Episode 3 - The One with the Cast of 'Night Court'
29 March 2012
Synopsis: Liz’ friend Claire Harper (Jennifer Aniston) comes to town and begins stalking Jack. Despite Liz’ warnings he can’t avoid falling for her and ending up in night court. Meanwhile Kenneth is upset about new page uniforms being issued at NBC. To cheer him up Tracy tries to fix one of Kenneth’s other issues: that he never saw a proper finale to the NBC show Night Court. Tracy gathers three of the stars and tries to film a fitting finale.
The Good: I don’t know quite where to begin with this episode. The writers of 30 Rock clearly like creating this bizarre self-referential and silly world for their stars and guest stars to enjoy themselves in. That is difficult to criticise because when the episode is as gimmicky as this one is, there is clearly no attempt to be serious and so my usual criticisms all seem pointless.
I have never seen Night Court but even with my basic knowledge I was able to appreciate much of the humour behind the idea of reuniting the cast. Linking Jennifer Aniston’s appearance to them actually works out quite well. It allows Kenneth to deliver quite the silly in-joke when he announces “Finally giving America what it wants, a reunion of friends…from Night Court.” Then once Claire calls the cops on Jack he ends up at night court which is a pretty fitting final scene.
In the meantime the typical jokes about bitter ex-cast members (see Best Moment) and rivalries are fine, though doubtless they would have been much funnier to fans of Night Court than to me. Tracy manages to add to the ludicrousness in a plausible way when he explains to Harry that Kenneth is upset because “They’re trying to make him wear a coat which is different to his other coat.” Even Jenna’s Were-wolf lawyer character seems like a fun joke at Night Court’s gradual deterioration from reality based criminals. Perhaps that gives it a fitting link to 30 Rock.
The real star of the show is of course Jennifer Aniston who is a tremendous sitcom actress and is given a better role than David Schwimmer was (205). Why is she so good? Because she is convincing and believable in everything she does. She has that invaluable sitcom quality of being able to play a larger than life character in a way which seems natural. Her stalker storyline actually plays out fairly logically, as far as that story can be logical anyway. Once Jack finally gives in to her charms she freaks out at the thought of being in a normal relationship and steals a cops gun as Liz had prophesised. In the meantime she throws herself into the role with her “Sexy birthday” singing and other crazy behaviour.
The Bad: I still think 30 Rock is hugely overrated. Aniston is fun to watch but she doesn’t have any really funny things to say. Tracy and Kenneth are too ridiculous to really make you believe in anything they do and I maintain that that plausibility is what makes it funny.
Comic Highlight: When Harry Anderson (renowned professional magician) sees Liz he asks “Hey, are you with network? How about if Heroes had this new character and his super power was like close-up magic?”
The Bottom Line: It seems like harmless fun and if you are a Night Court or Jennifer Aniston fan then this is enjoyable stuff. But as a mass marketed sitcom I don’t think this is funny enough.
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