Paper Thin Walls

30 Rock Returns Triumphant

30 Rock Recap:

Thursday's new episode of "30 Rock" perfectly exemplified why the show is one of the best comedies on TV today, but also why it will never catch on to a large, mainstream audience and, alas, why it will languish for a few seasons before going the way of "Arrested Development."

First, I thought the episode was funny. It was not nearly as hilarious as others, but that's OK because the satire of major TV networks more than made up for the missing wit, clever dialogue and Tracy Morgan hijinks. 

The episode centered around a reality show, "MILF Island," which, as it's so brilliantly and succinctly summarized on "30 Rock," is "20 MILFs, 50 eighth grade boys, no rules." The reality show, as a standalone sketch on any other show, would have been hilarious enough. But to cast it as a scathing criticism of NBC proved to be pretty damn funny and borderline genius. The cut-away from one contestant complaining about the physical tolls of MILF Island to Pete scooting across the floor, his hand stuck in a vending machine, was classic "30 Rock," even if the whole hand-in-a-vending-machine bit felt unoriginal (see Simpsons, The, and Scrubs as exhibits a. and b.).

So my point with all of this is, how many regular Joes and Janes out there are going to 1.) get that MILF Island was a satire, 2.) think that's funny and 3.) care? My guess, not a lot of people. Not to be all elitist on you, but the humor on "30 Rock's" a little more sophisticated than, say, "Two and a Half Men." Whereas "MILF Island" was a huge hit, especially in the most profitable demographics: soccer moms, NASCAR dads, white collar pervs, and the obese. Go figure.

Anyway, on to my highlights, in bulleted form:

The bullets:
* Jack was a state-sanctioned Class A Moron.
* Shower confessionals.
* Liz forced into writing an entire series out of a "MILF Island" spin-off.
* Lutz: "I'm not a dirt bag. This is from American Eagle."
* "One of my implants imploded and I didn't even ask to get off the catapult."
* Tracy bringing order to the staff with a banana.
* Kenneth hiding behind a cut-out of Wolf, from American  Gladiators.
* The Jerry Seinfeld credit in the MILF end credits.
* Liz: "What we do is art." And then there's a cut to a farting robot sketch.
* "Heidi, we no longer want to hit that."
* Liz: "Go eat my poo."
* Liz blatantly talking bad about Jack to the reporter