It Happened Last Night

'30 Rock': Professor Bananas is dead

By Brandon Millman

   |  

March 13, 2009 6:20 AM

6a00d83451b92469e2010536e6843c970b-800wi.jpgTonight's "30 Rock" teaches us a valuable lesson: if you want to get out of jury duty in New York City, you might want to rent the Chewbacca costume. Princess Leia is so passé.

These spoilers are curling up with some old school Playboys.

So Liz Lemon is suddenly obsessed with getting her life organized, thus the hundreds of dollars worth of shiny new plastic containers. It's the dawning of a new day... until it turns into the worst day in history. On top of the chipped tooth and collision with a biker, Liz is called away to jury duty. And being the busy lady she is, Liz tries her best to be as wacky as possible during jury selection. Unfortunately, this isn't Chicago. Her best crazy impression doesn't even rate on NYC's scale of insanity.

Jack is trying his best to hold things together back at TGS, but Jack being Jack, he's more interested in his latest product, a "pocket microwave." He pulls all the writers from the show in order to force them to create a name for the nifty little gadget. While it doesn't look big enough to make popcorn, it does have a ham button--which is a good start.

Jenna and Tracey are also getting into some trouble this week. Jenna, being the over-actress she is (in every sense of the word) has gone on a new energy pill to keep her awake 24/7. Apparently she's too exhausted from filming her non-Janis project while working on TGS. Tracey, meanwhile, has figured out that he can curse all he wants on the air as long as he pays the FCC fines afterward. That would be fine and dandy, except the advertisers are now pulling out.

Many names are tossed in the hat for the mini-microwave: Small Wonder, Micromate, Porto-hotty (my fave), Hot Richard, Hitler, etc. But none seem to fit. That is, until Kenneth suggests the Fun Cooker. Aww, how sweet. Then Tracey had to go and ruin it by calling his fun parts the same name during the ads he bought.

Back at the courthouse, Liz is finding some odd similarities between herself and the litigant who caught her workplace on fire. All the lady wanted to do was feel free from her employees, who were all pretty much useless. It didn't help Liz's mood when she discovered the chaos that occurred while she was out. So what does Liz do? She accidentally sets her office door on fire, with the entire cast stuck inside. Jack actually pats her on the back for it; after all, she's just gained a week of good behavior. And she also thought of the Bite Nuker. Fire is fun.

Other Fun Bits:

-Jack had the best line of the night: "Passing out and cursing on St. Patrick's Day. Is nothing sacred anymore?"

-Frank appeared pantsless throughout most of the episode. Is it just me, or does he have some really nice legs?

-When I become a boss, I wouldn't allow beards, mustaches, or menstruating women either.

-Would kind of conversation can a bear have with a robot? I don't see much in common.

-Who else is dying to see Jenna's lesbian sex scene, for your consideration?

19 Comments

Lame recap again - sorry. This episode was hillarious. The first five minutes had me in stitches. The Tracy and Jenna parade fiasco was so funny I couldn't stop rewinding! "Wake up mother..." Dr. Spacemen had some great lines and it was great to see the whole crew together again! Tracy on the loose and Kenneth in charge - brilliant.


You missed the best moment of the episode, Jenna's version of Me and Bobby McGee for her Janie Jimplin movie ("A synonym is just another word for the word you're trying to say). That was the only part that actually had me gasping for breath in what was otherwise kind of a meh episode for me...


Love the show, but gotta say it was one of the weakest eps to date. The lines and situations seemed phoned in. The show ventured too much into slapstick than clever territory.


I disagree with the last two posts, I felt like the show was back to its season 1 glory. I loved this episode and last week's as well, I think we're now out of guest star hype mode and back to what "30 Rock" does best.


I also loved this episode. The trial defendant and Liz's starry eyes as she was mesmerized by her were top notch. The craziness at the studio in her absence was 30 Rock at its best. And p***ing out and swearing on St. Paddy's Day? Priceless.


Brandon, let me guess. You were flipping back and forth between 30 Rock and the Uconn-Syracuse game, right? Your recap placed events out of order, missed key connections, etc., etc.

As for your word choice and sentence structure, well, did you miss every other day during grade school, or what?


I thought Jack's St Patrick's day line and Jenna's Synonym song were the two best one liners. Jack's was suttle and required a little thought, Jenna's was just absurd.


I'm a big fan, but this ep just didn't come together for me, and the individual storylines were pretty weak. We've already been privvy to Liz's scheme to avoid jury duty, so that wasn't new. The trial itself wasn't funny. Tracy's buying up ad time had such potential, but then his commercials were an unfunny waste. The pocket microwave thing was also pretty lame. I'm glad I watched - always glad I watched - but it was pretty anemic.


Oh, and I think Brandon's recap is quite good.


Where is Rick at?


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