Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Monday, August 8, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
A few thoughts on HOARDERS
I have casually followed a couple reality shows in my time, but none have captured my heart and mind and free time like Hoarders. Ostensibly about people who keep far too much stuff in their homes, it's also a show about mental illness, family dysfunction, therapy, anger, trauma, and materialism. There is also something immensely (if superficially) satisfying about seeing a clean house at the end of an episode. It is impossible to fix these deep-seated problems in two days of shooting, but as a viewer, seeing tangible results of the work is very rewarding.
Secondly, while most of the show's participants are middle- or working-class, there is still a range of regional, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds featured, and it is amazing to see that they all follow eerily similar behavioral patterns. Typically, the hoarders have experienced traumatic loss or abuse in their lives. Many of them have a love for animals and feel that their pets are the only ones who care about them. They panic equally at the thought of discarding a family heirloom or an empty cardboard box. There is drama in the show and admittedly, a mild case of freak-show grotesquery, but most of all, there is profound pain.
And lastly, it has been both fascinating and frustrating to watch the therapists and professional organizers as they attempt to help the hoarders work through their issues. Most of them are harmless or ineffectual - this post will concern the two professionals I respect the most and the two that I most deeply detest.
DOROTHY BREININGER
Dorothy is an organizer and one of the most compassionate and respectful professionals on the show. She begins every interaction by thanking the person for allowing her into their home. Never didactic, she usually presents someone with the evidence of their problem (a thousand soda cans, cat skeletons) and gives them the space to come to their own conclusions about their choices. In one episode, she dons a face mask, grabs a shovel and works alongside the cleaning crew to shovel diapers/feces out of a young man's bathroom. Midway through, she turns to the camera and sighs, "This must be so humiliating for him." Her capacity for empathy is unrivaled. Unlike our next professional, she is not afraid to hug the participants and be truly present with them. While she is not always successful with the hoarders (and I've seen her get angry and frustrated), her level of respect for their humanity always elevates and expedites the process.
DR. ROBIN ZASIO
My negative feelings towards Dr. Zasio have grown with each episode, to the point that I sometimes have to fast-forward through her segments. Her most grating quality is that she is relentlessly patronizing. She talks to adults like they are children, and walks around with an incredulous, disgusted expression, which obviously puts her clients on the defensive. Often, these are people who have shielded their home from the public for years, or even decades. Despite the bravado they put on ("It's my house and I can do what I want!") many of them are severely embarrassed by their living conditions, and Dr. Zasio's nose-holding doesn't do much to reassure them. On the rare occasion that she touches or embraces a participant, you get the sense that she runs home and immediately slathers on the Purell. Her questions are often insincere and rhetorical, in a "Is this the kitchen? I see a sink and a stove, but I can't imagine that this is what you use as a kitchen?" sort of way. Ugh. I cannot stand her and her charmeuse blouses.
DR. SUZANNE CHABAUD
On the surface, Dr. Chabaud shares a fair amount of qualities with Dr. Zasio. She's not particularly warm and fuzzy, and she dispenses similar advice and judgment. And yet, her tone is a world apart from Dr. Zasio's. She is quiet and reserved, and has tremendous patience with the participants. Her empathy is not bubbling over, like Dorothy's, but I've seen her get visibly upset and concerned over the fate of some of the hoarders. One of the more poignant moments involved a middle-aged black woman, Theresa, who had hoarded endless amounts of purses and shoes. At the thought of her stuff disappearing, she began to panic and weep. Dr. Chabaud went over to her and asked simply, "Theresa, what's hard right now?" I almost started crying myself. What a smart, beautiful question to ask, with none of the pointedness of "What's wrong?" or "Why are you crying?" The question allowed Theresa to focus on the difficulties of that exact moment and how she was going to get through it. I think about that moment a lot.
