that Jamie Kennedy Experiment Show, and Son of the Mask didn’t look so hot either. But anyway, back to what really matters. This episode has stripper clowns. Yes stripper clowns, which is actually a brilliant combo devised by Sock and Ben for a bachelor party they throw for Ted who asked the girl after only one date and surprise surprise ends up getting freaked and dumping him.

We also get a little Michael Ian Black back in this episode as the gay demon that died but apparently ascended back up to heaven. His fellow demon lover, Ken Marino, who is always hilarious, check him out in Wet Hot American Summer, now holds some kind of demon support group that attempts to stay good and possibly follow in the same lines as Mr. Blacks demon. All in all this show continues to keep it light and funny and the characters endearing and I assume we are soon to be approaching the end of the season as the second season is already being marketed for DVD release sometime in June I believe. I’m interested in seeing what they leave us with the whole storyline of Sam trying to get out of his deal with the devil and now that his dad is apparently in hell and can still get cell service, wonder what his plan is, it would seem that might have something good cooking for the end. I personally think more episodes with stripper clowns in it is more than necessary and I’m sure they can’t be that hard to write into the show. I’m just saying, stripper clowns are brilliant.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘Mamma Mia’

Cameo Appeal:Get David Schwimmer back as Greenzo!
Cameo Appeal:Get David Schwimmer back as Greenzo!

What better way to go with an episode of 30 Rock so close to Mother’s Day than to have it focused pretty much primarily on fathers. I’m not sure if there was anything intentional behind this happening but I wouldn’t put it passed the makers of this hilarious show to pull such a stunt so close to one of the holidays really few care for and probably deserves a good bashing. Now I’m not putting any slight against Mother’s Day, I’ve already got my Mother’s Day present bought and almost wrapped, but let’s not forget this day may have been invented for no more reason than to sell a few extra cards and get some flower sales moving. But enough of the same old tired, cynical approach to the holidays that we could really pay no never mind, there’s an episode to get down to.

Basically in this episode we see the continuance from last week’s previous declaration that Jack’s father may not be his actual father but he refuses to do the usual shtick and try to hunt him down. That is until Liz gets involved and convinces him to do it and we get another unexpected cameo by the great Steve Buscemi as the private eye who actually has a glass eye. No, seriously. Steve Buscemi lost an eye in a car accident and got it replaced with a glass one and I got to tell you there must be great advances in glass eye technology because for the life of me I couldn’t tell which one was the faker. Well anyway, Liz then hatches a Mamma Mia type scheme after it’s narrowed down to three men and they are invited, as contest winners, to the TGS set. They pretty much consist of an Asian man, a man who lost his down there region in the war and now looks like Spaghetti-O’s down there, and Alan Alda. I wonder who the real father will be?

Then we also have someone who is pretending to be Tracy’s illegitimate son and basically robbing the holy heck out of him and Tracy is as clueless as they come. Of course Liz and Pete can’t stand for this and they end up getting the help of Lutz who is apparently proficient in the ways necessary to prove this person might be a fake. Now this story line is a bit weak and expected and you can pretty much figure out the conclusion before we ever arrive to it, but that doesn’t keep them from making some hilarious jokes and one liners before we get there. And that’s really the best part of this show. Even if they are working off a story line that you know, more or less, what the whole deals about, they still give you some of the best comedy that TV can offer. And once again I must say suck it to Two and a Half Men that gets so much more ratings than this show, though I’d say less awards, and still manages to do nothing clever EVER and sticks to every lame plot that has ever been done without a shred of good humor whatsoever.

I’m glad this show us still chugging along and I know I will always have a good laugh watching it. How could it not be with Tracy Morgan on and can say pretty much anything and make it hilarious. Even the subplot with Jenna who gets some notoriety after Liz writes her a great one liner for the show is pretty funny as Liz gets jealous that she’s getting all the praise for something she say she helped wrote but actually texted her gay friends while Liz stayed up until four in the morning eating Raisin Bran. So keep it up 30 Rock and I guess we will be seeing a little bit more of Alan Alda to come in the next couple of weeks. You gotta milk those guest stars for as many episodes as you can and I see some great dad/son bits between him and Jack popping up in the near future.

TV Review: ‘Parks and Recreation” Episode: ‘The Banquet’

Leslie getting her manliness on with her woman in tow.
Leslie getting her manliness on with her woman in tow.

