What I’m Watching: 30 Rock

30 Rock: Season 5, Episode 6 “Gentleman’s Intermission” (B+)

I will admit that this was one of the funniest episodes of this show that I’ve seen in a long time. Jack’s search for a new sad soul to mentor and Liz’s efforts to get her father to realize that he needs to go back to her mother came together to create one hilarious half-hour of television. There’s just something about the way that Alec Baldwin delivers his lines that’s completely incredible. Another chance to see the often-absent Avery isn’t a bad thing, especially when she’s acting generally crazy. Jack’s four qualifications for being worthy of his mentorship, childish acronym aside, were very entertaining, and I liked how each of his candidates were dismissed for some reason or another, the random executive at the end for the most obvious of reasons. I enjoyed all of the quick things muttered under his or others’ breath during this installment. Tracy’s ownership of the New York Necks, the all-giraffe basketball team, was definitely my favorite subplot. This episode helped to remind me that sometimes the irreverence on this show works wonders, and it’s very fitting that this show come a week after the show didn’t even air at all and thus was not missed by this TV viewer. After five seasons, Tina Fey and company do know what they’re doing, and while there will be miss episodes every now and then, there will also be hits. And that final montage of Liz running through why all the names are terrible was very funny.