The TV Zone

I'm just catching up to this fascinating, strange, amusing, odd, nutty profile/story of the great Alec Baldwin in The Envelope, and it's one of those pieces that "have people talking" because they're not exactly sure what HE'S talking about. He muses about Chopin, and Rachmaninoff, and how Charles Dutoit of the Montreal Symphony doesn't rate (whaaa!!!??? In fact, Dutoit's pretty much a conductor of the first rank, at least when it comes to Debussy...)

It goes on: He doesn't want to do TV anymore, something he's publicly mused about before, and then starts to riff on what he could do instead. ("Yeah, I do have to find another career," he said. "I don't want to do this. . . . I don't.") The piece ends when he stands up and explains that he has to go do something - he simply heads out to lunch.

I love it: A deeply deranged and hugely talented actor. (But don't Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper already have a lock on this category?)

Or: Maybe he's just pulling the writer's leg.

Judge for yourself. It's here and worth a read.

Thank heavens, "30 Rock" is back and just as good as ever. Here's what cracked me up last night:

1. Kenneth telling a freaked-out Liz: "Your eyes look like my uncle's after he'd drink from the air conditioner."

2. Nice plug for SoyJoy.

3. "Stay tuned for “Dog Swap!”

4. The “MILF Island” host’s elimination catchphrase: “Get off MILF Island,” followed by the banished mom throwing her bikini on the fire (breasts digitally covered, of course).

5. Jerry Seinfeld getting co-executive producer credit for “MILF Island.”

"30 Rock" fans have to wait until April 10 -- that's 44 more days, darn it -- until we get to see a fresh episode.

However, fans of Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), the page who's all the rage, can get a chance now to see him strut his stuff -- in a snippet of "Touch My Body," the new video from Harborfields' own Mariah Carey.

Thanks to the amy's robot blog for tipping us off.

Last night on “30 Rock”:

Liz tried to make a major commitment. Jack and CC made a major decision about their relationship and Kenneth got hooked on a major drug.

Sorry for making the plot sound like something out of “All My Children.” Guess I’m feeling melodramatic since this was the final original episode we’re likely to see for some time.

Anyway, here are five things we loved

-- All the major characters singing and dancing to “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

-- Gladys Knight’s episode-ending cameo.

-- The strange things Kenneth did after he became hooked on caffeine. “I went to a PG-13 movie... I tried one of those Jewish donuts!”

-- Tracy imploring Kenneth not to leave Manhattan: “This is New York...The Big Easy!”

-- Liz’ version of “The Lost Weekend,” slugging down bottle after bottle of wine as she phoned her prospective co-op board.

Jeez, we’re gonna miss this show. If you really want a "30 Rock" fix, you can always go here.

(Photo: Courtesy NBC)

In case you missed it, the core cast of “30 Rock” did something really terrific Monday night.

They performed an upcoming script live at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Manhattan and donated all the proceeds from the admission and a special raffle to the recently laid-off production assistants for the show.

For an eye-witness report, go here.

And by the way, “30 Rock” won’t be on this week. NBC is airing “The Incredibles” from 8-10:30 p.m. But it will back on 11/29: The log line sounds beyond promising:

As part of his community service, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) takes on the duties of coaching an inner city little league team from Knuckle Beach, the worst neighborhood in New York. Jack (Alec Baldwin) has a special interest in the team and wants to turn these underprivileged kids into winners.

He showers them with gifts of a new scoreboard, backstop, a fresh pitcher’s mound and tuxedo uniforms, only to have the plan backfire with protests and uprising. To make matters worse, Jack fires Tracy as coach and hires Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) as the new team leader

Another great episode: Jack goes to a party, meets a woman there and has a wild tumble in the sack with her. She turns out to be — yikes — a Democratic congresswoman (brilliantly played by Edie Falco) and subject of a Lifetime TV movie. Politics be damned, they can’t keep their hands off each other.

Meanwhile, Liz is suspicious of Raheem, her new neighbor. She reports him to Homeland Security — and as it turns out, all his “suspicious” activity involved his attempt to get on “The Amazing Race.”

Here are the five things I loved:

1. Boy, was it great to see Edie Falco on TV again, playing it for laughs this time. (Her character will stick around for the next two episodes.)

2. Liz’ relentless touting of Verizon Wireless phones, followed by her maniacally grinning into the camera, demanding, “Can we have our money now?” (On the other hand, product placement is product placement, no matter how ingeniously concealed. Oh, by the way, did I mention how much I love my Verizon Wireless phone?)

3. Jack tells Liz that he’s going to be at a party attended by John McCain and Jack Bauer. “He’s not real,” Liz informs Jack about one of those guests. Responds Jack: “I can assure you John McCain is very real.”

4. More fun facts about Kenneth’s family: “We Parcells are neither wealthy nor circumcised...”

5. When Liz calls the super-secret Homeland Security hotline to report her neighbor, a voice answers immediately: “Who is he and where can we find him?”

