Body dysmorphic disorder, '30 Rock' style

One of the greatest puzzles of "30 Rock" is the fact that Tina Fey plays a frumpy, unattractive character on the show. After all, Fey is glamorous and petite in real life, not to mention impossibly successful; an ideal role model for any young woman. She is, as they say, the whole package; or, as Jack Donaghy might say, "the one."

And yet so often on the show, Fey's character, Liz Lemon, is shot down by the people around her; laughed at even. And nowhere this season have the tongue lashings been quite as brutal as they were in Thursday's episode. It starts in the jewelry showroom, where Jack is picking out an engagement ring for sexy Salma Hayek's character, Elisa. The jeweler, mistaking Liz for Jack's fiancee, announces, "she's very spirited. Like a show horse." Jack quickly -- urgently even -- clears up the misconception by showing the jeweler a photo of Elisa. The jeweler is relieved: "Please follow me to the real showroom," he says. Thus, in the opening minutes of the show, Liz is deemed unfit to have a "real" engagement ring, the assumed symbol of feminine worth in a man's world.

Liz's worth as a female is called into question again in a scene with Elisa. Elisa confesses she has a secret, and Liz guesses that she is really a man. "Really? That's your guess? A man?" Presses Elisa: "You want to see me naked?"

"Sort of," replies Liz, in awe of Elisa's voluptuous body. Liz's curiosity in this moment is not necessarily sexual, but rather the prepubescent curiosity of a girl who is not yet a woman, in awe of one who is.

Things go to the next level when Elisa kisses Liz full on the mouth, and Liz acknowledges that she can see why Jack likes Elisa.  In this exchange, Liz has gone from admiring Elisa's beauty to admiring her sexual prowess. And being at least mildly aroused by it.  

There were three very funny plot lines crisscrossing on Thursday's episode of "30 Rock," but by far the most poignant was the Liz Lemon line, which raised the complex and provocative question, "Does work make life worthwhile?"

After a misunderstanding landed Liz in sexual harassment training last week, she was forced to stay away from the TGS offices this week, until she had completed the seminar. Away from the studio for the first time in years, Liz finds herself wholly at a loss for what to do next. And so, she lurks in her apartment lobby, bothering the doormen.

That's when she meets her neighbor, Emily, who informs Liz that their building has a gym, and even better, a vending machine! Slowly, a whole world opens up to Liz; the world outside TGS. Throughout the series, Liz's lack of friends has been a running joke -- remember when the cab driver who held Liz's phone hostage revealed that all her contacts were coworkers? -- but in this episode, Liz finally gets to make her first group of female friends. Women she actually sees socially, for -- ya know -- girl activities. And it's exhilarating.

Oh no. I feel sort of guilty beginning my "30 Rock" showtracking career with tonight's episode, mainly because I can't get half as giddy as usual over this week's installment.

Dennis Duffy is back. Dennis Duffy is Liz Lemon's manipulative, philandering ex-boyfriend. Sure, most of the characters on "30 Rock" are extreme, but there is something about Dennis, in particular, that goes too far in the direction of caricature. Mainly because it is impossible to envision uber-intellectual and self-effacing Liz ever hooking up with a guy as trashy and disreputable as Dennis.

Also, as a person unequivocally grossed out by bathroom humor, I feel unfit to judge an episode which relies so heavily on vomit and urine jokes. I am not criticizing the boudoir medium as a whole here, but merely saying I do not possess the wherewithal to critique it, since I seize up at the first suggestion of a toilet joke. Asking me to judge the relative merit of tonight's barf-a-thon is like sending a deaf man to judge a symphony.

Tina Fey may not want to continue playing Sarah Palin after next week, but her dead-on impressions of the Alaskan governor on "Saturday Night Live" led "30 Rock" to series-high ratings.

The Season 3 premiere of the ratings-starved NBC comedy attracted 8.5 million million viewers and a 4.1 ratings in adults 18-49 -- a 21% increase in the demo from last year's second-season opener -- according to Nielsen. The episode, "Do-Over," also retained an impressive 87% of the 18-to-49-year-olds who watched the show's lead-in, "The Office."

Last season, the show averaged 6.2 million viewers. In September, "30 Rock" won the top Emmy prizes for comedy series, lead actor (Alec Baldwin) and lead actress (Fey).