MATT PAXTON
Initially, I lumped Matt Paxton, professional organizer, into the category of the harmless/ineffectual. However, as he showed up in more and more episodes, I began to strongly disagree with his approach. Like the other professionals, he is well-intentioned, but he is fundamentally impatient with the hoarders and gets frustrated easily by their reticence to let go of, say, a box of vitamins filled with maggots. His two main strategies are incredibly flawed. For one, he tries to reason with the hoarders using logic. That will never work, because their behavior is illogical. So to say, "You're seriously going to use that rusted box of bent nails? When are you going to use that? You're never going to! This is ridiculous," means that you are refusing to work with a hoarder on their terms. Matt's other approach is equally futile, and that is to get personal with the hoarder and use guilt to snap them into action. He will often say things like, "Your grandchildren are here, trying to help you, and you can't even throw this little thing away?" or "All these people on the cleaning crew are here, away from their families, trying to help you, and you're not even cooperating!" I just think it's a pointless tactic, considering many of the hoarders have shunned their friends and families for years. Do you think they care that some random guy from 1-800-JUNK is missing his son's baseball practice? It's misguided, and again, shows very little understanding of the hoarders' mentality and the trauma they undergo every time someone throws away a seemingly meaningless piece of trash.
If you made it through this entire post, I salute you. And if you are like me, and fascinated by the world of hoarders, you can check out these links for more information:
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
(My) Top Ten 30 Rock Episodes: PART THREE
In honor of my chance encounter with Jack McBrayer the other night at the MOMI Salute, I'll finish what I started (a rarity for me) and complete this epic list. Forgive the writing style, I've been slightly flu-ish recently.
7. BELIEVE IN THE STARS (SEASON 3)
So many reasons to love this episode, but most of them involve Liz Lemon saying inappropriate things to a 13-year-old girl whom she believes is Oprah, while under the influence of drugs. It might have just been another Comanaprosil side effect, in addition to dizziness, sexual nightmares, and sleep crime.
Also, this episode introduced the idea of my work-self suffocating my life-me, which is how I feel 75% of the time.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: I’m trying to adopt a baby. But my job is making it impossible because my work-self is suffocating my life-me. I’m Liz Lemon and I lost my virginity at 25. I saw the show about following fear and it inspired me to wear shorts to work. It didn’t go great. Do you know Tracy Jordan? I took a pill earlier. I didn’t get September issue of O Magazine. Do you have the number for subscriptions? Why would you!? I eat emotionally. And one time at summer camp, I kissed a girl on a dare but then she drowned.
Jack: It’s okay. It happens to the best of us. In-flight medication is how I met M. Night Shyamalan, until it turned out to be...
Jonathan: That was the best day in my life!
8. ANNA HOWARD SHAW DAY (SEASON 4)
This is another one of my favorites, but it features one of those classic television absences-of-logic that I find so annoying. Liz needs someone to drive her home from her deliberately planned Valentine's Day root canal, but everyone has romantic plans. She stoops to asking a male escort, who bails after a chlamydia outbreak. Woe is Liz. HAS SHE EVER HEARD OF A TAXI?
Sorry for shouting. It's still a great episode, because it features the return of all of her ex-boyfriends, Avery Jessup, a very thin Horatio Sanz, and the use of "bobsled" as a greeting. Also, I know she is onscreen for about 30 seconds, but I deeply love the tall dental hygienist who has the gap between her teeth. I often repeat her line in my head: "I say we order her some pizza and lock 'er in 'ere for da weekend."
FAVORITE LINES
Jack: Frankly, I could use a win.
Liz: A win? What’s with the euphemisms, Jack? Why don’t you just say you want some [makes hand gestures].
Jack: Is that sex?
Liz: It is the way I do it.
Frank: That cleaning lady finally agreed to go out with me. We’re going to pick up some pierogis and then eat them at her husband’s grave.
Liz: I scheduled a root canal for February 14th, Jack. I will spend half the day in twilight sleep and then I will go home and watch the Original Lifetime Movie, “My Stepson Is My Cyber Husband.”
Lutz: Hey, has anybody heard about any cool new sex positions? My girlfriend’s visiting for Valentine’s and I want to keep things caliente.
Liz: Oh my God, Lutz. Are you still pretending Karen exists?
Lutz: She’s real! Would a fake woman have a personal website at jdlutz.com\karen\proof?
Liz: Wow, Avery Jessup. She’s hot. She was on Maxim’s “I’d Rape That 100.”
9. DEALBREAKERS TALK SHOW #0001 (SEASON 4)
This episode came out while I was still in China, and I remember sitting with Jessica and laughing hysterically. It's one of the straight-up funniest episodes of the series and, in addition to Liz's pre-show identity crisis, the HD Camera becomes an endlessly rich resource for jokes.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: I’m a star! I’m on top! Someone bring me some HAM! I used to sing that when I was a kid.
