John Slattery 30 Rock

Last night’s 30 Rock was probably the funniest show of the night, but let’s all raise our glasses (you drink coffee out of a glass, right?) to Community for what was certainly the most interesting. I watched the episode with someone who hasn’t seen very much of the show, and they turned to me and asked if it was always like that. NOPE! I mean, good God, no. Can you imagine? Each week, a claustrophobic closed-set meta-play? Yikes. But as a self-described one-off, it was pretty great. Very funny, very clever, very trying something. Hats! Also, did anyone else notice how OLD the jokes on 30 Rock were? Don’t get me wrong, they were OLD-GREAT, but, like, Baby Jessica references and a running attack on Halliburton? HALLIBURTON! Love those guys. Never forget. And I do love a good pizza bagels joke. (Sidenote: the anti-political jokes on last night’s episode reminded me of this Peter Meehan article about food sourcing that is pretty good. Read that.) Meanwhile, if there is even anything left to say about The Office at this point, and I am not sure that there is, you can say that the show has a lot of heart. What a journey we have been on with these lovable goofballs! Like Old Huck Fin floating down the Old Miss on his makeshift raft, but, you know, with more jokes about beets. (Or the same number of jokes about beets? Not actually sure!)

Discuss.

Comments (166)
    • I loved this episode, but John Slattery’s “Rhode Island” accent was really just a Boston accent. First Queen Latifah is a RI senator and now this? Come on, guys! Was there no one from Rhode Island whom you could consult for some accuracy? (Full disclosure: I am from Eastern CT, which is practically Rhode Island.)

      • they should have just got someone to do a really bad Robert Shaw impression, and by that I mean just keep muttering “doll’s eyes” over and over again. I had nothing to do last night is what I’m saying.

      • For cereal! I’m from the district they are supposedly talking about, Roger Sterling was way off the mark.

  1. dwarves,tiny buildings, pizza bagels for lunch
    no paved roads, rum used as an aestethic, legalized slavery

  2. Um, I’m sorry you guys, but Lethal Weapon 5 definitely won the night.

    • I was just about to say that!!!

    • They’re actors. They’re trying to create an illusion. In the Lord of the Rings movie, Ian McKellen plays a wizard. You think he goes home at night and shoots laser beams into his boyfriend’s asshole? Tom cruise is a midget, but he plays guys that are normal size in movies

    • i would politely disagree. i did not so much as chuckle throughout the entire episode. just can’t seem to find the show funny anymore.

      • I disagree as well. Sunny counters every ‘yes’ with a ‘no’ for me.
        Charlie “The Professor” Kelly and his independent-thinking, trash-eating ways? Yes!
        Dee cussing out the boys over the phone? Yes!
        Inclusion of a Juggalo? Yes! Juggalo’s dialogue and acting? No!
        Argument over political correctness of black face? Yes!

        Then from there the parts I get interested in aren’t followed up on in ways I feel have potential to be fucking hilarious, and other parts get focused on that I am entertained by but more on the surface than anything else.

        I liked that the one high schooler mentioned he’d even been in the bar before, no doubt a reference to the episode “Underage Drinking: A National Concern,” and the “bad film on purpose” Lethal Weapon 5 was fun, but I could’ve settled for it just being posted online and actually focusing on Dee and Charlie working at the school. I think the problem is they always have to regroup and wind up at the bar by the end of every (or every other) episode, and it can (and does) get taxing.

        I would love it if the season kept going with Dee trying to be a sub and pregnant with Charlie being endearing to the student body and trying to develop a friendship with Dee, with Dave Foley as the principal. Instead, we get a loose tie-up of the black face stuff with an unconvincing juggalo and SURPRISE! They’re fired again. Oh Well. In spite of that, I still enjoyed the episode quite a bit, and have enjoyed this season more than the last two.

      • Upvote for politely disagreeing.

    • I don’t usually find It Always Sunny funny, but Lethal Weapon 5 was absolutely hilarious. The Danny Devito “The Room”-like sex scene was incredible.

    • I thought your kind were a noble people

    • I loved last nights Always Sunny episode. One of the best, right up there with the one where Charlie writes a musical. And I loved the juggalo boy, his voice and stupidity and everything about him. Awesome shiot.

  3. I haven’t watched a lot of The (American) Office (after the lorry version I was totes “SEEN IT”), but I love Kelly Kapoor. Anything she says. All the time. Over and over. “That show is irresponsible!”