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: AP

It’s a precarious time for “30 Rock” fans.

Tonight, the NBC comedy begins its third season -– do-or-die time for the critically beloved but ratings-starved series. After three seasons and an Emmy for best comedy, poor ratings performance killed Fox’s media darling, “Arrested Development.” There was the short-lived “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Undeclared.” And patience wears even thinner these days: This week, CBS newcomer “The Ex-List,” the most promising of the fall comedies, according to critics, was yanked from the schedule after just four episodes and diminishing returns.

The good news is "30 Rock" is better than ever. Tina Fey’s recent “Saturday Night Live”-boosting Sarah Palin impressions do not seem to have depleted her creative juices. She’s got a whole lot more where that came from.

When last we left off, comedy writer Liz (Fey) was getting over Floyd and trying desperately to adopt a baby. This season, she charges ahead toward motherhood, first tripping over the adoption agency’s evaluator, Bev (tonight’s guest star Megan Mullally).

Liz's NBC boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), meanwhile, successfully failed his way out of Washington and returns with guns blazing, ready to take down Devon (Will Arnett), his closeted professional rival, and Kathy (Marceline Hugot), Devon’s wife and the CEO’s strange, mostly mute daughter. Devon forces him to start in the mailroom, but Jack gets a leg up -– literally -– when Kathy takes an unexpected liking to him.

Plenty of laughs ensue.

This is not the hyped-but-lukewarm season opener of last year, which was overly reliant on the power of guest star Jerry Seinfeld in a rare, unfunny cameo for the comic. Rather, the episode is a celebration of Liz’s topsy-turvy world and the kooks who populate it.

That said, the episode doesn’t exactly welcome the uninitiated. (At least “Arrested Development” opened every week with a short spiel about the family Bluth.) First-timers should know that the conflict between Jack, Devon and Kathy is more or less resolved within the half-hour. And, even if you’re not dialed in, it’s easy enough to get the idea: Kenneth is the adorable and slow NBC page, Tracy is the star of Liz’s show and outrageously misbehaved, and Jenna is the sidelined, attention-craving co-star. Etc.

But loyal fans can take comfort in knowing that Fey hasn’t blown up the show in the name of ratings –- I've never quite forgiven ABC for morphing the deliciously layered “Alias” into a spy-game-of-the-week procedural -- though higher ones would be nice.

Watch the episode now and then make a weekly appointment. 

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Tiny Fey, left, and Megan Mullally on "30 Rock." Credit: NBC

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': The unstressed life is not worth living

There were three very funny plot lines crisscrossing on Thursday's episode of "30 Rock," but by far the most poignant was the Liz Lemon line, which raised the complex and provocative question, "Does work make life worthwhile?"

After a misunderstanding landed Liz in sexual harassment training last week, she was forced to stay away from the TGS offices this week, until she had completed the seminar. Away from the studio for the first time in years, Liz finds herself wholly at a loss for what to do next. And so, she lurks in her apartment lobby, bothering the doormen.

That's when she meets her neighbor, Emily, who informs Liz that their building has a gym, and even better, a vending machine! Slowly, a whole world opens up to Liz; the world outside TGS. Throughout the series, Liz's lack of friends has been a running joke -- remember when the cab driver who held Liz's phone hostage revealed that all her contacts were coworkers? -- but in this episode, Liz finally gets to make her first group of female friends. Women she actually sees socially, for -- ya know -- girl activities. And it's exhilarating.

Oh no. I feel sort of guilty beginning my "30 Rock" showtracking career with tonight's episode, mainly because I can't get half as giddy as usual over this week's installment.

Dennis Duffy is back. Dennis Duffy is Liz Lemon's manipulative, philandering ex-boyfriend. Sure, most of the characters on "30 Rock" are extreme, but there is something about Dennis, in particular, that goes too far in the direction of caricature. Mainly because it is impossible to envision uber-intellectual and self-effacing Liz ever hooking up with a guy as trashy and disreputable as Dennis.

Also, as a person unequivocally grossed out by bathroom humor, I feel unfit to judge an episode which relies so heavily on vomit and urine jokes. I am not criticizing the boudoir medium as a whole here, but merely saying I do not possess the wherewithal to critique it, since I seize up at the first suggestion of a toilet joke. Asking me to judge the relative merit of tonight's barf-a-thon is like sending a deaf man to judge a symphony.

