Your weekly Office/30 Rock preview
-
- January
- 22
Can I call it a weekly preview even if I’ve never combined them before and don’t necessarily preview either show a lot of weeks?
To paraphrase the president, yes I can. (Also, Malia, don’t touch that red phone, sweetie.)
I have to admit, Thursday nights wear me out. Yes, a TV blogger is whining about TV blogging. But hear me out. I recap both 30 Rock and The Office, and I can’t start watching either until 9, and they’re not over until 10. Factor 
in time for pausing the DVR while I scribble down funny quotes and any inspired musings I may have, and it’s closer to 10:30 before I start recapping.
But man, it’s hard because I often want to go on at ridiculous length about the minutiae that makes these shows great. It’s the throwaway lines – like Kenneth admiring Liz’s strong milking thumbs and graceful knuckle hair on last week’s 30 Rock – that make the shows great yet are so hard to keep up with.
But I persist, because this is a sweet gig. And I whine, because I can.
Anyway, tangent over, preview to follow. Here’s your respective episode summaries and my observations…
The Office: “Prince Family Paper” (9 p.m.) — Michael and Dwight go undercover to do a bit of industrial espionage on a paper company competitor. Meanwhile, the rest of the office holds a debate to settle the question: is Hilary Swank hot?
Observations:
- Michael and Dwight on an adventure! Hope it’s more “Branch Closing” or “Office Olympics” than “Survivorman.”
- No, she is not. Debate settled.
30 Rock: “Retreat to Move Forward” (9:31 p.m.) — Jack is nervous about the corporate retreat, so he recruits Liz to accompany him for support. Meanwhile, Jenna ends up at the mercy of Frank when she decides she needs to implore method acting to prepare for her Janis Joplin role, and Kenneth must convince Tracy that diabetes is affected by his diet.
Observations:
- Corporate retreat? I wonder if they’ll hone their Sixth Sigma skills? Nothing beats Liz out of her element.
- Frank messing with Jenna is always promising. More Frank is always good.
- Kenneth and Tracy should get their own show when this one runs its course.
By the way, Broadway star Patty Lupone will play Frank’s mom in an upcoming episode, and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm will play Liz’s neighbor/romantic interest.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm by Brian Howard.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