    Love it.

    • I think the Office is terrific this season, and I’d hope you would all agree with me. Especially Erin. I know Jim and Pam are getting tired, and they should probably be put out to pasture, but the rest of the cast is doing a solid job this season.

      • Seriously, down with Pam and Jim. Jim being the straight man used to be endearing. Now it’s just annoying.

        Can we talk about Michael’s Sorkinesque walk-and-talk? That was great. The whole episode could’ve been just that and I would have been thoroughly satisfied.

      • Eh, NOT REALLY. IT’S all still incredible INCONSISTENT FROM episode to EPISODE. IT HASN’T been as bad as LAST SEASON, but I’m not READY TO call it terrific YET. ERIN’S stupidity is ABSURD AND driving me up a fuckin WALL. AM I supposed to believe she doesn’t KNOW WHAT A disposable camera is OR HOW TO bob for apples? The whole SHOW HAS JUST blasted off from reality, and as a result, CHARACTERS ACT wildly different FROM EPISODE TO episode. I still THINK IT CAN be funny, but it’s hard to GIVE A SHIT about the characters anymore ESPECIALLY when other CHARACTER COMEDIES such as Community are fuckin KILLING IT.

        ONE THING I do like though is the NEW ANDY DARRYL dynamic. Let’s KEEP THAT up.

      • I remember only seeing Creed at the party near the end of the episode and thinking, WE NEED MORE CREED.

  4. Lesbian Mario Brothers!

  5. All I need for a happy Thursday.

  6. I’ve been watching Season 2 of Parks and Recreation on Netflix PlayNow the past couple nights, and I just want to go on record here that it is ABSOLUTELY one of my favorite shows and I am missing it SO BADLY every Thursday. Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson are two of the best characters ever. I will arm wrestle anyone that says differently (probably).

    That said, I enjoyed every single show last night (minus Outsourced because I don’t watch it). They were all a lot of fun as a whole. I’m not saying each show’s episode last night was the best episode ever, but the lolz were running at a steady pace with little to no hiccups.

    The Office really surprised me, because the premise seemed so “Really? A Glee party? … Really?” But it turned out to be very enjoyable and Michael’s backwards use of TWSS at Gabe was amazing and unexpected.

  7. Also, we’ve reached the point in the year where thursdays (besides “it always sunny…”) become football nights.

  8. Monsters, I have contracted a rare but serious disease. In order to properly treat it, I need one .gif of Liz Lemon in shorteralls. Won’t you help me?

  9. Lethal Weapon 5 was one of the greatest things I’ve seen in a long while.
    I also felt like The Office was actually a pretty great episode ‘i feel like a seahorse, neeeeigh blub blub blub’ lots of lols!

  10. I’m just going to put this out there: it is possible that John Slattery was better at guest starring last night than anyone else is at anything, or has been, ever, in history.

    God, his HAIR. And “I’m a baby!” I just… I am firmly on team “Community is better than 30 Rock,” but John Slattery blew me away.

  11. We better get a follow up on Shirley. I think I will lose it if I see a Senor Chang/Shirley baby. For the love of God, let Abed raise it.

  12. Ruxin was so great in last night’s episod of The League, that I am even more disappointent I live on the wrong continent to attend the Videogum Laffsgiving Comedy Show and see Nick Kroll perform live.

    “You’re a man of the people in a country that’s only populated by Aerosmith fans.
    “But you are technically a shaft shaver.”

    Another very solid episode of a great show.

    • Ruxin was on fire. Also, we’d be remiss to not mention Maeby Fünke’s guest appearance!

      • I loved everything related to Paul Scheer’s terrible “expert witness” choices (the glasses, the look on his face with the glasses, the being unable to see while wearing the glasses, the guns to address the jury, the holstering of the guns, don’t holster the guns), and Ruxin was definitely ruling the roost last night with his court shenanigans and his work-flirting.

  13. Not a Thursday show, but tell me someone else is watching “The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.” It’s David Cross and Will Arnett in London, being total assholes, and it’s hilarious, albeit with incredibly dark humor. Rape jokes, deaf jokes, pedophile jokes, etc. But still it’s fucking terrific.

  14. Puppy Parade!!!

  15. Lethal Weapon 5 was so so good. Best Sunny episode of the season, I’d say.

    And Community? The part where Pierce started taking off his shirt had all of us laughing hysterically.

