Another combo week. Hurricane Sandy knocked out a large portion of primetime television last week, and the Thursday night comedies had to be put on the back burner for The Voice. For some strange reason, 30 Rock was put on Wednesday. It was a two-parter anyway, so it kind of works out for this post.
30 Rock
"Unwindulax"
30 Rock and politics has usually gone together pretty well, but this ran middle of the course. I do enjoy that Liz and Jack are on the polar opposite of the political spectrum, but are still good friends. It's not something you see often in media. I like even better the fact that Jack is never seen as a villain even though Tina Fey's politics are pretty well known not to be Republican. Crazy, yes, villainous, no. Jack's ploy to use Liz's extreme liberalism to get more Romney donations was fun, and Tracey telling Liz and Jack figuring out the election simultaneously was the highlight of the episode. The unwindulax plot seemed like a terrible waste of Gary Cole and Amy Sedaris. I did like Pete's struggle against them, more so than the pranksters storyline.
"There's No I in America"
A Danny sighting! No character is complete on 30 Rock until they get to be in a meta joke. After having a good story in "Stride of Pride," these two episodes were way too much Jenna. The fake debate was great, though, especially Jack's closing words of feel goodness with no substance. The switching of tactics for Liz and Jack really pulled this episode together, and kept it from falling too far into a political trap. Also, Tracey reason for being kicked off Twitter, and the fact that he can't stop himself was great. Pete's story was a nice touch on how some Democrats have been disappointed since the great fanfare of 2008. That's two weeks of strong material for Pete (and even better that the "next time on" told us Pete going unwindulax would be completely dropped). You'll notice I haven't mentioned Kenneth in either of these write-ups so far, that because they were both pretty bad. The craziness of Kenneth's hometown doesn't really need to be elaborated on anymore. The writers did right by Kenneth for a good stretch of last year, I just hope they find a way to pull him back up before the series is done.
The Office - "Here Comes Treble"
I've decided to stick it out until the end, but they're not making it easy. Even the Jim and Pam stuff wasn't that great this episode. It's a believable argument they're having about money, a universal marriage fight, but it felt unfinished this episode. Maybe it will be picked up next episode. Everything to do with Andy and his a capella group was pretty bad. Even the great Stephen Colbert as the much heard about Broccoli Rob couldn't elevate that story. That plot sort of petered out and then took a serious left turn at the end when we find out that Andy's family is broke. Strangely enough, the only story that had a coherent throughline and a good finish was the Dwight and Nellie anxiety pill plot. If only it didn't have the capturing people section to it and I might have actually liked it.
Parks and Recreation - "Halloween Surprise"
Well done, Parks and Rec, well done. Not many comedies can bring tears to my eyes, outside of laughing too hard, but during Ben's proposal to Leslie, it got mighty dusty in my living room. The look on Amy Poehler's face when he gets down on one knee was amazing only to get better as she tries so desperate to take in every detail of this perfect moment in her life. The fact that she has never won an Emmy for this show is tragic. It's still early in the season, but this seems like a great submission episode. That final scene overshadowed the rest of the episode, but there was other good stuff, too. The best being Ron dealing with Diane's kids. The cold open of Andy and Diane's daughters racing around Ron's desk left me in stitches, as did Ron's way of dealing with a broken tiara. Of course Ron would think a saw was a perfect gift for a female child. On top of all this greatness, Jerry has a fart attack, and some wise words afterward. Just a wonderful episode.
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