30 Rock – Believe in the Stars

by Bob Degon

NBC

(Season 3, Episode 2)

“Believe in the stars… It’s like that doesn’t even mean anything anymore.” – Kenneth

If you’ve seen any of the promos for 30 Rock this season, you’ve known that Oprah was going to be guesting (along with Jennifer Aniston and Steve Martin). What we didn’t know is in what capacity, but answers were at hand tonight as Oprah landed on 30 Rock.

As Liz was flying back from Chicago, where she donned her Princess Leia costume and claimed that she could read minds to get out of jury duty, she got to sit next to America’s favorite TV icon. Unfortunately for Liz, she was flying under the influence of Comanaprosil, Jack’s hilarious drug of choice, and wasn’t quite herself.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the Oprah bits. I thought they didn’t give her enough funny stuff. For the most part she played straight man to Tina Fey‘s drugged up Liz. From the previews, it looks like Jennifer Aniston will be getting a lot to do next week. Let’s hope she earns her guest spot. The fact that Oprah turned out to be a 12-year-old girl was pretty funny, though.

I enjoyed the Tracy and Jenna bits this week. They really upped the crazy quotient, and it worked out well. I would have loved even more of white woman Tracy and black man Jenna. The complete un-PCness of it all was beautiful. Can you imagine the trouble they could have caused for poor Liz if they had gotten outside of the studio?

For my money, though, the funniest part of the episode was Jack and Kenneth. I always love when these two cross paths. Remember the poker episode? Kenneth lost his faith in Jack when he found out that he masterminded a plot to fake a bunch of Olympic sports to boost ratings (including the very funny synchronized walking, tether ball, beer pong, and jazzercise). Jack rigging the elevator to fulfill his previously rejected hypothetical situation (“it’s like lying to your brain”) was genius.

I love 30 Rock, but I’ve never realized how educational it is. Here is a list of a few things that I learned from this episode:

Comanaprosil may cause dizziness, sleep crime, and sexual nightmares. I want some.
White people have officially stolen Will Smith.
It is illegal to be black in Arizona.
Oprah smells like rosewater and warm laundry.
Spongebob Squarepants is supposed to be terrifying.
Madonna’s arms look crazy.
Adrian Brody kissing Halle Berry at the Oscars is a perfect analog for all the world’s problems.
Socioeconomically speaking, Kenneth is an inner-city Latina.
There’s a whole channel on the cable that tells you what’s on the other channels.

What important lessons did you learn from 30 Rock this week? Are you looking forward to Jennifer Aniston bringing the crazy next week?