Liz: Actually I got three haircuts. The first two made me look nuts. Hey, do I say the word “camera” weird? Camer-ah. Camer-ah. Camer-ah.
Pete: Okay, here we go! One more! This is the one. And action! Great. And smile. With your mouth! And raise the roof. Look boy, you can do it. Good!… Oh my God. Break it down, break it down. Oh, yeah, sassy. Sass it up. Wave to a friend. No, wave like a human being. Do you remember waving? And blow a kiss. No, with your hands! And uh, a little cleavage. Nope! Just have fun. Are you spinning a basketball?
10. BROOKLYN WITHOUT LIMITS (SEASON 5)
I've been having my misgivings about Season 5. They opened the show with a mediocre episode that also featured an oddly placed and unfunny rape joke about Pete's wife. The season continued on its bumpy way until Brooklyn Without Limits, which showcases Liz's faux liberal bleeding heart and makes fun of all the rest of the local-organic-Fair-Trade-outer-borough-hipsters. But most of all, it features overall shorts. Like any self-respecting 7th grader, I owned multiple pairs and I wore them until I realized how monumentally hideous they look on anybody with hips or boobs or both. Long story short, this episode was good enough to round out my Top 10, and I hope the season continues in this vein.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: This place is trying way too hard. Why are their straitjackets everywhere?
Jenna: Because before this was a clothing store it was a mental hospital. It’s winky and fun.
Liz: They’re from Brooklyn Without Limits. It’s this very cool store with locations in Gaytown, White Harlem, and the Van Beardswick section of Brooklyn. And they don’t just look great. See the tag? “Hand Made in USA.” Because BWL is all about fair trade and local artisans and staying green.
Liz: These jeans totally make up for all the times I took a long hot shower because I was bored.
Liz: You and Tracy deserve each other. I don’t know who to be more disappointed in.
Jenna: Me silly. I’m more aware of what I’m doing!
Liz: I’m a freelancer, which is pretty much a modern day cowboy. And I live like a cowboy by buying quality locally made jeans. Also by eating beans out of a can, due to impatience.
Jack: Do you know who owns Brooklyn Without Limits?
Liz: Brooklyn Zach. He throws pool parties in dumpsters
Jack: Halliburton.
7. BELIEVE IN THE STARS (SEASON 3)
So many reasons to love this episode, but most of them involve Liz Lemon saying inappropriate things to a 13-year-old girl whom she believes is Oprah, while under the influence of drugs. It might have just been another Comanaprosil side effect, in addition to dizziness, sexual nightmares, and sleep crime.Also, this episode introduced the idea of my work-self suffocating my life-me, which is how I feel 75% of the time.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: I’m trying to adopt a baby. But my job is making it impossible because my work-self is suffocating my life-me. I’m Liz Lemon and I lost my virginity at 25. I saw the show about following fear and it inspired me to wear shorts to work. It didn’t go great. Do you know Tracy Jordan? I took a pill earlier. I didn’t get September issue of O Magazine. Do you have the number for subscriptions? Why would you!? I eat emotionally. And one time at summer camp, I kissed a girl on a dare but then she drowned.
Jack: It’s okay. It happens to the best of us. In-flight medication is how I met M. Night Shyamalan, until it turned out to be...
Jonathan: That was the best day in my life!
8. ANNA HOWARD SHAW DAY (SEASON 4)
This is another one of my favorites, but it features one of those classic television absences-of-logic that I find so annoying. Liz needs someone to drive her home from her deliberately planned Valentine's Day root canal, but everyone has romantic plans. She stoops to asking a male escort, who bails after a chlamydia outbreak. Woe is Liz. HAS SHE EVER HEARD OF A TAXI?Sorry for shouting. It's still a great episode, because it features the return of all of her ex-boyfriends, Avery Jessup, a very thin Horatio Sanz, and the use of "bobsled" as a greeting. Also, I know she is onscreen for about 30 seconds, but I deeply love the tall dental hygienist who has the gap between her teeth. I often repeat her line in my head: "I say we order her some pizza and lock 'er in 'ere for da weekend."
