"30 Rock" Kidney Now! (2009)

Director:

Don Scardino

Writers:

Tina Fey (creator)
Jack Burditt (written by) ...

TV Series:

"30 Rock" (2006)

Original Air Date:

14 May 2009 (Season 3, Episode 22)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Jack's on the hunt to find his birth dad. Only problem is there are three to choose from. When Jack is introduced to them one by one...

Plot Keywords:

Sitcom | Boss | Sketch | Writer | New York

Cast

Tina Fey	...	Liz Lemon
Tracy Morgan	...	Tracy Jordan
Jane Krakowski	...	Jenna Maroney
Jack McBrayer	...	Kenneth Parcell
Scott Adsit	...	Pete Hornberger
Judah Friedlander	...	Frank Rossitano (credit only)
Alec Baldwin	...	Jack Donaghy
Katrina Bowden	...	Cerie
Keith Powell	...	Toofer (credit only)
Kevin Brown	...	Dot Com
Grizz Chapman	...	Grizz
Alan Alda	...	Milton Greene
Sherri Shepherd	...	Angie Jordan
Chris Parnell	...	Dr. Leo Spaceman
Napiera Groves	...	Vontella (as Napiera D. Groves)

Runtime:

30 min

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Silvercup Studios - 4222 22nd Street, Long Island City, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Broadway Video

Trivia:

When Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan ) is crying about his high school dissection trauma, saying he wasn't a baby, he was chicken, Milton Green (Alan Alda) says "Crying about babies and chickens? I thought this was a comedy show." This is a reference to the final episode of Alda's "M*A*S*H" (1972) series. In that episode, entitled _M*A*S*H Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (1983_ )the Alan Alda character Hawkeye Pierce spends much of the episode in a psychiatric hospital, having witnessed a traumatic event. He remembers a Korean woman killing a chicken, so as to not be heard by enemy soldiers. Upon treatment, however, he recalls the truth - that it was a baby. Much like Tracy's character, he cries when asked if it was a chicken. He says "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! I didn't mean for her to kill it. I did not - I - I just wanted it to be quiet. It was - it was a baby! She, she smothered her own baby!!"

Quotes:

Milton Green: A guy crying about a chicken and a baby? I thought this was a comedy show.

Movie Connections:

References "M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen (#11.16)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

He Needs a Kidney

Season 3: Another great season for a comedy that delivers laugh after laugh with a very high level of consistency

With the UK recently only finishing season 2 of 30 Rock, who can blame me for getting a fellow IMDb user to send me season 3 as he records it off a US network? After all season 2 was not only cut short due to the writers' strike but it was also as consistently funny and creative as the first season had been. I am only human after all - it is unfair to expect me to wait another year or so until Five US decides to get hold of this. Anyway, I owe my fellow user a debt because season 3 doesn't disappoint and is as good as the previous two seasons had been. Recently I read a small bit in the paper about whether this or The Office was the better sitcom and, in my review of season 3 of The Office I stated that I thought that was the better sitcom but that 30 Rock was the better comedy. I said that and 30 Rock confirms it because, while The Office does a better job of having more in way of narrative and structure to its comedy, 30 Rock produces a lot more laughs in each very tight 20-odd minute episode.

Whether it is Kenneth seeing the world as singing, cheerful muppets, Liz's catastrophic mis-reading of situations, Jenna's selfish behaviour or Tracey's wonderfully daft opinions, each episode is rich in humour that is as creative and clever as it is fast paced and hilarious. OK there are some narrative threads that provide some structure but mostly the flow of each episode is about the jokes - the "plots" are really just there to provide enough structure to make a series. There are a couple of weaker episodes in season 3 it must be said but the way you recognise them says a lot about the quality of the show - you recognise them because there are maybe only about 3 or 4 laugh-out-loud moments in the episode as opposed to the usual 10 or so. It tells you all you need to know when an "off-day" for a show is still well worth seeing, funny and enjoyable and that is the case here in S3. It is the stronger episodes that have the best "out of nowhere, throw-away moments" that actually get the biggest laughs – season highlight for me being Liz enjoying some time at home singing about her "night cheese" – hilarious and very true to the character of Liz Lemon but yet only the first few seconds of an unrelated scene.

As was the case before, S3 has several big names guests of varying impact but as in S2, one doesn't get the feeling that this is the clamour for attention that many shows will get with cameos. Often these come because a show is flagging and this is an easy attempt to boost ratings but with 30 Rock it continues to feel like stars genuinely want to be involved and their appearance is part of the joke rather than a clumsy insert. It is telling that the episodes with special cameos are not "better" than those that "only" (!) have to rely on the main cast. Speaking of which, the main cast continue to be a very impressive bunch indeed even though there are some characters that continue to become more part of the background than they started out being – Powell's Toofer, Ross's Josh and Lutz's Lutz being the most notable but Friendlander (Frank) and Adsit (Pete) also have a little less to do than before. This is the reverse of many shows (eg The Office has opened out its cast to make more use of the supporting players to good effect) but somehow the strong material means it doesn't matter.

30 Rock is by far my favourite comedy of the moment and I cannot believe that I ignored it when it first came to the UK when I should have been singing its praises to people in the same way as I do with The Wire. Great writing, a very high number of laughs per short episodes, inspired and creative comedy and great performances. Of course the downside now is that there will be a good long wait before I get more of it.