Episode 7 - Dealbreakers Talk Show No. 0001
4 December 2009
Review
Synopsis: Liz begins to fall apart under the stress of hosting her own show. Jack tries all he can to help her, partly because Devin Banks is putting pressure on him about the shows profitability. Meanwhile Tracy tries to convince Angie to have a daughter with him but gets distracted by a new necklace.
The Good: Both stories had a certain logic and merit to them. It’s an old plot trick but almost always works to have characters suddenly walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. So as Liz prepares to go in front of the camera she gets stressed and freaks out like Jenna. Jenna actually explains it well when talking about how vulnerable you feel in front of the camera. Similarly though more predictably Frank is left to manage TGS and begins turning into Liz. Both developments were logical enough and kept you interested in seeing how they would turn out.
Tracy getting distracted by a shiny necklace is also entirely plausible. Tracy’s character fits nicely into the passionate but ADD category. So matching his new search for an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony with his quest to have a daughter was fun to watch. I particularly liked the extra logic which went into pointing out that one song was the most likely route to success.
The Bad: The humour in 30 Rock is so broad. It irritates me to see people describe the show as clever. Tracy goes to a jeweller and of course chooses the gaudy sounding “Yakov's Nubian Bling Explosion.” It effectively conveys the tacky side of Tracy’s personality but it’s not that funny when just stated so quickly at the beginning of the scene. Similarly we have Pete breaking down and acting like a crazy person, Tracy not finishing a ..., Dr Spacemen’s usual implausible nonsense, Liz’ surgery leading to her crying from the mouth, Tracy mistaking Frank for Liz and a high definition joke pinched from every animated show on TV. Each time the humour is either predictable and basic or just has no basis in reality.
Ditto Liz’ Gollum impersonation to end her story. How can that be funny when she is supposed to be a normal person for the rest of the show’s existence?
The Tracy story seems to be heading to him having another son instead of a daughter. Wouldn’t that be the logical conclusion of this process? No one has voiced that distinct possibility which makes me assume that is where we are going. Whoopi Goldberg’s appearance seemed like a waste of time and an inadequate conclusion to the story.
Comic Highlight: Liz’ inability to act like a human being during the filming of her opening credits was a mixed bag of a scene. But I actually found her stress-ridden performance oddly convincing.
The Bottom Line: Some good ideas, some bad execution.
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