All I can say about Parks and Recreation now that we’re several episodes in, and I think probably reaching the season finale, is that I am a fan. Yes I gave it a pretty good whomping after the first couple episodes left me scratching my head a bit, but it’s definitely grown on me. There’s such a subtle goofiness to it all and to all the characters that just really makes you get into and enjoy the antics of these government officials. I even find myself liking many of the government jokes that continue to do throughout each episode. There’s just something very simple about the show and it doesn’t try to be more than it is and that’s a good thing. It does its thing well now and it’s definitely found something good footing for where it wants to be.

In this episode we find a banquet being held in Leslie’s mother’s honor for all of her hard working as a government official. Of course Leslie would be following in the footsteps of her mother and proud of the “dynasty† her family holds in the political Pawnee world, if she wasn’t so clueless on how to climb the ladder that is. We find out later that everyone else who has received this award is a regular circle of movers and shakers who don’t mind the dirty work you’d only hope government officials actually get into. Even Leslie’s mom is called the Iron profanity laden something of Pawnee, and none to affectionately so as Leslie would think.

There are some good bits at the banquet, especially when Leslie shows up with a haircut that her alter ego of Hilary Clinton of SNL might get and a few good, though pushing it a little, gay jokes are tossed around with Leslie none the wiser. We also have Anne that accompanies Leslie making sure the gay jokes can be continued just a few jokes longer. I’m more impressed than anything by Leslie’s boss who I’ve mentioned in the past needed a bit more to do than help the jokes move along and tell bad government puns. But now I feel he’s a bit of an asset to this government world and his anti-establishment views are actually starting to help the show in a weird way. I loved his undeniable lust for bacon wrapped shrimp and also his fact based speech that truly was what he said it would be as well as a few jabs at her mother thrown in for good measure.

The rest of the episode mainly deals with Leslie trying to convince a head of the zoning department to help her out with her park, still the overlying plot point of the season, and of course bungles it in all the right ways. Leslie’s innocence is one o her other great attributes and it’s funny to see her at all trying to be crafty and conniving and act like she can black mail anyone at all. We also see Mark and Tom as they try to pick up some chicks at a bar and we start to see maybe Mark might start trying to gravitate towards Leslie more as a romantic interest and I’m actually interested to see what might lay ahead near the end of the season for these two. I hate to say I want to see a little Jim and Pam thing go on between these two characters but I’m intrigued by what comic mishaps might cause them to actually really get something going on.

‘Reaper’ Recap Roundup: Three Episodes In One!

We are the Rubbersuit Men, fear us?
We are the Rubbersuit Men, fear us?

First off I’d like to say sorry to anyone that has been looking for my good old usual Reaper coverage. Several events over the past few weeks have made it difficult to keep a handle on the show. Most notably the week before last which saw the interruption of an episode for a hockey game and the subsequent airing of that episode moved to a more unwatchable time slot of seven PM on a Saturday. So I thought I’d take my time here, before the airing of tonight’s episode, to fill in the gaps that will lead up to tonight’s most likely hellishly, I thought it was clever, good episode.

I guess I’ll break it down more into chunks of plot if nothing else and give the basic summary of what’s going down. For one we’ve got the continuous return of the devil’s favorite douche bag of a son as he continues his training in soul catching with Sam. After a bad incident with a soul just looking to lose his virginity, we really get to see how big of a douche he really is as he screws over that soul pretty big after we think everything’s been wrapped up nicely. There’s also an addition of an old surly dude to the Work Bench staff who I find to be a bit of an annoying character. He’s mostly just there as a punch line and sad to say some of his jokes fall a little flat and are a bit predictable and expected. I think we’ve all gotten past the whole old man who can talk dirty and be weird routine.

All of this though helps in Sam finding Allen though, the guy who escaped from hell, and we soon see Sam pursuing him in an effort to find out how he was able to get out of his contract. Basically it all leads back to the famous Crossroads tale and challenging the devil to something, anything you apparently might be good at. Of course though Allen refuses to reveal all until he knows he’s safe from the devil and things don’t turn out decidedly well. Now besides that we also get to see Sam and the douche pitted against each other for who can catch the next soul with the prize being that who ever wins will be the Devil’s right hand man on Earth. The loser of curse will get a less than adequate parting gift.

