or:
"Self-Reference Is Funny, Right?"
Frankly, I'm surprised 30 Rock made it this far without doing a clip show, given their undying love of self-reference. Clip shows are quite possibly the lowest form of television, relying on previous successes to bolster a lean platter of original material. 30 Rock sets its ambitions high by going for a double length episode, creating a hybrid of original and previous material, and the results are fuckawful.
Hank Hooper has an ultimatum for Liz Lemon: make a dandy of a 100th episode or face cancellation. Ultimately, they come up short, and have to rely on the building's gas leak to con the audience into thinking the show is funny. Unfortunately, for 30 Rock, they didn't have a chance to drug their before this went to air, leaving a (mostly) sober general public to view it. A lot of TV critics seem to think the show is still good. Even the notoriously elitist A.V. Club still smiles upon this show. For the life of me, I cannot understand why.
The only thing I genuinely liked about this episode was Alec Baldwin's speech at the end, one of the few recent moments of self-reference that I actually found funny. Tracy has been attempting, without success, to destroy the credibility he has gained with his Oscar-winning performance in "Hard to Watch". Jack Donaghy advises him to return to television in a speech littered with references to Baldwin's actual career as a performer. But it's all far too little, far too late. Now, if you'll pardon me, I really don't want to write any more about this episode. In fact, I don't even really want to write about this show anymore. This show likes to joke about a decline in quality and the threat of cancellation, but still has the arrogance to think this is funny:
JENNA: You're back!
TRACY: And this is my front. Thanks for setting me up with another classic quote.
Fuck you, 30 Rock.
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