FAVORITE LINES
Jack: Frankly, I could use a win.
Liz: A win? What’s with the euphemisms, Jack? Why don’t you just say you want some [makes hand gestures].
Jack: Is that sex?
Liz: It is the way I do it.
Frank: That cleaning lady finally agreed to go out with me. We’re going to pick up some pierogis and then eat them at her husband’s grave.
Liz: I scheduled a root canal for February 14th, Jack. I will spend half the day in twilight sleep and then I will go home and watch the Original Lifetime Movie, “My Stepson Is My Cyber Husband.”
Lutz: Hey, has anybody heard about any cool new sex positions? My girlfriend’s visiting for Valentine’s and I want to keep things caliente.
Liz: Oh my God, Lutz. Are you still pretending Karen exists?
Lutz: She’s real! Would a fake woman have a personal website at jdlutz.com\karen\proof?
Liz: Wow, Avery Jessup. She’s hot. She was on Maxim’s “I’d Rape That 100.”
9. DEALBREAKERS TALK SHOW #0001 (SEASON 4)
This episode came out while I was still in China, and I remember sitting with Jessica and laughing hysterically. It's one of the straight-up funniest episodes of the series and, in addition to Liz's pre-show identity crisis, the HD Camera becomes an endlessly rich resource for jokes.FAVORITE LINES
Liz: I’m a star! I’m on top! Someone bring me some HAM! I used to sing that when I was a kid.
Liz: Actually I got three haircuts. The first two made me look nuts. Hey, do I say the word “camera” weird? Camer-ah. Camer-ah. Camer-ah.
Pete: Okay, here we go! One more! This is the one. And action! Great. And smile. With your mouth! And raise the roof. Look boy, you can do it. Good!… Oh my God. Break it down, break it down. Oh, yeah, sassy. Sass it up. Wave to a friend. No, wave like a human being. Do you remember waving? And blow a kiss. No, with your hands! And uh, a little cleavage. Nope! Just have fun. Are you spinning a basketball?
10. BROOKLYN WITHOUT LIMITS (SEASON 5)
I've been having my misgivings about Season 5. They opened the show with a mediocre episode that also featured an oddly placed and unfunny rape joke about Pete's wife. The season continued on its bumpy way until Brooklyn Without Limits, which showcases Liz's faux liberal bleeding heart and makes fun of all the rest of the local-organic-Fair-Trade-outer-borough-hipsters. But most of all, it features overall shorts. Like any self-respecting 7th grader, I owned multiple pairs and I wore them until I realized how monumentally hideous they look on anybody with hips or boobs or both. Long story short, this episode was good enough to round out my Top 10, and I hope the season continues in this vein.FAVORITE LINES
Liz: This place is trying way too hard. Why are their straitjackets everywhere?
Jenna: Because before this was a clothing store it was a mental hospital. It’s winky and fun.
Liz: They’re from Brooklyn Without Limits. It’s this very cool store with locations in Gaytown, White Harlem, and the Van Beardswick section of Brooklyn. And they don’t just look great. See the tag? “Hand Made in USA.” Because BWL is all about fair trade and local artisans and staying green.
Liz: These jeans totally make up for all the times I took a long hot shower because I was bored.
Liz: You and Tracy deserve each other. I don’t know who to be more disappointed in.
Jenna: Me silly. I’m more aware of what I’m doing!
Liz: I’m a freelancer, which is pretty much a modern day cowboy. And I live like a cowboy by buying quality locally made jeans. Also by eating beans out of a can, due to impatience.
Jack: Do you know who owns Brooklyn Without Limits?
Liz: Brooklyn Zach. He throws pool parties in dumpsters
Jack: Halliburton.
Jack: It’s not Hand Made in the USA. It’s pronounced Han Made in Usa. The Hand people are a Vietnamese slave tribe and Usa is their island prison. They made your jeans. You know how they get the stitching so small? Orphans.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
(My) Top Ten 30 Rock Episodes: PART TWO
4. SANDWICH DAY (SEASON 2)
In this episode, the Teamsters engage in a yearly tradition of buying everyone sandwiches from a secret deli in Brooklyn ("and the dipping sauce - oh, the dipping sauce!"), and Floyd shows up for a brief reunion with Liz. I love this episode for a couple reasons, but mostly because it contains one of the most romantic lines in moving image history: "I wolfed my Teamster sub for you."