Besides all that soul catching, Allen losing, and prize winning, we have the further love tale of Ben and Nina. She ends up meeting his grandma, who we all know can somehow see evil in someone, and disastrous effects ensue. This causes Ben to have to make a decision, which ultimately might be the wrong one, and he breaks up with Nina. After a few hilarious scenes where Nina wreaks havoc upon him and Sock in her demon form, and one pretty hot scene with Nina in her underwear trying to seduce Sock and having her catapult up my hotties I’d like to do list, they reconcile and realize they can’t be without each other. Of course that reconciliation comes in the midst of Sock trying to burn down her demon lair after she scared the willies out of him during one of his dreams. There’s also a weird little romance that Sam has with a woman that’s supposed to be his tutor in the ways of being evil and things get a little heated when the Devil shows a little interest in her as well.

So that’s what we’ve come up to at the present moment in the Reaper universe. Everything is still going right for the show and they’ve been able to keep the characters very engaging throughout. Even Sam and Andi’s break up and their will they or won’t they, but more than likely will, get back together shtick works better than most shows that try to pull off this same, tired routine. So stay tuned everyone, until the end, and get your friends into to and let’s hope this show doesn’t tragically see its end coming near because it really is one of the more interesting shows currently on network TV. They even provide a consistent amount of intrigue and humor throughout each episode and I rarely know which way they’re going to go with it next.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘The Natural Order’

30-rock-christmas-1

I’d like to start off my review of 30 Rock by saying how happy I am to see the character of Jonathan back as Jack’s assistant. Maulik Pancholy as Jonathan is a brilliantly loopy person who fits very well into the mold of 30 Rock as a man in so much awe of another man he’s grown and odd love for him and after he was fired a few weeks ago because of cutbacks it’s good to see Jack couldn’t live without him as I’m sure it’s the same the other way around. You should also check Maulik out in the show Weeds where he plays another somewhat gay man and is pretty funny in that as well. So, anyway, what we’ve got here is your typical, classically perfectly hilarious episode of 30 Rock with all the just right blunders you would hope the characters to fall into.

First off we have Liz scorning Tracy so badly for never showing up on time and there is a great bit where a handful of people changed his clocks so much he couldn’t tell you what time it was if he has a sundial strapped to his back. So now Liz is informed that Tracy has two options and they both don’t sound particularly good for anybody. Now Tracy has decided to do the work that he is actually paid to do but the price might be too heavy for Liz to handle. Let’s just say it involves a great bit of slapstickiness with a water cooler and, of course, a good old fashioned jaunt to a strip club to go see some naked daughters and moms!

We also have another return of Jack’s mom who has brought a lover with her even though this day apparently marks the anniversary of when Jack’s dad left them and never came back. She of course could care less since it turns out the man disappeared so often it was no shocker to see him show up one night and be all antsy to go see Some Like it Hot. Being the good boy that he is, Jack hires a private eye to find out some dirt on the guy. I won’t say what is found out but its fairly simple and when the big confrontation does occur the explanation is what you probably would’ve guessed it would have been anyway so don’t expect any great shocks from this subplot.

Even the later shocker we get you could pretty much gather from what somebody had said earlier. The one good part here is that we get a good little scene with Steve Buscemi returning as the private detective he played last season and he’s got some good lines and you really can’t tell that he now has a glass eye after that car accident he was in.

The truly best bits in this episode come from Jenna who stands up for a gibbons monkey that Tracy had brought into replace him and they actually found the monkey showed up on time and didn’t bite any of the dancers. She even goes as far as naming it Little Jenna and everyone warns her that it’s unnatural to keep a monkey that way and dress him in cute little outfits that of course Jenna is stupid enough to put the monkey in, even though he does look adorable.

But, low and behold, Jenna pushes the monkey too far and puts it into so many situations that would provoke anger from a monkey that the results are less than what you would want happen with a monkey wrapped around your neck. It’s good to see that this show can still run an efficient episode and the comedy seems so seamlessly perfect it’s surprising to watch how they never seem to fail in making their episodes gut wrenchingly amusing to watch. I mean what can you say about a show that can make a spot on Quantum Leap reference?

TV Review: ‘Parks & Recreation’ Episode: ‘Boys Club’

parks-recreation9

Well I’ll be the first to admit that maybe I was a little hasty in my dissing of Parks and Recreation from the onset.