Tina Fey may not want to continue playing Sarah Palin after next week, but her dead-on impressions of the Alaskan governor on "Saturday Night Live" led "30 Rock" to series-high ratings.

The Season 3 premiere of the ratings-starved NBC comedy attracted 8.5 million million viewers and a 4.1 ratings in adults 18-49 -- a 21% increase in the demo from last year's second-season opener -- according to Nielsen. The episode, "Do-Over," also retained an impressive 87% of the 18-to-49-year-olds who watched the show's lead-in, "The Office."

Last season, the show averaged 6.2 million viewers. In September, "30 Rock" won the top Emmy prizes for comedy series, lead actor (Alec Baldwin) and lead actress (Fey).

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: AP

It’s a precarious time for “30 Rock” fans.

Tonight, the NBC comedy begins its third season -– do-or-die time for the critically beloved but ratings-starved series. After three seasons and an Emmy for best comedy, poor ratings performance killed Fox’s media darling, “Arrested Development.” There was the short-lived “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Undeclared.” And patience wears even thinner these days: This week, CBS newcomer “The Ex-List,” the most promising of the fall comedies, according to critics, was yanked from the schedule after just four episodes and diminishing returns.

The good news is "30 Rock" is better than ever. Tina Fey’s recent “Saturday Night Live”-boosting Sarah Palin impressions do not seem to have depleted her creative juices. She’s got a whole lot more where that came from.

When last we left off, comedy writer Liz (Fey) was getting over Floyd and trying desperately to adopt a baby. This season, she charges ahead toward motherhood, first tripping over the adoption agency’s evaluator, Bev (tonight’s guest star Megan Mullally).

Liz's NBC boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), meanwhile, successfully failed his way out of Washington and returns with guns blazing, ready to take down Devon (Will Arnett), his closeted professional rival, and Kathy (Marceline Hugot), Devon’s wife and the CEO’s strange, mostly mute daughter. Devon forces him to start in the mailroom, but Jack gets a leg up -– literally -– when Kathy takes an unexpected liking to him.

Plenty of laughs ensue.

This is not the hyped-but-lukewarm season opener of last year, which was overly reliant on the power of guest star Jerry Seinfeld in a rare, unfunny cameo for the comic. Rather, the episode is a celebration of Liz’s topsy-turvy world and the kooks who populate it.

That said, the episode doesn’t exactly welcome the uninitiated. (At least “Arrested Development” opened every week with a short spiel about the family Bluth.) First-timers should know that the conflict between Jack, Devon and Kathy is more or less resolved within the half-hour. And, even if you’re not dialed in, it’s easy enough to get the idea: Kenneth is the adorable and slow NBC page, Tracy is the star of Liz’s show and outrageously misbehaved, and Jenna is the sidelined, attention-craving co-star. Etc.

But loyal fans can take comfort in knowing that Fey hasn’t blown up the show in the name of ratings –- I've never quite forgiven ABC for morphing the deliciously layered “Alias” into a spy-game-of-the-week procedural -- though higher ones would be nice.

Watch the episode now and then make a weekly appointment. 

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Tiny Fey, left, and Megan Mullally on "30 Rock." Credit: NBC

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock' has heart. And vomit and urine too.

Oh no. I feel sort of guilty beginning my "30 Rock" showtracking career with tonight's episode, mainly because I can't get half as giddy as usual over this week's installment.

Dennis Duffy is back. Dennis Duffy is Liz Lemon's manipulative, philandering ex-boyfriend. Sure, most of the characters on "30 Rock" are extreme, but there is something about Dennis, in particular, that goes too far in the direction of caricature. Mainly because it is impossible to envision uber-intellectual and self-effacing Liz ever hooking up with a guy as trashy and disreputable as Dennis.

Also, as a person unequivocally grossed out by bathroom humor, I feel unfit to judge an episode which relies so heavily on vomit and urine jokes. I am not criticizing the boudoir medium as a whole here, but merely saying I do not possess the wherewithal to critique it, since I seize up at the first suggestion of a toilet joke. Asking me to judge the relative merit of tonight's barf-a-thon is like sending a deaf man to judge a symphony.

