Episode 4 - Audition Day
7 November 2009
Review
Synopsis: Liz and Pete have found the actor they want to hire, Jayden Tyler. The Hornberger system is a sure fire way of presenting other actors who Jack will hate to ensure that Jayden gets hired. But Liz feels bad about rejecting people and ends up opening the floodgates to many more wannabe actors. Jenna insists that Jayden is crazy and is proven right. Meanwhile Jack has bed bugs and learns a lesson about humanity when no one wants to go near him. He ends up hiring a street performer who was kind to him.
The Good: Credit where it’s due, the story of the new cast member has provided a consistent and logical structure to each episode of this season. That consistency meant that the audition process felt a very natural and important part of the show’s storylines. It also dictates where the plot is going next week which is always a good hook to keep some viewers.
The audition process itself was a simple but winning story. Liz and Pete were firmly cast as good guys, feeling sorry for the actors who were being brought in just to get rejected. That fatal sympathy allowed some really nice cameo appearances and an easy roll call of awful acts to be paraded across the screen. Dot Com, one of the shows only likeable and plausible characters got his moment in the spotlight. Josh Gerrard returned to beg for his job back and Kathy Geiss returned for a couple of unexpected moments of sillyness. And indeed NBC news anchor Brian Williams seemed to enjoy being silly too. The frantic scrambling over the auditions gave Tracy and Jenna something to do too (see Comic Highlight).
Jack has one of his “walking among the people” episodes when he too realises the pain that people will go through in the auditioning process. He gives a speech on the subway as if his bed bugs have turned him into a social outcast like homeless people do, which was a nice idea. In the end he hires the robot street performer. It would be nice if he turned out to be a sane person, it would certainly be a nice contrast.
The Bad: Jenna has been annoyingly unbelievable for a very long time. But Tracy is being dragged into her category this season. His misunderstandings are becoming more forced and implausible each week.
Jayden laughing like a fake crazy person was just ridiculous. Him being conniving was a fine plot development, why was that dip into un-reality needed? I don’t mind jokey product placement if it is funny but the Cisco plugs felt pretty lazy. It didn’t help that Liz twice looked at the camera to acknowledge where the story was going. In an ideal world the show would never break the fourth wall in this way. But here it didn’t make the story better to essentially have Tina Fey try and look cooler than sit coms by winking at us.
Comic Highlight: When Jenna’s madness is written well it can be funny. She realises that Liz is setting up the auditions to ensure Jayden gets the part and says: “You don’t think I know that trick? You don’t think I’ve been brought in on a million auditions just to make Kim Cattral seem grounded and human?”
The Bottom Line: With more focus and urgency than usual this was much easier to enjoy in spite of the usual gripes.
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