Gore is green on 30 Rock tonight
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- November
- 8
Al Gore at one time probably imagined he’d be brokering Middle East peace or putting the squeeze on donors for his presidential library by now.
No such luck for the recent Oscar winner and Nobel laureate, who brings his eco-alarm bells to 30 Rock’s Green is Universal Week episode tonight, “Greenzo”. Green Week could refer to the battle for the green between writers and studios that got under way Monday. In this case, however, it refers to something even less exciting: NBC Universal’s environmentally-themed programming initiative, something Tina Fey and Co. are hardly above ridiculing.
Here’s the episode summary:
As part of a GE-wide green initiative, Jack has come up with the idea of creating a green mascot for NBC—a Phillie Phanatic-looking character named Greenzo. When Greenzo’s eco-friendly preachiness gets obnoxiously out of hand in “TGS with Tracy Jordan” offices and on a promotional tour, it’s Liz who gets fed up the most with the ridiculous character. Kenneth is planning his annual house party, a boring little soiree where Liz has been the only one who ever shown up in the past. Tracy wants the party to be a success for Kenneth, so he spreads a few little rumors to get the event hopping, but simple office gossip gets out of control. Special guest stars include Oscar and Nobel Prize winner Al Gore, Meredith Vieira and David Schwimmer.
What’s more bizarre, the former veep lampooning himself on a snarky sit-com or Ross from Friends in a green mascot suit? (After The View, nothing Vieira does will ever seem bizarre.)
TVGuide.com talked to Judah Friedlander, who plays Frank the writer, about Schwimmer, Gore and his weird hat messages.
TVGuide.com: But Al Gore plays Al Gore and Meredith Vieira plays Meredith Vieira?
Friedlander: I forgot MV was in it! But yes, Al Gore plays Al Gore. I’m like 95 percent sure of that.
Even without this distinguished lineup of guest stars, you should savor this episode as you should all new episodes of your favorite shows. The writer’s strike has shut down production on several shows, while others—including 30 Rock—are exhausting their completed scripts. The Hartford Courant’s Roger Catlin, in his blog, reports that while Fey has been highly visible on the pickets lines outside the real 30 Rock this week, she said “she’d return to the set, but only as an actress.”
Check out a great primer on the strike from the Star-Ledger’s Alan Sepinwall. He notes…
Complicating matters even more are shows where the writers are also actors; while on the picket line, Fey told the LA Times that she had no choice but to appear in the uncompleted 10th episode of “30 Rock” season two.
And check out Best Week Ever’s vision of what a prolonged strike would do to TV as we know it…
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 1:39 pm by Brian Howard.
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Al Gore did a great spot a few years ago on “Futurama,” for which his daughter wrote.
He hosted SNL too not long ago, right? Who knew he was funny 10 years ago?