Tina Fey may not want to continue playing Sarah Palin after next week, but her dead-on impressions of the Alaskan governor on "Saturday Night Live" led "30 Rock" to series-high ratings.

The Season 3 premiere of the ratings-starved NBC comedy attracted 8.5 million million viewers and a 4.1 ratings in adults 18-49 -- a 21% increase in the demo from last year's second-season opener -- according to Nielsen. The episode, "Do-Over," also retained an impressive 87% of the 18-to-49-year-olds who watched the show's lead-in, "The Office."

Last season, the show averaged 6.2 million viewers. In September, "30 Rock" won the top Emmy prizes for comedy series, lead actor (Alec Baldwin) and lead actress (Fey).

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: AP

It’s a precarious time for “30 Rock” fans.

Tonight, the NBC comedy begins its third season -– do-or-die time for the critically beloved but ratings-starved series. After three seasons and an Emmy for best comedy, poor ratings performance killed Fox’s media darling, “Arrested Development.” There was the short-lived “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Undeclared.” And patience wears even thinner these days: This week, CBS newcomer “The Ex-List,” the most promising of the fall comedies, according to critics, was yanked from the schedule after just four episodes and diminishing returns.

The good news is "30 Rock" is better than ever. Tina Fey’s recent “Saturday Night Live”-boosting Sarah Palin impressions do not seem to have depleted her creative juices. She’s got a whole lot more where that came from.

When last we left off, comedy writer Liz (Fey) was getting over Floyd and trying desperately to adopt a baby. This season, she charges ahead toward motherhood, first tripping over the adoption agency’s evaluator, Bev (tonight’s guest star Megan Mullally).

Liz's NBC boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), meanwhile, successfully failed his way out of Washington and returns with guns blazing, ready to take down Devon (Will Arnett), his closeted professional rival, and Kathy (Marceline Hugot), Devon’s wife and the CEO’s strange, mostly mute daughter. Devon forces him to start in the mailroom, but Jack gets a leg up -– literally -– when Kathy takes an unexpected liking to him.

Plenty of laughs ensue.

This is not the hyped-but-lukewarm season opener of last year, which was overly reliant on the power of guest star Jerry Seinfeld in a rare, unfunny cameo for the comic. Rather, the episode is a celebration of Liz’s topsy-turvy world and the kooks who populate it.

That said, the episode doesn’t exactly welcome the uninitiated. (At least “Arrested Development” opened every week with a short spiel about the family Bluth.) First-timers should know that the conflict between Jack, Devon and Kathy is more or less resolved within the half-hour. And, even if you’re not dialed in, it’s easy enough to get the idea: Kenneth is the adorable and slow NBC page, Tracy is the star of Liz’s show and outrageously misbehaved, and Jenna is the sidelined, attention-craving co-star. Etc.

But loyal fans can take comfort in knowing that Fey hasn’t blown up the show in the name of ratings –- I've never quite forgiven ABC for morphing the deliciously layered “Alias” into a spy-game-of-the-week procedural -- though higher ones would be nice.

Watch the episode now and then make a weekly appointment. 

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Tiny Fey, left, and Megan Mullally on "30 Rock." Credit: NBC

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock' ratings high: Should Tina Fey thank Sarah Palin?

Tina Fey may not want to continue playing Sarah Palin after next week, but her dead-on impressions of the Alaskan governor on "Saturday Night Live" led "30 Rock" to series-high ratings.

The Season 3 premiere of the ratings-starved NBC comedy attracted 8.5 million million viewers and a 4.1 ratings in adults 18-49 -- a 21% increase in the demo from last year's second-season opener -- according to Nielsen. The episode, "Do-Over," also retained an impressive 87% of the 18-to-49-year-olds who watched the show's lead-in, "The Office."

Last season, the show averaged 6.2 million viewers. In September, "30 Rock" won the top Emmy prizes for comedy series, lead actor (Alec Baldwin) and lead actress (Fey).

-- Denise Martin

Photo credit: AP

It’s a precarious time for “30 Rock” fans.

Tonight, the NBC comedy begins its third season -– do-or-die time for the critically beloved but ratings-starved series. After three seasons and an Emmy for best comedy, poor ratings performance killed Fox’s media darling, “Arrested Development.” There was the short-lived “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Undeclared.” And patience wears even thinner these days: This week, CBS newcomer “The Ex-List,” the most promising of the fall comedies, according to critics, was yanked from the schedule after just four episodes and diminishing returns.

