30 Rock: Succession
By fred | April 25, 2008
(S02E13) A very big night last night, plenty of shows to talk about, and I’ll start with the NBC comedies. First of all, the recently relocated 30 Rock. I don’t know how much the new timeslot will affect the show’s ratings, but I sure hope it will help because the show really deserves it. It may not have been a big hit so far, but anyone who watches will tell you : it’s freaking genius!
The show filled with incredible characters, crazy situations and wonderful one-liners all over the place, and the only reason you may have a hard time following everything that’s happening on the show is because you’re still laughing too hard from a joke earlier. Tina Fey and her crew received a few awards already, and it’s totally worth it, 30 Rock is hilarious.
This episode, once again I want to say, was filled with so many things it’s hard not to forget anything. Many stories going on this week, for starter we had Tracy. That guy’s always been pretty crazy, and the genius of this show, and Tracy Morgan as well, is how you never really know if what you see is purely Tracy Jordan, you always wonder how much of what you see is actually Tracy Morgan, for real.
The show loves this “confusion”, using names of real companies and actual product placement for GE and NBC all over the place, and it adds a new dimension on the show where you actually wonder, is Tracy Morgan as crazy as his character ? And the beauty of it, is that you don’t know, you wonder, you think it might be… After all, both have had problems with alcohol in the past, both have had to wear an ankle bracelet, so again, where does reality stops and fiction begins ?
This week Tracy was on a roll. Dropping by his son’s school, he realized that it was “bring your dad to school” day, and that of course he hadn’t been invited. His reaction ? In a pure Tracy style, he ends up crying, shirtless, on the middle of the room, asking his son, “if I’m such a bad dad, why are we all dancing?”
But he needs to do something big, something, important, he wants to give his sons a legacy. Of course, actually coming up with something is not an easy thing to do… “Why is leaving your children a legacy that will live forever so hard! It’s been almost half an hour!” But Tracy being who he is, he found his purpose in life : mix his two passions and create a porn videogame !
Frank will try to explain him that he can’t be done, using Star Wars references and reminding him that “history’s greatest perverts have tried - Walt Disney, Larry Flynt, the Japanese - but they can’t do it“. Then, an Amadeus-drama follows as Tracy just thinks Frank is jealous, comparing himself to Mozart while accusing him of being “that guy that was always jealous of Mozart ? - Salieri ? - No thank you, I already ate!”
But Tracy did it, it seems, and I would expect that we’ll find out more about where this is going in the next episode(s).
Meanwhile, the other story was all about the future, and future jobs. Those of Jack and Liz to be precise. And before going into it more, I just want to say that this was yet another episode where Jenna was completely missing. I don’t know if it means anything for the future of the show, but I have to say we can do perfectly fine without her…