FAVORITE LINES
Floyd: Can I take you out to dinner tonight? Maybe we can go to that barbecue place you puked at.
Liz: (flirtatiously): You'll have to be more specific.
Lutz (to the Teamsters): I know what driving the long-haul is like! After my junior year at Oberlin, we road-tripped to South by Southwest!
5. JACKIE JORMP-JOMP (SEASON 3)
First of all, this episode starts out with Jeffery Weinerslav (pronounced "weiner slave"), who I bumped into at a CVS in Astoria a few years ago. I am starstruck by the most minor of celebrities, so I asked if he was on 30 Rock and told him how much I enjoyed his role on the show. He was extremely nice and we had a little chat and he asked if I was an actress, which made my year.
Beyond that, this episode is near perfection, from Liz's harassment of the Polish doormen to Jenna's role in the Janis Joplin biopic to the terrific performances by the women in the leisure/fight club.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: No! I need a little more time off. I'm on humanity leave.
Jack: Good God, what Indigo Girls song is that from?
Liz: "Syllabus of Us." It's off Vagabonds, Martyrs and Quilts.
Tracy: Honesty and trust is very important in an entourage. Like that HBO show, John Adams.
Liz: Emily and her friends are happy!
Jack: Believe me, there is no solace in their luxury, only deep despair.
Liz: How do you know all these Indigo Girls songs?
6. THE BUBBLE (SEASON 3)
I know I'm getting hyperbolic with all of these favorite episodes, but "The Bubble" is just brilliant. I love how it highlights our society's lookism in such a playful, good-natured way. (Against my better nature, I myself give an incredible amount of leeway to attractive people.) Jon Hamm actually isn't my type, but I think he has a wonderful sense of humor and was great at portraying life inside the bubble.
FAVORITE LINES
Jack: Lemon, I don't share this often, but this is a photo of me when I was 25 years old.
Liz: What the what?! You have a Superman chest!
Jack: I know.
Liz: Oh my God, the lady will have two tickets to the gun show! Your eyes are so much bluer. What happened to your eyes?
Jack: Beautiful people are treated differently, from, say, moderately pleasant looking people. They live in a bubble. A bubble of free drinks, kindness and outdoor sex.
Drew: I don’t see it on the menu, but I would love a catfish po’boy and a diet raspberry Fanta.
Liz: Oh, that is a great idea. Let me order that for you.
(She covers his face with a menu)
Liz: Excuse me, we will have a turkey burger deluxe and a catfish po’boy with a diet raspberry Fanta.
Waitress: I’m gonna come back in five minutes. You try to order off the menu again I will smack those glasses off your face.
Liz: Okay. Thank you.
Waitress: You’re welcome.
Drew: What was that? Why didn’t she call you “sweetheart”? And where’s the complimentary app sampler? What’s going on?
Liz: See because of your whole, you know, Disney prince thing -
Drew: Actually they used footage of me from my high school swim team to draw Prince Eric.
In this episode, the Teamsters engage in a yearly tradition of buying everyone sandwiches from a secret deli in Brooklyn ("and the dipping sauce - oh, the dipping sauce!"), and Floyd shows up for a brief reunion with Liz. I love this episode for a couple reasons, but mostly because it contains one of the most romantic lines in moving image history: "I wolfed my Teamster sub for you."FAVORITE LINES
Floyd: Can I take you out to dinner tonight? Maybe we can go to that barbecue place you puked at.
Liz: (flirtatiously): You'll have to be more specific.
Lutz (to the Teamsters): I know what driving the long-haul is like! After my junior year at Oberlin, we road-tripped to South by Southwest!
5. JACKIE JORMP-JOMP (SEASON 3)
First of all, this episode starts out with Jeffery Weinerslav (pronounced "weiner slave"), who I bumped into at a CVS in Astoria a few years ago. I am starstruck by the most minor of celebrities, so I asked if he was on 30 Rock and told him how much I enjoyed his role on the show. He was extremely nice and we had a little chat and he asked if I was an actress, which made my year.Beyond that, this episode is near perfection, from Liz's harassment of the Polish doormen to Jenna's role in the Janis Joplin biopic to the terrific performances by the women in the leisure/fight club.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: No! I need a little more time off. I'm on humanity leave.
