‘I want to go to there’: Top five ‘30 Rock’ episodes

We’ve been preparing for the end of 30 Rock ever since they announced that their seventh and current season would be their last. This is the show that Rolling Stone magazine calls “TV’s smartest sitcom,” made Tina Fey a household name, made Alec Baldwin an Emmy-award winning actor, and made us fall in love with Jane Krakowski all over again in a post-Ally McBeal world. 30 Rock is a TV show about TV shows and reveals the biggest truth of TV: that it is living, it is breathing, and it is a monster. The show is Tina Fey’s big love letter to TV and she is writing it the only way she knows how, with Star Wars references and Jon Hamm guest appearances. So without further ado, here is a small portion of our love letter to the show.

5. Klaus and Greta

“I am the actor, James Franco, damn it. And I am in love with, and common-law-married to, a Japanese body pillow.”

That line is really all you need from a James Franco guest appearance on 30 Rock. In the episode, Liz is asked to orchestrate a fake relationship between James Franco and Jenna (Jane Krakowski), to kill rumors that Franco is in love with a pillow. While the relationship doesn’t last, by the end of the episode, Liz does get lucky with Franco while millions of female viewers watch with joyous envy. No one does guest appearances like 30 Rock. They had Jon Hamm play a guy who’s only redeeming quality is that he is really ridiculously handsome, and had Oprah play herself in a medically-induced Liz Lemon hallucination. With Franco, they made him portray a twisted version of himself that may or may not be true to life. Considering that he did randomly go back to TV to star in a daytime soap opera, falling in love with a body pillow may not be entirely fiction.

4. 100

“I’m still smart enough to know that I’ll never do better than you, Liz Lemon, cause you’re a cook in the bedroom and a whore in the kitchen.”

While the story is actually a two-part episode, we’re going with our “editorial powers” here and say that it counts as one. For the show’s 100th episode, Liz Lemon is dealt with the impending cancellation of her SNL-like show TGS. With her main actor Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) M.I.A., Liz needs to find Tracy, write the best show of her career, and save TGS from cancellation. The best scene of the episode is when Alec Baldwin’s character Jack convinces Tracy Jordan, that if he wants to be treated as a joke of an actor by his peers, then all Tracy has to do is to go back to TV. The commitment of Baldwin to make fun of himself and deliver the biggest lines of the episode is a testament to his acting and how perfect he is for this show.

3. Gentleman’s Intermission

“I’m looking for D.I.H.C, Avery. And I’m going to take it wherever I can find it.”

Dick jokes aside, this episode stands out by showing how great the tandem of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey is by separating them almost the entire episode. With Jack’s fiancée, Avery (Elizabeth Banks), getting suspicious of his and Liz’s relationship, Jack decides to end mentoring Liz. Of course, it doesn’t work out with Jack looking for potential new “mentees” and finding no one with the right combination of drive, intelligence, humility and chaos. Some of the best lines from this show came from the guest stars themselves, with Elizabeth Banks screaming to the top of her lungs, “Why does everything smell like onions?!” to Liz’s father (Buck Henry) teaching Liz that “Telephone etiquette is important, Liz. It lets people know your race even when they can’t see you.”

2. Live Show

“Does it seem weird in here to you? Everything looks like a Mexican soap opera.”

A live show of 30 Rock was bound to happen. Half the cast came from either stand-up, Broadway, and/or Saturday Night Live, with Alec Baldwin having the title of most SNL shows hosted. We’re grateful though that it took them six seasons to do it. Everything needed to be perfect, every guest star aligned, and the story needed to be special. The episode revolved around Liz’s birthday and no one — from a sober Jack, a Jenna who is threatening to slip a nip, to airplane pilot Matt Damon — remembered. A live show is always a great litmus test of the cast’s commitment to perform more than what is required of them, and everyone did so in spades. If for nothing else, it was great to see Julia Louis Dreyfus (the actress Tina Fey based her acting on) play Liz Lemon.

1. TGS Hates Women

“Liz Lemon is a Judas to all womankind.”

At the heart of 30 Rock is Liz Lemon and at the heart of Liz Lemon is Tina Fey. One of 30 Rock’s greatest talents is reflecting reality, molding it to its unique brand of humor, then the first one to reflect is Tina Fey herself. For all intents and purposes, Liz is Tina. She is a comedian. She is a feminist. She is an idealist. But in 30 Rock fashion, Liz almost fails in all these things. It’s never clearer than in this episode where Liz hires a new female writer, Abby Flynn, whose idea of comedy revolves around the size of her breasts. Liz tries to show Abby the error of her ways and sets herself as Abby’s feminist mentor. Of course, Liz fails in every way and does more harm than good to Abby. This is the best reason to love 30 Rock; it’s a smart comedy that often mocks itself for being smart. And if that doesn’t win you over, then this episode also features Jack’s nemesis: a 16-year-old high school girl played by Chloë Grace Moretz.