Saturday, December 13, 2008

the genius of 30 rock

i was watching the nbc comedy 30 rock thursday, and two lines especially caught my attention for their wit.

30 rock, was created by tina fay, an alumna of saturday night live and famed impersonator this fall of sarah palin. it's about the trials and tribulations of a writer for a comedy/variety television show.

the first time was when fay's character, liz lemon, bought a lot of christmas gifts for some children in a toys-for-tots program. the kids lived at 245th street and lawrence taylor boulevard.when i heard that address, i thought: way uptown in manhattan -- up in the 'hood, yo. and the genius was naming a street after taylor.

the second time was lemon's boss, jack donaghy, played by alec baldwin, told her about his plans for his harridan of a mother, who came to stay with him for christmas for recuperation after an operation. he told lemon that after the holidays, he planned to send her to a nursing home on an island off the coast of maine, run by the same group that oversaw napoleon's exile.

two throwaway lines -- and i had a nice, long chuckle because of them.

30 rock doesn't have either a laugh track or a live audience laughing -- a sign of maturity by the show's producers and trust that the audience would get the jokes.

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