One of the first things that comes to mind when considering tonight’s episode of 30 Rock is that it was way too light on Tracy. The show has excelled this season in working all of their characters into each episode, but I missed Tracy in this outing. Luckily the show brought in an old pro like Jan Hooks to pick up some of the slack. After watching this episode, it’s hard to believe that we haven’t seen more of Hooks recently.
Hooks was on the show playing Jenna’s nightmare of a stage mom, who only talked to Jenna when she wanted cash. I thought the story worked on a number of levels. It was a great chance to bring Hooks onto the show, but it also provided some excellent material for Jack, who has a history of dealing with a difficult mother. It was fun watching him try to coach Jenna into how to deal with Verna.
One moment from tonight’s episode cracked me up and reminded me of one of my favorite moments from Arrested Development. On that show, it was Maebe and her Uncle Michael trying to get in the spirit of a company party by singing some Karaoke. The only problem was they innocently chose “Afternoon Delight,” only to realize how grossly inappropriate it was half way through the song. On tonight’s 30 Rock, we got to see Jenna and her mom sing a mother-daughter duet to “Do That To Me One More Time,” only they never quite realized it was inappropriate.
The other highlight of the episode for me was Liz and her junk food. How great was it that she was eating something named “cornholes.” Watching her sleep eating was pretty awesome too, particularly when she munched down Frank’s cigarettes.
I thought there were a bunch of great quotes tonight, but here are my favorites:
“Enjoy your coffee while I tell you a funny story about my friend’s cat. His name is Mr. Wiggles, and his cat’s name is Benson” – Kenneth
“I’d like to pre-apologize for clogging your tub, sink, and toilet.” – Frank, upon moving in with Liz
“Manufactured in a facility that also processes food” – Liz, reading the label of “cornholes”
“People do not change. in the late 90s I thought Colleen had become a better person. It turns out she had a tumor pressing on her brain’s pleasure center. A tumor those quack doctors removed.” – Jack
“Could a bad mother have raised a daughter who was engaged to a congressman when she was 16?” – Jenna
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Feb 04, 2010 @ 22:00 EST5EDT