Jack: Good God, what Indigo Girls song is that from?
Liz: "Syllabus of Us." It's off Vagabonds, Martyrs and Quilts.
Tracy: Honesty and trust is very important in an entourage. Like that HBO show, John Adams.
Liz: Emily and her friends are happy!
Jack: Believe me, there is no solace in their luxury, only deep despair.
Liz: How do you know all these Indigo Girls songs?
6. THE BUBBLE (SEASON 3)
I know I'm getting hyperbolic with all of these favorite episodes, but "The Bubble" is just brilliant. I love how it highlights our society's lookism in such a playful, good-natured way. (Against my better nature, I myself give an incredible amount of leeway to attractive people.) Jon Hamm actually isn't my type, but I think he has a wonderful sense of humor and was great at portraying life inside the bubble.FAVORITE LINES
Jack: Lemon, I don't share this often, but this is a photo of me when I was 25 years old.
Liz: What the what?! You have a Superman chest!
Jack: I know.
Liz: Oh my God, the lady will have two tickets to the gun show! Your eyes are so much bluer. What happened to your eyes?
Jack: Beautiful people are treated differently, from, say, moderately pleasant looking people. They live in a bubble. A bubble of free drinks, kindness and outdoor sex.
Drew: I don’t see it on the menu, but I would love a catfish po’boy and a diet raspberry Fanta.
Liz: Oh, that is a great idea. Let me order that for you.
(She covers his face with a menu)
Liz: Excuse me, we will have a turkey burger deluxe and a catfish po’boy with a diet raspberry Fanta.
Waitress: I’m gonna come back in five minutes. You try to order off the menu again I will smack those glasses off your face.
Liz: Okay. Thank you.
Waitress: You’re welcome.
Drew: What was that? Why didn’t she call you “sweetheart”? And where’s the complimentary app sampler? What’s going on?
Liz: See because of your whole, you know, Disney prince thing -
Drew: Actually they used footage of me from my high school swim team to draw Prince Eric.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
(My) Top Ten 30 Rock Episodes: PART ONE
It takes me a long time to get into new things, which is why I didn't try sushi until I was 20 and why I still haven't see There Will Be Blood. However, once I like something, I usually devour it with unmatched enthusiasm, bordering on obsession, and will eat/watch/read it over and over again until something else catches my eye. At this point, I've seen every 30 Rock episode multiple times, and I thought it would be fun to make a top ten list. I've chosen a few from each season, and I welcome fervent debate!
1. BLIND DATE (SEASON 1)
It was tricky finding favorites in Season 1, because although I like the season quite a bit, the show was still finding its "cruising rhythm," as my lovely French co-worker would say. The jokes still followed a more sitcom-like structure, whereas later the show became more fast-paced and witty.
In this episode, we see the beginnings of Jack meddling with Liz's personal life, leading to a blind date with a woman named Gretchen Thomas. Liz's storyline is mostly centered around whether she can imagine herself to be in a romantic relationship with a woman, but one of my favorite parts of the episode concerns Kenneth, who ends up in a high-stakes poker match with Jack. The personalities/mysteries of all the minor characters really begin to shine in this episode.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: "And even though I'm not into the sex stuff, if it helps you, I would let you...do stuff...to me."
Gretchen: "I can't be around you anymore. Bye, Liz."
Tracy: "This round, Texas Doozy. Face cards are wild, threes are jinxed, fives are twos."
Jack: "In five years we'll all either be working for him...or be dead by his hand."
2. CLEVELAND (SEASON 1)
What hotspot's got the hippest groove? Where all the real gone-daddies move? Dig that sweet Cuyahoga glow!
There is no way any list could not include this episode. It contains some of my favorite 30 Rock-isms ("By the hammer of Thor!" "Just a whirl of wind" "Paris was, to borrow a phrase, bonkers") and the musical sequence of Cleveland was just great. (So great, in fact, that it seemed to have spawned an unfunny-seeming sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. Full disclosure: I've never seen it.)
Also, Emily Mortimer is terrific as British-but-probably faking it, hollow-boned gallery owner, Phoebe.