The good news is "30 Rock" is better than ever. Tina Fey’s recent “Saturday Night Live”-boosting Sarah Palin impressions do not seem to have depleted her creative juices. She’s got a whole lot more where that came from.

When last we left off, comedy writer Liz (Fey) was getting over Floyd and trying desperately to adopt a baby. This season, she charges ahead toward motherhood, first tripping over the adoption agency’s evaluator, Bev (tonight’s guest star Megan Mullally).

Liz's NBC boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), meanwhile, successfully failed his way out of Washington and returns with guns blazing, ready to take down Devon (Will Arnett), his closeted professional rival, and Kathy (Marceline Hugot), Devon’s wife and the CEO’s strange, mostly mute daughter. Devon forces him to start in the mailroom, but Jack gets a leg up -– literally -– when Kathy takes an unexpected liking to him.

Plenty of laughs ensue.

This is not the hyped-but-lukewarm season opener of last year, which was overly reliant on the power of guest star Jerry Seinfeld in a rare, unfunny cameo for the comic. Rather, the episode is a celebration of Liz’s topsy-turvy world and the kooks who populate it.

That said, the episode doesn’t exactly welcome the uninitiated. (At least “Arrested Development” opened every week with a short spiel about the family Bluth.) First-timers should know that the conflict between Jack, Devon and Kathy is more or less resolved within the half-hour. And, even if you’re not dialed in, it’s easy enough to get the idea: Kenneth is the adorable and slow NBC page, Tracy is the star of Liz’s show and outrageously misbehaved, and Jenna is the sidelined, attention-craving co-star. Etc.

But loyal fans can take comfort in knowing that Fey hasn’t blown up the show in the name of ratings –- I've never quite forgiven ABC for morphing the deliciously layered “Alias” into a spy-game-of-the-week procedural -- though higher ones would be nice.

Watch the episode now and then make a weekly appointment. 

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Tiny Fey, left, and Megan Mullally on "30 Rock." Credit: NBC

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

Instant Reaction: '30 Rock'

It’s a precarious time for “30 Rock” fans.

Tonight, the NBC comedy begins its third season -– do-or-die time for the critically beloved but ratings-starved series. After three seasons and an Emmy for best comedy, poor ratings performance killed Fox’s media darling, “Arrested Development.” There was the short-lived “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” and “Undeclared.” And patience wears even thinner these days: This week, CBS newcomer “The Ex-List,” the most promising of the fall comedies, according to critics, was yanked from the schedule after just four episodes and diminishing returns.

The good news is "30 Rock" is better than ever. Tina Fey’s recent “Saturday Night Live”-boosting Sarah Palin impressions do not seem to have depleted her creative juices. She’s got a whole lot more where that came from.

When last we left off, comedy writer Liz (Fey) was getting over Floyd and trying desperately to adopt a baby. This season, she charges ahead toward motherhood, first tripping over the adoption agency’s evaluator, Bev (tonight’s guest star Megan Mullally).

Liz's NBC boss Jack (Alec Baldwin), meanwhile, successfully failed his way out of Washington and returns with guns blazing, ready to take down Devon (Will Arnett), his closeted professional rival, and Kathy (Marceline Hugot), Devon’s wife and the CEO’s strange, mostly mute daughter. Devon forces him to start in the mailroom, but Jack gets a leg up -– literally -– when Kathy takes an unexpected liking to him.

Plenty of laughs ensue.

This is not the hyped-but-lukewarm season opener of last year, which was overly reliant on the power of guest star Jerry Seinfeld in a rare, unfunny cameo for the comic. Rather, the episode is a celebration of Liz’s topsy-turvy world and the kooks who populate it.

That said, the episode doesn’t exactly welcome the uninitiated. (At least “Arrested Development” opened every week with a short spiel about the family Bluth.) First-timers should know that the conflict between Jack, Devon and Kathy is more or less resolved within the half-hour. And, even if you’re not dialed in, it’s easy enough to get the idea: Kenneth is the adorable and slow NBC page, Tracy is the star of Liz’s show and outrageously misbehaved, and Jenna is the sidelined, attention-craving co-star. Etc.

