What I’m Watching: 30 Rock

30 Rock: Season 5, Episode 17 “Queen of Jordan” (D)

Is there such a thing as being too self-aware? I would argue yes, and cite this episode of this show in particular as evidence of that. As someone who doesn’t watch reality TV, I can still appreciate the ridiculousness of the premises, scripts, and characters on shows like the ones mocked in this episode. But to have them so excessively parodied, and to waste an entire episode of this show doing it, is a true shame. It’s like when “Scrubs” brought in Clay Aiken for a laugh-track-assisted installment and it fell flat, only worse. This time, they went all out and even tried to magically tie it into the plot! All of Jenna’s plotlines these days are so repetitive and almost as desperate as the character herself is supposed to be. I don’t think I laughed once at any of Angie’s material (save her saying “ham”), and self-deprecating Liz is hardly my favorite person. I will commend Alec Baldwin on his hilarious pronunciation of “D’Fwan,” but I thought both his gay plotline and his tripping plotline were stupid. Susan Sarandon’s guest spot was a waste, and only mildly funny. In a completely unsurprising move, this show just got picked up for a sixth season along with NBC’s other popular comedy series. I can only hope that next season will contain more episodes like “Double-Edged Sword” than this installment and “Live Show.” As usual, of course, I think I’m probably in the minority on that, and viewers might prefer this type of episode. Any reader thoughts?