Art Imitates Life: 30 Rock Returns

After a strange autumn season, during which “Community” was taken away from us and “Whitney” was allowed to stay (I have a bizarre theory that an exec fumbled on the spot when the moment of decision arrived during a programming meeting. “Whitney!” he said. “Wait, I thought you said which show we didn’t want back.”), I was looking forward for Liz Lemon and Company to return. On a bittersweet note, they now occupy Jeff and the gang’s timeslot.

I was looking forward to “30 Rock” even more after the death of Kim Jong Il. To quickly summarize, his son, who is now the new guy in charge of the Hermit Kingdom, was married to Jack’s wife Avery (Elizabeth Banks, who is humorous even posing for a Christmas card early on in the episode) after she was kidnapped. This surprise change in casting now makes Avery the First Lady of North Korea. This makes Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) very depressed.

But since Kim’s death occurred after the first few episodes were created, this dilemma has to be aside for awhile. The big dilemma at the moment involves Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon. Why is she so happy? She no longer tries to please egomaniacs Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney (Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski, respectively). It turns out that she has a new side gig as a jazz dancer for WNBA games, after Tracy mistakes her for becoming a crack addict.

Jenna is a guest judge on “America’s Kidz Got Singing”, a musical competition that has become Jack’s surprise hit but it comes at a price. Her judging skills would be too cruel for Simon Cowell to use. “That was good—if you were trying to make me commit suicide,” she blurts out in front a girl, who looked like a kindergartener (these scenes are funnier if you watch it).

Everyone becomes concerned, even frightened, at the sight of a happy Liz Lemon. “I made you laugh,” boasts Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), who claims he has spent six years trying to accomplish this task. Speaking of Kenneth, I did not enjoy his story, in which he believed that the world was ending the following day and he kept telling people in which specific hell they would be heading for. It reminded me of those evangelicals (or that irritating-as-hell man right outside the Old Navy in downtown, damning people on his second-rate microphone.) who judge and condemn strangers and implant fear into their followers and money out of their wallets. However, I did like the fact that he had a list of dream chores, which included reorganizing the snack table and getting a piece of gum off the ceiling.

“Liddy, thank you for coming in,” Jack says, greeting his infant daughter. “I know you have to read your book with Sleepy Bear in half an hour, so I’ll make this brief.” In the episode’s best scene, Jack attempts to rationalize “Kidz” success to his daughter, mentioning to her that the world is unjust and sometimes emotions can’t get in the way of being a success story. Jack needs “Kidz” to gain big ratings and revenue. (Just like real-life NBC desperately needs a cash cow.) But at what cost? Kids are crying on-camera by Jenna’s vicious yet strangely humorous remarks. Liddy asks for “mommy”, which Jack mistakes for “money”. “You want money,” he asks. “I want money too!”

Emma Stone. The coolest woman in the world.

This season, art imitates life throughout the show. Of course the show will deal with Kim’s death and what happens next for Avery. Tracy Jordan will make an anti-gay slur, during which Liz Lemon will call him an idiot, inadvertently offending the Idiot community. Both GLBT and Idiot activists are protesting outside 30 Rock. And Liz has another reason why she’s in a good mood. (Hint: A recurring male guest star) Many, many guest stars will appear. Even Emma Stone is going to be there, but only in a short scene for an upcoming movie Jenna co-stars in. I want to go to there and see Emma anyway.