Recapping 30 Rock each week finds me dancing around double entendres and off-color references ill-suited to this space. It’s a delicate balance, relating what was clever and funny without dwelling on the potentially R-rated.

(photo: NBC.com)

Tina Fey and Co. didn’t make things any easier with the latest episode. Title: “The ‘C’ Word.�

Seems TGS head writer Liz Lemon (Fey) has rankled her underlings with her insensitivity and brusque management style. And one particular target for bad side is J.D. Lutz (played by John Lutz). After Frank (Judah Friedlander) sleeps through her (spot-on) Condoleeza Rice impression because a Designing Women marathon kept him up all night, Lutz’s cell phone goes off, violating a rule of the writer’s room. Then Lutz pitches his third hobo-themed sketch in a month.

Liz: I didn’t like it two weeks ago when it was called America’s Next Hobo, and I didn’t like it a month ago when it was called Hobo Eye for the Straight Guy.
Lutz: Deal or No Hobo?
Liz: Hey Lutz, why don’t you approach your job with the same creativity and excitement you have for all-you-can-eat buffets?

Enter Rachel Dratch, making her weekly cameo, this time as an animal handler. As she presents Lemon with a litter of kittens, Liz overhears Lutz talking about her. “Runt!� Dratch proclaims. “This kitten, he’s such a runt.� That bit of mixed dialogue, along with the episode title, should give you an idea where things are headed.

Frank: I don’t know. I think Liz is right about this. Lutz has been slacking off since his grandma died.
Liz: What? Why didn’t you guys tell me?
Frank: I thought you knew and you were just being a, you know, that word Lutz called you.

30 Rock is not deep. It’s funny, smart, off-color, politically incorrect, outrageous and downright goofy at times (i.e. Friedlander). But it ain’t deep. And in that way it’s the anti-Office, which is all of the above but with an angsty alter ego. Still, The Office started out as a Steve Carell vehicle with a cast of unknowns. There were two dozen episodes in the can before anyone realized John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer were stealing the show.

I would argue 30 Rock is taking a similar tack.

Liz Lemon projects all snark and no heart. But from her blind date with a gay woman to her on-and-off relationship with her Beeper King ex-boyfriend Dennis as well as her absconding with a co-worker’s baby, each episode offers another hilarious and surreal insight into her insecurities and aspirations. Maybe it’s Fey’s looks, her acting chops or just good writing, but it’s hard not to root for Liz.

On other fronts, Jack (Alec Baldwin) invites Tracy (Tracy Morgan) to a charity golf outing so he can introcuce him to GE exec Don Geiss (played by Rip Torn, who has something in common with Morgan in real life). Don’s grandkids love Tracy. Tracy, though, doesn’t love that he and “Carlton,� Don’s lawyer, are the only black guys in the room. He says so and blows the foursome Jack was counting on.

If Tracy would stop “dropping truth bombs� and play the game, Jack tells him, he could get back into movies. So Tracy decides to make things right at the charity dinner by relating the story of his daughter Shahita who weighed 87 pounds by the time she was 5 was later diagnosed with diabetes, Geiss’s favorite cause.

Jack: Congratulations Tracy, and welcome to the grown-up world.
Tracy: Yeah. I don’t have a daughter.
Jack: Let’s have a casting session on Monday.

Meanwhile, hoping to soften her touch, Liz bakes cupcakes for the crew, tosses out superballs at the staff meeting and keeps her cool when someone’s cell phone rings. It’s the new Liz. Pretty soon, the guys are taking advantage by showing up late, leaving early and taking the day off. And Liz ends up finishing up their work for them. But at least no one hates her. Pete (Scott Asdit) tells her this isn’t right, but then he hits her up for $60 so he can go meet Frank and Lutz at Scores.

With no one else to turn to, Liz turns to Designing Women. By morning she’s ready to lay down the law – and make the crew watch an episode of the show. Of course, the VCR eats the tape.

Liz: OK, never mind. I want to say something to all of you. I am the boss here, and sometimes that’s going to make me unpopular. But the point is, I know what you called me Lutz.
Lutz: Oh. I’m sorry that I said that. Please don’t make me move back to Alaska, Liz. I hate it there.
Liz: You can stay. But if you ever, if any of you ever call me that horrible word again. I will fire you, and you will never alter drapes in Atlanta again, because you do not cross a Sugarbaker woman. I’m so tired. I’m so tired you guys.