The people of IMDb are crazy. Those on the message board have been complaining about season 4, and the scores for each episode based on user votes currently have the season 4 episodes ranked at the bottom of the list of 30 Rock episodes. Hopefully one day people will come around: personally I feel season 4 looks like it'll be the best season of 30 Rock since the first. Sun Tea may be the best of the season so far.
Personally, I don't think we really needed a show looking behind the scenes of a TV comedy sketch show. What we do need, particularly after Arrested Development went off the air, is a show that delivers great characters, smooth dialogue, smart jokes and appealing story lines- and 30 Rock delivers those things in spades. Particularly with this episode, the characters are at their best. We have classic Liz- a loser, and not entirely virtuous. The fact that she urinates in a jar in a living room marks an outrageous new low for her. We have classic Kenneth and his version of being "grumpy"- which is very brief. We have classic Jenna- crazy, and her mention of her erotic massager is wonderful- it's always good to see a woman open about her masturbatory habits. We have classic Dr. Spaceman- with his dubious medical knowledge. Finally we have Frank. Sometimes we may wonder why he gets a spot in the opening credits; then comes an episode like Cougars (season 2), Goodbye, My Friend (season 3) and now Sun Tea. Here, Frank is gross- but, I'll reluctantly admit, funny.
Themes explored include injustice to renters as Liz is subject to attempts to force her out of her apartment. However, the episode mainly focuses on whether having children is a good or bad thing (and we see both sides), and this is the second environmentalist episode since Greenzo (season 2). This is better than Greenzo. It doesn't get much better than this.
Personally, I don't think we really needed a show looking behind the scenes of a TV comedy sketch show. What we do need, particularly after Arrested Development went off the air, is a show that delivers great characters, smooth dialogue, smart jokes and appealing story lines- and 30 Rock delivers those things in spades. Particularly with this episode, the characters are at their best. We have classic Liz- a loser, and not entirely virtuous. The fact that she urinates in a jar in a living room marks an outrageous new low for her. We have classic Kenneth and his version of being "grumpy"- which is very brief. We have classic Jenna- crazy, and her mention of her erotic massager is wonderful- it's always good to see a woman open about her masturbatory habits. We have classic Dr. Spaceman- with his dubious medical knowledge. Finally we have Frank. Sometimes we may wonder why he gets a spot in the opening credits; then comes an episode like Cougars (season 2), Goodbye, My Friend (season 3) and now Sun Tea. Here, Frank is gross- but, I'll reluctantly admit, funny.
Themes explored include injustice to renters as Liz is subject to attempts to force her out of her apartment. However, the episode mainly focuses on whether having children is a good or bad thing (and we see both sides), and this is the second environmentalist episode since Greenzo (season 2). This is better than Greenzo. It doesn't get much better than this.
