Sometimes I wonder if the viewers out there who aren't watching 30 Rock are dismissing it because they don't get the little obscure references and nerd-bait easter eggs, because for me, aside from Liz and Jack's complex and fascinating relationship, the little pop culture nods are the best part of the show. (Best one ever: "You can't have a lemon party without old dick!") Anyway, while the Jon Hamm storyline continued to be funny ("stew", ha!) the other subplots of last night's episode were chock-full of little inside jokes, including one specially-made to delight any fan of either Alec Baldwin's career or mid-'90's post-Basic Instinct sexual thrillers. So I'm gonna focus on those.
First, though it bothers some people, I'm going to have to come down on the side of being 100% in favor of product placement on this show. I would like this show to stay on the air, and I think they do it in a funny way. (Though McFlurries are McDisgusting.) Did anybody notice Jack's lamp on last night's McDonald's-sponsored episode, for example?:
Also at one point last night, Tracy yells to Dot Com "Stop showing off, DOT COM!" Look where that URL goes. Of course.
And sometimes this show has inside jokes so small you could swear they're just doing it to amuse themselves, like last night when Kenneth met his blind love interest, Jennifer, who is played by the same actress who played Jack MacBrayer's wife in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the music briefly switched to a Hawaiian luau style. Because that movie took place in Hawaii! Insane.
And just three weeks after Liz Lemon made a Glengarry Glen Ross reference, the show honored another of Alec Baldwin's iconic movie roles, with a reference to Malice in this confessional scene at Elisa's church. (Note that the priest is Wet Hot American Summer's Zak Orth.):
"I am god!":
From now on, we have to keep a look out for the line "What one man can do another can do!" Because that's from the massively underrated Alec Baldwin/Anthony Hopkins 1997 thriller The Edge, and that would be awesome. (Any reference to bears in general will also work.)
