Episode 15 - Hardball
25 March 2012
Synopsis: Tracy invites Kenneth to join his entourage but is disheartened to learn that Grizz and Dot Com suck up to him every day. Josh’s contract is up and Jack is itching to renegotiate it. Jenna poses for Maxim and is misquoted over her feelings about the troops.
The Good: The three stories all make sense but the comedy is very broad.
Jenna is hapless and ill-informed in a believable manner. Mistaking Obama for Osama is a mistake many of us have contemplated.
Jack’s love of negotiating is very understandable. In amusing fashion he is so excited that he negotiates a meeting with Pete for a ridiculous hour just so he can indulge in a little brinksmanship. Liz is back to being kind and too close to her employees this week (after suddenly revealing her mean side last episode). Understandably she has affection for Josh and wants to keep him on the show. Equally understandably she is angry when he negotiates with The Daily Show.
Finally Tracy’s exaggerated world is still pretty believable. The pampered movie star has two men to do all his dirty work and they understandably make him feel good about himself. The funniest and stupidest visual was the two six foot plus men allowing Tracy to beat them at basketball. Tracy of course is angry to learn that he has been patronised in this way but soon retreats into his comfort zone in a Bodyguard parody.
The Bad: The stories all make sense. But the humour which they create seems as basic and obvious as you could imagine.
Tracy’s story is a parody of the rich movie\rock star who can’t do anything for themselves. Of course this means we see Tracy being so dumb and unaware that the humour isn’t very sharp. Tracy resorts to yelling at the TV hoping that it has voice activation.
Similarly Jenna plays the ill informed TV star perfectly well. But as soon as that role becomes clear we know she is going to make gaffe after gaffe which she promptly does. Her USA themes pin wheels end up looking like Swastika’s. Of course they do. But why should we care about TGS being embarrassed when the show isn’t the focus of 30 Rock? I don’t really appreciate Tina Fey winking at the camera after voicing her character’s liberal but patriotic views. It’s just another moment when the show reminds me that it is a show and prevents me from being wrapped up in the comedy.
Comic Highlight: The one line that took me by surprise came from Josh’s agent. Having been cocksure throughout the negotiation he caves in to Jack’s unkind offer immediately and confides “I need this money. I have a really bad sex addiction.” To which Jack sympathetically says “I’m sorry.” It’s as if once the negotiation is done Jack can go back to seeing sex addiction as a sympathetic consequence of living life in the fast lane.
For those interested the swastika joke was done better on My Name is Earl (107) while the negotiation with your opponents in inferior chairs was exploited for more mirth in Spin City (108).
The Bottom Line: 30 Rock is a comedy and as such it will be judged on how much it makes you laugh. For me this comedy was about as broad and basic as anything you are likely to see on TV and that isn’t very good.
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