Of course “30 Rock” had to sign on with the NBC/Universal’s mandate to do “green”-themed programming this week. Of course, “30 Rock” proceeded to take a big bite out of the hand that feeds it. (Along with a great B-story about Kenneth’s sad-sack party evolving, thanks to word of mouth, into the A-list event of the century.)

The five things we loved most:

1. David Schwimmer — back on NBC Thursday night — as “Greenzo,” the NBC-goes-green mascot who takes his job just a little too seriously. (Like when he hectors Liz: “Do you even compost your own feces?”)

2. Greenzo’s most recent “show-biz” gig was doing a commercial for Rick Lazio, New York’s unsuccessful GOP senatorial candidate in 2000. The commercial attacked "Hillary Clinton's plans for an all-homosexual army." (Needless to say, if you’re not from New York or your memory bank doesn't go back past 2003, you’d have no clue who Rick Lazio is.)

3. A throwaway line, but one that cracked me up: While riding in an elevator, Jenna has a hush-hush cell-phone conversation with her publicist: “Could you kill the story about my mom being homeless?”

4. Two things I never knew: Jack was an intern for Sen. Kennedy and Sonny Crockett is the name of Kenneth’s parrot.

5. Good-sport award to Al Gore, who put in a cameo appearance and then beats a quick retreat, saying in his best Adam West/Principal Skinner voice: “Quiet.. a whale is in trouble.. I’ve got to go...”

Last night on “30 Rock” — clearly the funniest comedy on TV — Liz hires her creative heroine (Carrie Fisher), once a radical “Saturday Night Live”-type comedy writer, now an alcoholic has-been.

Here are five things we loved about Thursday’s episode:

1. The writer lives in a “gentrifying” neighborhood known as Little Chechnya.

2. A reference to the “227” movie — “New Jackee City.”

3. The failed NBC show “Supercomputer” (a great homage to Fred Silverman’s fiasco, “Supertrain”). This show, we know now, was responsible for spinning off “Cosby” “Miami Vice” and “Highway to Heaven.”

4. The creepy guy as the power-mad head page, who forces the dreaded “page-off” with Kenneth.

5. Alec Baldwin’s brilliant therapy role playing as an inner-city deadbeat dad — done in an attempt to get Tracy to overcome his hostility to his absent father

Rock on, “30 Rock.” You’re the best

Tina Fey fights another day for truth, justice and funny TV sketches. NBC announced a second-season renewal for “30 Rock” today -- right before the comedy returns with a supersized episode Thursday night at 8:40. (Subsequent Thursday airings start at 9 p.m.)

"From the beginning, '30 Rock' has proven to be the kind of quality comedy that doesn't come around very often," said NBC’s program chief, Kevin Reilly. "We expect it to continue to build its increasingly loyal audience and become another of NBC's classic comedy series."

Watch full episodes online here.

NBC is definitely doing right by “30 Rock.”

Hooray!

I was bummed that they had placed the best new comedy of 2006-07 on hiatus starting Thursday in order to run Andy Richter’s new sitcom “Andy Barker, P.I.” Not that I have anything against Conan's former sidekick.

But on Monday, NBC announced that “30 Rock” would return with a “super-sized episode” on April 5. That means I’d only go a mere three weeks without Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, Tracy Jordan and Kenneth the NBC Page. Three weeks I can deal with.

But it gets better.

The following Thursday, April 12, the show moves into the coveted 9 p.m. slot — yes, the former home of “Seinfeld” and “Cheers.” And it will remain there until April 26, when, alas “30 Rock” ends its run.

But we’re sure it’ll be back next year, anchoring a Thursday night that — with “The Office,” “Scrubs” and “My Name Is Earl,” has quietly has become the strongest sitcom night on TV since the 1990s.

Must-see TV on Thursday night really is back.

Tomorrow’s episode of “30 Rock” (9:30 p.m. on NBC/4) may be the funniest episode of the season — yes! even more laffable than “The Office” Christmas party. This is one show that is hitting its stride before our very eyes, getting better each week and pretty much obliterating the notion that it was an afterthought to the misconceived “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”

There’s so much to love about this one: Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) ends up as Jack’s “date” to a birthday party in honor of Gerhardt Hapsburg, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. And of course Jenna (Jane Krakowski) schemes her way there as well because she wants to have her Grace Kelly moment.

But Gerhardt is no fairy-tale prince: He’s a shrunken, deformed halfwit played to comic perfection by Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman), which reminds us of what a great comic Reubens is (was) before he was sidetracked by publicly being the master of his domain. At the party, Jack runs into his ex-wife (Isabella Rossellini) — and suddenly Liz becomes more than a beard.

Did I mention that Liz — an amalgam of Mary Richards, Rhoda Morgenstern and Carrie Bradshaw — has become my favorite female TV character this season? Sorry, Chloe. Sorry, Pam.

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