But loyal fans can take comfort in knowing that Fey hasn’t blown up the show in the name of ratings –- I've never quite forgiven ABC for morphing the deliciously layered “Alias” into a spy-game-of-the-week procedural -- though higher ones would be nice.

Watch the episode now and then make a weekly appointment. 

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Tiny Fey, left, and Megan Mullally on "30 Rock." Credit: NBC

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': We're not in a recession!

Jokes about the Bush administration haven't been too funny lately, maybe because they seem so well-trodden, maybe because they seem so sad. 

While Tina Fey's last well-publicized dip into the pool of political humor was met with mixed reviews, she got back in the game on last night's "30 Rock" with a new take on the current office. Instead of painting it as a bloodthirsty autocracy, Fey chose to highlight the absurdity of it, with Matthew Broderick as Cooter Burger, a well-meaning but desperate drone forced to claim that a leaking ceiling isn't really leaking because "studies have been done."  When Jack (Alec Baldwin) decides to leave GE to work for the Department of Homeland Security, he is met with such silliness, as well as an office so bare-bones that people are forced to scratch out notes with tacks. As Cooter notes, what his country needs is "hope, change, experience and pens." 

The office is inefficient, delusional and pointless, but it's not sinister. The fresh perspective, the relatively light touch and the surrealistic details (such as a candle burning in the socket of a lamp) brought some laughs when there seems to be nothing to laugh about in Washington these days.  One can't help but sense that Cooter's desperation, that "the best friend I've ever had would leave me" (i.e. Jack, whom he had known for a few days) was the mentality of more than a few people in the White House. 

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': An episode for Devon, Jack and John

Sometimes the writers on "30 Rock" outdo themselves, but not necessarily in a good way.  Last night's episode felt like three episodes folded into one.  First, Devon Banks (Will Arnett) returned to antagonize Jack (Alec Baldwin) by marrying the daughter of Jack's mentor, Don Guise (Rip Torn).  Then, after being told that he in fact would be inheriting the company, Jack started grooming Liz (Tina Fey) for his former position.  In the meantime, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Frank (Judah Friedlander) endured an "Amadeus"-like drama as Frank served as the Salieri to Tracy's Mozart as he tried to create a porno video game in order, of course, to make his children proud. 

Whew!

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': Back in the groove

Now that's more like it.

Last week's "30 Rock" felt like an anomaly from other episodes: the story, jokes, tone, even the look of the show felt somehow out of step with the other installments of the series that its fans have come to love and quote.

Last night, however, felt more like a typical episode with multiple light story lines, sharp politically incorrect humor and plenty of memorable lines.  Liz Lemon's (Tina Fey's) ex-boyfriend Dennis the Beeper King (Dean Winters) came into the spotlight after saving someone from a subway accident, garnering offers of fame from "news and dancing shows" and even getting a favor from a stripper: "a white stripper." Dennis tried to get Liz back into his life, which elicited a hilarious-in-its-truth monologue from Jenna (Jane Krakowski) on what love is: wearing makeup to bed and going down to the Burger King to poop. 

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': Eating its own twin

The "30 Rock" post-strike return was big on cleverness last night, but of a different sort than usual.  Fans of the show love the machine-gun barrage of witty lines and bizarre situations -- Tina Fey herself has noted that she has received feedback that some episodes are watched several times for all the jokes to be picked up.  However, with a grand overarching allegory to a reality TV show (with a name that can't be printed in the L.A. Times), the episode was slightly more of a thinker and not as much of a laugher. 

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."

'30 Rock': Tina Fey on what's next

On a conference call with journalists Tuesday afternoon, Tina Fey, creator, writer and star of "30 Rock," discussed what's coming up for the comedy as it returns to NBC from the writers' strike on April 10.

On what will happen with her character, Liz Lemon:
"Both of Liz’s former boyfriends, Dennis the Beeper King [Dean Winters] and Floyd [Jason Sudeikis] will be back briefly. And Liz does have a little bit of a pregnancy scare. She probably hooks up once every seven years, yet when it rains, it pours."

And on her supporting cast:
"Frank [Judah Friedlander] has teamed up with Tracy [Morgan] a fair amount this year. He becomes Salieri to Tracy’s Mozart in a way. And Toofer [Keith Powell]  got to play Sammy Davis Jr. in a weird fantasy sequence and he did a really good job."