At T.V Club we like to offer reviews for fans by fans. Oh sure, we can be less than reverent when documenting a tacky one-off or watching with trainwreck fascination as Heroes devolves into inconceivable awfulness (apparently, I’ve never actually seen the show myself) but for the most part we assume that few of you are masochistic enough to tune in week after week just to jeer and snicker at a show you don't like. We’re the same way. I began writing about 30 Rock because I loved the show and wanted to combine business with pleasure by heralding its virtues on my little cyber-soapbox.
It gives me no joy, consequently, to write a six hundred-word shrug of disappointment in a show that once ranked as one of my all-time favorites. With that in mind, I’m beginning to wonder if you might be better served by a fresh pair of eyes who might be able to look at 30 Rock’s fourth season and see something other than a pale imitation of its glory years. I came to praise 30 Rock not to bury it yet this season has been a consistent disappointment. I’m beginning to lose faith in the show.
Last week marked a return to form for the gang at 30 Rock but tonight the show fell back into its season-long slump. Julianne Moore popped by as the great crush of Jack’s high school years, a brassy broad with a thick Boston accent who cut through Jack’s façade of slick corporate cool and reignited the lovestruck New England teenager who pined for her every night as they kissed during the high school play.
I quite liked Moore’s appearance. We got to see a softer, gentler, more romantic side of Jack and there was some clever observational bits about the ridiculousness of social networking sites like Facebook, with its goofy-sounding features and curious, adolescent rules of conduct. Tonight’s episode was all about Jack getting back in touch with his more idealistic younger self, so it seemed fitting that he charted the progress of his weirdly innocent flirtation with his married crush the same way a seventeen-year-old would cyber-size-up whether or not he had a shot at the cute girl who sits next to him in History.
Meanwhile, Liz struggles to find the perfect gift for Jack, who has an intimidating reputation as the perfect gift-giver. I complained in the past that the writers and Jenna weren’t given enough screen time. Now I tend to complain that Jenna and the writers are given too much screen time.