FAVORITE LINES
Tracy: I'm going to have so much money, my grandkids are going to play lacrosse. Lacrosse, Liz Lemon!
Jenna: Wow, how Sex and the City are we right now? I'm Samantha, you're Charlotte, and you're the lady at home who watches it.
Floyd: If the whole world moved to their favorite vacation spots, then the whole world would live in Hawaii and Italy and Cleveland.
3. ROSEMARY'S BABY (SEASON 2)
This episode is a favorite of mine because it is a combination of topics that 30 Rock typically does well: New York, feminism, yuppies (do people still use that word?), liberal hypocrisy, silliness, and anything that involves Grizz and Dot Com. The episode also features one of my favorite cameos. Carrie Fisher is pitch-perfect as the radical aging former comedy writer.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: You are my heroine. And by heroine, I mean "lady hero." I don't mean I want to inject you and listen to jazz.
Rosemary: God, I haven't been in that building in so long. Does everyone still do blow in Joe Garagiola's office?
Liz: Which one is blow? Is that cocaine?
Liz: What neighborhood is this?
Rosemary: They call it "Little Chechnya." It's so gritty and real. More murders per capita than Detroit. Try not to write when you're living here!
Rosemary: I predict, opening weekend: a million dollars.
Jack: Never follow a hippie to a second location.
1. BLIND DATE (SEASON 1)
It was tricky finding favorites in Season 1, because although I like the season quite a bit, the show was still finding its "cruising rhythm," as my lovely French co-worker would say. The jokes still followed a more sitcom-like structure, whereas later the show became more fast-paced and witty.In this episode, we see the beginnings of Jack meddling with Liz's personal life, leading to a blind date with a woman named Gretchen Thomas. Liz's storyline is mostly centered around whether she can imagine herself to be in a romantic relationship with a woman, but one of my favorite parts of the episode concerns Kenneth, who ends up in a high-stakes poker match with Jack. The personalities/mysteries of all the minor characters really begin to shine in this episode.
FAVORITE LINES
Liz: "And even though I'm not into the sex stuff, if it helps you, I would let you...do stuff...to me."
Gretchen: "I can't be around you anymore. Bye, Liz."
Tracy: "This round, Texas Doozy. Face cards are wild, threes are jinxed, fives are twos."
Jack: "In five years we'll all either be working for him...or be dead by his hand."
2. CLEVELAND (SEASON 1)
What hotspot's got the hippest groove? Where all the real gone-daddies move? Dig that sweet Cuyahoga glow!There is no way any list could not include this episode. It contains some of my favorite 30 Rock-isms ("By the hammer of Thor!" "Just a whirl of wind" "Paris was, to borrow a phrase, bonkers") and the musical sequence of Cleveland was just great. (So great, in fact, that it seemed to have spawned an unfunny-seeming sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. Full disclosure: I've never seen it.)
Also, Emily Mortimer is terrific as British-but-probably faking it, hollow-boned gallery owner, Phoebe.
FAVORITE LINES
Tracy: I'm going to have so much money, my grandkids are going to play lacrosse. Lacrosse, Liz Lemon!
Jenna: Wow, how Sex and the City are we right now? I'm Samantha, you're Charlotte, and you're the lady at home who watches it.
Floyd: If the whole world moved to their favorite vacation spots, then the whole world would live in Hawaii and Italy and Cleveland.
3. ROSEMARY'S BABY (SEASON 2)
This episode is a favorite of mine because it is a combination of topics that 30 Rock typically does well: New York, feminism, yuppies (do people still use that word?), liberal hypocrisy, silliness, and anything that involves Grizz and Dot Com. The episode also features one of my favorite cameos. Carrie Fisher is pitch-perfect as the radical aging former comedy writer.FAVORITE LINES
Liz: You are my heroine. And by heroine, I mean "lady hero." I don't mean I want to inject you and listen to jazz.
Rosemary: God, I haven't been in that building in so long. Does everyone still do blow in Joe Garagiola's office?
Liz: Which one is blow? Is that cocaine?
Liz: What neighborhood is this?
Rosemary: They call it "Little Chechnya." It's so gritty and real. More murders per capita than Detroit. Try not to write when you're living here!
Rosemary: I predict, opening weekend: a million dollars.
Jack: Never follow a hippie to a second location.
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