30 Rock - "Episode 210"

What a send-off into the writers' strike. This episode of 30 Rock (Episode 210 as it will forever be known) was the last to be produced before the writers went on strike. Now that The Office is done, as well as 30 Rock, the two funniest shows on television are on indefinite hiatus. That leaves, like, American Gladiators as the reigning funniest show on TV.

I have to confess: A little more than a month ago I had never seen an episode of 30 Rock. So I went back and watched all of them. In like a week. And I quickly realized why this show had been getting so much praise.

I watched this episode with someone who also had never seen an episode of 30 Rock before, and I don't think this episode was very indicative of just how funny it is. The impression that they came away with was, "What a weird show."

And that's the feeling I got for this episode. Weird. It just seemed a little more off-the-wall than usual. It was really funny, don't get me wrong, but just a little over the top. Especially with the surreal musical number ending.

Jack is meeting with German TV executives while Lemon and Jack's girlfriend C.C. wait for their appointment to see him. Yes, C.C. makes appointments to see Jack. Lemon is his "11 o'clock" and C.C. is his "11:10."

Liz wants to grow up and do something with her money, so Jack and Jenna advise her to invest in Real Estate. Jenna apparently bought up a bunch of land in New Orleans' Ninth Ward after Katrina and is now leasing it to the gov't for a prison. (You know, that actually isn't that bad of an idea!)

Liz puts an offer down for a nice apartment, but has to meet with the co-op board first. In an extended metaphor, the co-op board acts as a way for Liz to remind herself of how terrible she is at dating, as she has to try to convince them why she is right for them. In a very awwwk-ward interview, she wears a very revealing dress and makes a complete fool out of herself. ("We have a lot of things in common...um, we're all white!") Liz then goes on to get drunk on Reds and Whites and drunk-dial the co-op board. She leaves like 20 even-more embarassing voice-mails with the board ("I've moved on...I bought a whole bunch of apartments. I bought a black apartment.)

Meanwhile, Jack and C.C. are having to deal with their long-distance relationship. They decide they have to meet halfway on things, and so Jack has C.C. meet him at the literal half-way point: a hick mining town in Pennsylvania which is the exact distance from their offices in NY and DC. While they are meeting, C.C. accidentally misses a congressional vote on legalizing whale-torture (it passed by one vote!) and Jack had to put Lemon in charge of meeting the with German TV executives of the channel NBC wanted to buy. Liz mixed up her German words for "buy" and "sell" and sold NBC to zee germans instead. Oops! Jack and C.C. decide their careers are more important than their relationship. With Liz upset at her own apartment misfortune and Jack upset at his, they realize together that they really can't have it all in life, in a moment of deeper introspective commentary.

Back at 30 Rock, Tracy Jordan got Kenneth hooked on coffee, who doesn't drink hot liquids because its the devil's temperature. He spent the whole episode whacked on caffeine and it was pretty un-funny generally. He decides to leave NY because he let his mom down: "I've become one of them. I've been Sodomized!"

Gladys Knight happened to be the guest on TGS that night, and so for no other reason than that, the entire cast of 30 Rock inexplicably broke into an extended spontaneous song and dance to the tune of Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia." It was all very-surreal and kind of unlike 30 Rock, but it was enjoyable. And Kenneth missed his midnight train to Georgia because he misread the schedule.

Interestingly enough, the writing staff of TGS didn't appear once in this episode. Hmm...

God, I'm going to miss this show...