There was just something about that first episode that didn’t click for me and I was very ready to pass it off as a doomed Office rip off. But here I sit several weeks after that first pilot airing and I have to say that I am more on board with the show than I thought I would ever be. It is somewhat discourteous to write a show off after the first episode but I guess there are those shows that just need to really build into it. Some shows can’t just grab you right off the bat. Hell I’ll even admit if you go back and watch the very first episode of The Office it pails in comparison to anything they did later on. I guess we can take the expression don’t judge a book by its cover and move it over into the TV world and say don’t judge a TV show by its first episode.

So here’s what we got going on this week on Parks and Recreation, and it’s actually fairly simple all around. They barely do anything with the whole pit plot that seems to be the focal point of the whole season. Though I will say that the opening where Amy Poehler and Aziz Ansari’s characters try to stop a teenage dog poop fight is pretty hilarious, especially when Amy gets into it and confesses that it’s actually pretty fun. But what we got as the main plot is simple government scandal, or at least as simple as government scandal can get in the small town of Pawnee these characters inhabit. It seems that Leslie (Amy) is staunchly against receiving any form of gifts as they might be considered bribes and lets no one touch a gift basket that has arrived for them. For Leslie believes that workers of the government should be squeaky clean even hilariously mentioning that she drives two towns over if she wants to rent a movie that has nudity in it.

But, of course, her staunchness doesn’t last long for when she tries to infiltrate a boy’s club meeting, that includes her one time lover Mark (Paul Schneider, who is still used very well in this), she does some proper usual bungling that inevitably has her opening the gift basket in search of the precious wine that it holds inside. From there she has to take it too far and feel so distraught about the whole mess that she actually rats herself out and has to go up against a disciplinary panel and explain her actions with her boss Ron (Nick Offerman) in tow. Now the character of Ron the boss is the one character I’ve had the most problems with. Even the characters that are a couple that are Anne (Rashida Jones) and Andy (Chris Pratt) have been a little bit better used in the past couple of episodes. But Ron continued to be a one note character that had really only been used so other people could be hilarious around. But even he gets his due in this episode when he stands up for Leslie and does what a good boss does best and gives ‘em hell! His explanation for why he does is actually pretty funny too.

And then there’s the subplot of Andy cleaning up the house while Anne is at work and there’s a few good sight gags here and there. The best being how he plans on cleaning himself and then through a series of unfortunate events we find him naked and on crutches gallivanting around the neighborhood. So there we are, a show that shows that it’s starting to get its legs and walk to its own beat. It even boasts less comparisons to The Office now and really looks like its on its own particular comic tune now and even though the odd romance that is building between Leslie and Mark is a little close to the whole Jim and Pam angle, it is still as sweet and off putting as you would hope a romance would be.

TV Review: ‘Heroes’ Episode: ‘An Invisible Thread’

heroes-pop

So here we are. The end of volume four has been reached and what an interesting end they’ve chosen to go with. I’m not exactly sure how to take the episode I just watched for I didn’t think they bungled it like they’ve done so often in the past with one of my favorite shows, but it felt like something was lacking. It had all the neat twists and turns I was hoping that it might take and there was no lack of intriguing story arcs to make it a disappointing mess. I must say it might be the fact that there was no big showdown like I feel a season ender should have. There were some good fights here and there but when you watch the end of a season, and in this case the end of a volume, shouldn’t there be some big explosions and people flying all willy nilly through the air to their deaths? Even the end to the last volume had the explosion of the Petrelli’s father’s evil lair. But maybe I’ve just seen one too many action movies. But in the end I will say that this was a good end to the volume and a very introspective one at that.

Now I won’t go into every detail of the show but leaving off from last week we now see Sylar is all back to being a bad ass villain mode and is planning on going to meet the president at some hotel and is all jazzed about shaking his hand. I’m not exactly sure what this will get him but it’s apparently a big enough deal to get every available hero moving his ass double time to stop him. Hiro and Ando are still on their quest to bring down Building 26 and now it seems as though Hiro’s body is rejecting his power for some odd reason and every time he uses it he gets a nose bleed or his ear bleeds, pretty much blood will shoot out of some part of him if he keeps using his power, that and he’s now more prone to dizzy spells and collapsing into people’s arms.

