When Padma Lakshmi came into town, Jack had thoughts of replacing Liz, but she responded by to shopping around for the best deal for a talk show.

Because she’s big-time with her Dealbreakers book at all. But Jack won’t take it lying down, and he claims the rights to the show, even offering a hosting gig to Ms. Lakshmi.

The basic point was that being drop-dead gorgeous, she doesn’t have to try too hard. Similar to last season’s plot with Liz’s boyfriend Drew (Jon Hamm). Hit or miss really.

Elsewhere, Kenneth was at odds with the new cast member (Cheyenne Jackson), who until last week was a street performer know as “Party-bot.”

His real name is Jack, but that other, more powerful Jack renames him Danny to avoid any confusion – or competition. Jack/Danny is Canadian, which obviously means he’s nice, and isn’t comfortable bossing Ken around.

Tracy and Jenna even try to be kind to him, but he feels useless without the abuse.

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Liz and Jack set out to find a new cast member from “real America.”

What they find, in venturing to Kenneth’s homeland of Georgia, is that “real” America does note exist. Or at least not in the way they thought it did. The real America as 30 Rock ultimately sees it is all the same, even if it’s not flattering.

Poor Liz Lemon thinks Middle America is San Francisco and Canada.

This season’s plot, finding another cast member to be a regular on TGS, is ongoing, and Jack and Liz going to Kenneth’s hometown to find “real” comics made sense, and was hilarious.

Why Kenneth didn’t go with them to show them around is a bit puzzling, but he offered great comic relief in New York in spite of that omission.

This was a Halloween episode, too, so we saw Frank, Lutz and Toofer being friendly to Jenna just so they can go to her gay friends’ Halloween party.

Why? Because there will be hot chicks. Did we even need to explain that?

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Liz is upset that Tracy won’t act professional and calls him out on it.

Tracy is hurt that everyone treats him like a child and readjusts his clocks to try and trick him into showing up for work. The next day Tracy shows up in full on Cosby sweater garb, glasses, and a professional demeanor. He knows all of his lines, is on time, and works perfectly for the day.

Of course he has other ideas as he professes that everyone should be treated equally, no matter what. It all starts with Liz Lemon having to change a water bottle, which has nothing to do with equality. Liz and Tracy continue their battle for a few more days: Liz enjoying the sweet aroma of unbridled man farts, and Tracy forced to work late while Liz and the boys go to a strip club. The two decide they can’t handle the changes and want to go back to the old ways.

Meanwhile, Colleen Donaghy, Jack’s mom, is in town. Despite how difficult she is Jack is being nicer than usual because it’s the 35th anniversary of when his father walked out on the family. When Jack goes to his mother’s hotel to pick her up for dinner he discovers Paul, a Floridian who can drive at night and makes his own soda. Jack is convinced the guy is a scam artist and employs his private eye to find out what’s up. Buscemi comes back to report Paul is a boy scout, and that he’s been married for 35 years. Jack goes to confront Paul about his indiscretions by using a slightly modified version of the speech he wished he had given his father long ago.

Colleen knew of Paul’s marriage and shrugs it off. She then realizes that Jack is upset about the abrupt departure of Jimmy Donaghy 35 years ago. She’d forgotten about it and told Jack to, too. Later, Jack is watching “Some Like It Hot,” which he explains to Liz is a movie his father took his mother to see. Liz makes a comment about wanting to be a writer when the movie came out in 1959 because audiences would have been so gullible. Colleen’s previous comment becomes clear: If Jimmy Donaghy was gone from 1957 until 1959, and Jack was conceived in 1958 then Jimmy Donaghy is not Jack’s father.

Jenna was also in this episode. It involved a gibbon that humped her face. Enough said.

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Everyone, even Liz Lemon, looks great in a Slanket. Salma Hayek’s return to 30 Rock was inevitable, but no one knew just when it was going to happen. It was also inevitable that her character would have to be written off somehow. That has officially been solved by having Elisa having a dark secret about killing her ex-husband because he cheated on her.



As for the storyline involving Jenna, it actually ended twice, once with Kenneth faking his death, and then again when he got sick on purpose for Jenna (that’s more like it, Ken). Jenna’s story line was set up by Lutz getting injured by the falling TV, but then this was completely dropped from the episode. Jenna’s paramedic looked as though he might be ready to turn into a regular boyfriend for her for a bunch of episodes, but perhaps the show isn’t going there though.

All in all, a solid episode.

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Picking up where last week’s 30 Rock left off, Liz Lemon is suspended from work in “Jackie Jormp-Jomp.” She’s forced to attend a sexual harrassment seminar and somehow adjust to life without the stress of her show.



This proves to be difficult. At first, Liz Lemon is lost, actually showing up at 30 Rockefeller Plaza just to see what’s going on… until Kenneth blows his page whistle on her for breaking the rules.

Soon, though, Liz Lemon runs into a woman from her building in their lobby. This woman has recently been fired from her job on Wall Street and went through the same feelings that Liz Lemon is currently going through. But then the woman realized that there are far better way to enjoy life than trying to find purpose through one’s stressful occupation. Liz Lemon is intrigued.

She ends up intwined in the world of rich, spoiled divorcees. Liz Lemon and her new pal’s group of friends drink champagne in the morning go to the spa during the day and take part in private shopping trips. It’s a world Liz Lemon never thought she’d be in, and one that Jack warns her results in negative consequences, but Liz Lemon is enjoying it too much to listen to the sound advice of her boss and good, hilarious friend.

She has to find out for herself: at the end of the episode, Liz Lemon and the gals are sitting around, planning their night, when Liz Lemon learns that they do to stay sharp. Yes, folks, it’s a fight club! In order to “feel alive,” as one woman puts it, they severely beat on each other. This finally prompts Liz Lemon to return to TGS and the world she loves.

Two other storylines highlighted the episode:

1. Kenneth admitted to a crush on one of the TGS dancers. Unfortunately, Dot Com was already dating her. Fortunately, the two pals quickly worked out their differences. Less fortunately, Tracy fired the dancer, the other dancers boycotted in a show of solidarity and Tracy was forced to bring in a group of tranvestites to take their place.
   
2. In order to sell Jenna’s faltering Janis Joplic biopic, Jack pretended she was dead. It worked for a short period of time, until Jenna couldn’t resist taking the stage during her TGS tribute.
   

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