Oprah Winfrey and Tina Fey Have Comic Chemistry to Spare on "30 Rock"

amp160Tina Feyamp8217s ratings challenged sitcom 30 Rock may have made its official season premiere last week but in my opinion it is this weekamp8217s far superior episode that kicks the show into hilarious high gear after its prolonged break and best illustrates why it deserved to win so many top Emmys in Septemberamp160Last Thursdayamp8217s telecast delivered the seriesamp8217 highest ratings ever among total viewers and adults 1849 but had that premiere come this week the numbers might have been even higher It is not surprising that so many new viewers sampled the show how could they resist with Fey coming off the popculture supernova surrounding her impersonation of Gov Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live But I have to think that this weekamp8217s endlessly clever episode featuring Oprah Winfrey in what may turn out to be the highest profile guest appearances of the 200809 television season will do much more not simply to attract new viewers to the show but to keep them coming back for moreamp160Throughout its relatively brief history the merrily madcap 30 Rock has kept critics consistently enthralled despite the wildly uneven quality of its storytelling Some weeks the show just starts up and plays out until it stops dead leaving me wishing that I had surrendered the previous halfhour of my life to more rewarding entertainment such as its two topnotch time period competitors CSI Crime Scene Investigation and Supernatural Last weekamp8217s episode about Liz Lemonamp8217s doomed efforts to please an investigator from an adoption agency who was tasked with determining if Liz would be a fit parent was one of those laughchallenged disappointmentsamp160But just when Iamp8217m ready to write it off Rock rebounds with a halfhour of inspired lunacy the likes of which I rarely find on American television especially in prime time This weekamp8217s episode is one of those gems and Winfrey is right there holding her own in the middle of it all The swirling comic chemistry between the two in scenes that find Winfrey seated next to Feyamp8217s heavily drugged Liz on a commercial airliner is simply delightful Despite the scary warning on the bottle that reads amp8220May cause dizziness sexual nightmares and sleep crimeamp8221 Liz takes pills to calm her nerves during the flight Unfortunately I canamp8217t go into any detail about this particular storyline because it takes a surprise turn midway through the episode that quadruples the fun Iamp8217ll just say that overall it proves to be such a strong comedic showcase for Fey that she very well may take home a second Emmy next year as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Seriesamp160The entire 30 Rock cast is wellserved by this halfhour especially Emmy winner Alec Baldwin as fallen General Electric bigwig Jack Donaghy who is wasting no time this season scheming his way right back to the top and the invaluable Jack McBrayer as squirrely NBC page Kenneth After enjoying his first night with a new flatscreen TV a gift from Jack and stolen cable television service Kenneth breathlessly tells the big man amp8220Thereamp8217s a whole channel on the cable that just tells you whatamp8217s on the other channelsamp8221 Heamp8217s all serious business when he then asks amp8220Is SpongeBob SquarePants supposed to be terrifyingamp8221amp160amp8220Darn right he isamp8221 Jack repliesamp160Meanwhile Tracy Tracy Morgan and Jenna Jane Krakowski at war over compensation involving a video game engage in a amp8220social experimentamp8221 to determine who has it harder in America white women or black men Tracy is an absolute horror in whiteface with a blonde wig and a plastic monster claw over one hand amp8220They ran out of makeup because I insisted they do my buttocksamp8221 he explains Jenna is similarly shocking in blackfaceamp160Baldwin and McBrayer get the best lines in this bit too Put off by the quarrel between Tracy and Jenna Jack bloviates amp8220Iamp8217ll tell you who has it hardest White men We make the unpopular difficult decisions the tough choices We land on the moon and Normandy Beach and yet they resent usamp8221amp160amp8220Iamp8217m sorry to disagreeamp8221 Kenneth timidly interrupts amp8220But I am also a white manamp8221amp160amp8220Socioeconomically speaking you are more like an innercity Latinaamp8221 Jack repliesamp160But the funniest lines throughout go to Fey and she delivers them with the same subdued punch that served Mary Tyler Moore so well as news producer Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show Like Mooreamp8217s Richards Feyamp8217s Lemon is positioned as the calm center amid the comic storm of her colorful coworkers The comparison is valid even if Mooreamp8217s show was rooted in and grounded by a timely realism that is far outside the wholly unreal lunacy of 30 Rock When a swoony hopelessly starstruck Liz says to Jack amp8220Sheamp8217s coming Jack Oprah is coming And sheamp8217s going to fix everythingamp8221 you just know that Winfreyamp8217s arrival at the office is going to set Liz up for the same kind of embarrassment Mary often suffered at her legendarily disastrous dinner parties especially those attended by people of note including in one unforgettable episode the one and only Johnny Carsonamp160We may have seen the last of Feyamp8217s ferociously funny impersonation of Sarah Palin for a while but that will be okay as long as her Liz Lemon keeps Rock rollingamp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160

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Oprah Winfrey and Tina Fey Have Comic Chemistry to Spare on "30 Rock"

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Ed Martin

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Oprah Winfrey and Tina Fey Have Comic Chemistry to Spare on "30 Rock"

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Ed Martin

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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