Hiatus, the first season finale of 30 Rock, is as clever a sample of metatelevison as there ever will be: a finale about a finale (kind of a reversal of Seinfeld's fourth year, which ended with an episode centered around a television pilot).
The episode begins in an unprecedented way for 20-minute comedy shows (minus the occasional two-part story on Friends): Kenneth says "Previously on 30 Rock" and we see the events from the previous show that made Tracy go in hiding after he thought the Black Crusaders were coming after him. He's now being "protected" by Kenneth's cousin Jesse (Sean Hayes), who quickly turns all Annie Wilkes on the poor comedian.
Meanwhile, panic abounds over at NBC, since they still have one episode of TGS to air before the summer hiatus and Tracy has to be in it. The stressful situation isn't doing much good for Jack's health, which gets even worse when his mother Colleen (Elaine Stritch) comes for a visit and expresses reservations about his new fiancée Phoebe (Emily Mortimer).
The brilliance in Tina Fey's writing is all the more obvious with this episode, which reflects her real-life concerns: just like Liz must find a satisfying conclusion for the 2006-2007 season of TGS, she needed a finale that would keep fans waiting for the second series. She pulls it off artfully with the usual string of quotable lines and self-referential insanity, with the addition of two guest stars whose comedic ability few would question: Hayes, always the funniest thing in NBC's hit Will & Grace, has the same flamboyant charm here, with an added hint of madness, while Stritch, who won an Emmy for her performance (bravo!), gives Alec Baldwin a run for his money with a portrayal that matches all the ghastly things we've heard about the character in previous episodes.
In short: an artistic triumph. Oh, and still very, very funny.