Nothing of too much excitement goes on during the scenes at Building 26 and it’s no great siege as you might be hoping for. It basically becomes a plot point to help out a few characters so they can join the rest as they head to the hotel to make sure Sylar doesn’t touch the president, and not in a creepy pervy kind of way but in a power hungry demented Sylar kind of way. Now there is a pretty good show down between Nathan, Peter, and Sylar, or at least it sounds really cool as we get to see none of it because the door gets closed and all we get is fighting noises and blue lightening flashing around the cracks of the doors. That’s okay though because it ends up being kind of a nifty trick to not waste money on the CGI that would be required to show us a good old smack down. And let’s just say one person doesn’t get out of the fire fight all in one piece.

And of course we build up to the inevitable meeting of Sylar and the president because we can’t not have a scene where the villain looks like he is about to succeed in his nefarious scheme and then all hell breaks loose. Now what they do with several of the characters at the end is pretty inventive and I’m not entirely sure how they are going to pull it off in the season, or seasons, to come. It was a pretty nifty trick but it seems to negate where the whole show had been heading in the whole future of it all. Of course as we’ve seen through time paradoxes, the future of the show has changed many times over from the choices characters have made so it won’t be more needed than a simple altering of what the future now has to offer to explain away all the events that have transpired from this volume ender.

So I must say good for you Heroes in making a volume that pretty much corrected all the wrongs that have been going on with this show ever since the start of volume two. I will say I think they’ve pretty much regained their strength and have restored my faith in this show and of course now there’s always the problem of sustaining it and keeping it on track but that can’t be that hard. From the little preview of volume five that we’re given, titled Redemption, it seems like they are heading into some interesting and mind bending territory.

TV Review: ’30 Rock’ Episode: ‘The Ones’

The cast looks off into the stands, are you picking your nose up there?
The cast looks off into the stands, are you picking your nose up there?

Well men have no fear for you may have thought Salma Hayek would never return to 30 Rock after she left Jack earlier this season to go to some far off distant land for whatever reason was needed to have her exit since she’s a big name celebrity and she can’t stick around a TV show for very long. But now is a time for rejoicing my fellows for she is back on this week’s episode and in the first scene we see Jack looking for engagement rings for his beloved Latina with Liz in tow and there’s a great bit where she drops a ring down a vent and Jack must explain that this is not the woman he is marrying and shows the jeweler a picture of Salma and he takes him right away into the real show room.

But there is a bit of a hitch as Salma admits to Liz that she can’t marry jack because of some deep dark secret and she wants Liz to be the one to tell Jack what it’s all about. There’s some pretty interesting discoveries throughout the episode with this story line and I especially liked the part where Salma had to dramatically explain herself while wearing a shirt that said “What the Frak† on it and we all pretty much know what it’s leading up to but I will allow you all to find it out for yourselves. This does follow in the great tradition of celebrity guest stars on 30 Rock and how they are hilariously used and twisted about in this world that Tina Fey has crafted for them. And you can trust me in the fact that you will not be disappointed in what you are given in the way of story line for Miss Hayek.

Now with the rest of the episode we see Tracy trying to find the perfect anniversary gift for his wife which he gets down to either diamond bedazzled jacket that says “Hot Bitch† across the back or a slanket. I barely knew what a slanket was before this episode and upon finding out I don’t think I’d ever want to use one. For those not in the know it’s basically a blanket that has arm holes in it so you don’t have to release any bodily heat if you want to get something from the fridge or something. I will admit that I can be quite the lazy man on more than one occasion but that is going over the top just a little bit. Luckily for Tracy all he has to do is ask his wife what she wants and unfortunately for Tracy what his wife wants is a gift very few men would ever be willing to do.

Then we have Jenna who becomes so enamored with a brawny paramedic that actually likes her show and isn’t gay that she abuses the use of the emergency line, as well as someone’s deathly allergy to strawberries, just so she can reconnect with him. There is a really funny part where Pete asks her a question that tests whether people are psychopaths, which I had actually heard years ago, and Jenna doesn’t come off very well with her answer. The question basically involves whether you would be willing to murder your own father just in the hopes that someone you had meant at a funeral and liked would then come to this funeral so you could reconnect, sound familiar? Luckily no one ends up super hurt, or in a coffin, and there’s a great joke where Jenna is tricked by The Pranksmen, which is Twofer, Pete, and all the rest of the writers who do pranks and where kick ass fedoras. All in all a good episode that falls right in line with proving that 30 Rock still has the balls to be the funniest show on TV.