  16. I fell asleep during “Sunny” (too many Caipirinhas at happy hour), but I did manage to see “30 Rock” (it was awesome, no doy) and “The Office,” which I thought was one of the best episodes in a long time. Andy and Kelly are the best. And while I think “The League” is pretty funny, especially Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll who are just killing it (they wrote last night’s episode, btw), I’m getting really sick of the gay jokes. Every episode prominently features a joke whose humor relies solely on the fact that it is a homosexual situation. Let’s try harder, guys — I know you’re better than that.

  17. Let’s hear it for Annie’s Boobs!!!!

  18. sorry to make this brag-gum, but my old boss wrote the community episode!

    • Your old boss wrote an episode that got everyone naked and was hilarious.

      Your old boss is a humanitarian and a champion of the human spirit.

      I love your old boss.

  19. Honestly, I’m pretty sure Community has figured out that I will love an episode 5X more if Donald Glover is shirtless.

  20. I feel blessed that Community found a way to have its improbably hot male cast stand around in their undawears for half an episode. I KNEW they were all ripped! I KNEW IT!

    But seriously. They really know the way to a girl’s heart. Hint: The way to a girl’s heart is abs and puppies.

  21. I could watch Allison Brie indefinitely.

  22. Hard To Watch: Based on the Book ‘Stone Cold Bummer’ by Manipulate

  23. Did anyone else think the first puppy in the puppy parade looked like Birdiepup?

  24. Last night’s LOLWARS ended in a tie between “Lesbian Mario Brothers” and “You Know, Girl!” pregnancy tests. I surrender.

  25. Surprised there’s not a gif of Annie’s freakout head shake!

  26. Tonight for dinner: Butter Burgers!!

  27. i love community- i don’t know many people who watch it, much less get it, but i wish more people did. 30 rock is the best, duh. i’ve given up on the office- enough already! and i tried again with outsourced last night- holy cow that show is just terrible.

  28. Season 6 was rough for the Office, so I will say I am overall satisfied with this season, but for the love of foot-burning George Foreman Grills, ENOUGH WITH JIM AND PAM AND THEIR BABY.

  29. Did anyone else watch Conan last night? They put Kanye in a corner. No one puts Baby in a corner, but Kanye’s ok

  30. I was sad when The Simpsons were canceled 13 years ago (Shut it!), but now we all have Community.

    This is the closest anyone has ever come to The Simpsons in their glory years.

  31. This doesn’t have to do with Thursday night tv, but is anyone else upset that AMC canceled Rubicon?

  32. “So I see it a lot like the movie Paranormal Activity, only more boring and fancy.”

  33. “I’ll make your ass linear!”
    “That doesn’t make sense.”
    “I’ll make your ass sense!”

  34. Did you guys see this? Dan Harmon retweeted it yesterday from a Something Awful goon.

  35. Community: Fantastic episode. Chang Baby, y’all.

    30 Rock: John Slattery is up there with Kelsey Grammar and Steve Martin in terms of great guest stars. The repeated “BRING BACK SLAVERY” joke got me everytime.

    The Office: Man, can Jim and Pam’s baby just disappear or start saying sassy things/rapping? The baby has superceded Jim and Pam as characters.

    Does NBC owe FOX a favor or something? Giving that much publicity to another show on another channel is …weird. Solid.

    Highlight was the fleshing out of Gabe’s weenieness (the japanese stuff, the keyboard).

    It’s Always Sunny: Danny Devito basically plays the Penguin again and has a The Room-esque sex scene. Really great episode.

  36. Community: Fantastic episode. Chang Baby, y’all.

    30 Rock: John Slattery is up there with Kelsey Grammar and Steve Martin in terms of great guest stars. The repeated “BRING BACK SLAVERY” joke got me everytime.

    The Office: Man, can Jim and Pam’s baby just disappear or start saying sassy things/rapping? The baby has superceded Jim and Pam as characters.

    Does NBC owe FOX a favor or something? Giving that much publicity to another show on another channel is …weird. Solid.

    Highlight was the fleshing out of Gabe’s weenieness (the japanese stuff, the keyboard).

    It’s Always Sunny: Danny Devito basically plays the Penguin again and has a The Room-esque sex scene. Really great episode.

  37. I have a feeling I know the answer to this question, but does anyone else watch The Vampire Diaries? It’s insane how good that show has become.

Leave a Reply

Login

You must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.