The Bob Newhart Show: Group Therapy

Another great set from Shout
 Factory (not a paid endorsement)

The Bob Newhart Show: Group Therapy
Direct to DVD?
Early 2014? (recorded in December '13)
Documentary
DVD
B

Although some of the material isn't exactly fresh, it's still good to see the old friends gather together to pay tribute to a series they are justly proud of, and to remember their late comrades Suzanne Pleshette and Marcia Wallace.  There's obviously a certain poignancy built in, especially since Jack Riley looks so frail in his wheelchair, although still able to get laughs with just a few words.  Bob does most of the talking but the others chime in, as when Bill Daily says he had no funny lines on I Dream of Jeannie but the writing on BNS was so sharp everything afterwards paled in comparison.

Riley hung on till 2016, and the other four are still with us.

30 Rock: Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter

30 Rock: Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter
NBC
April 22, 2010
Sitcom
DVD
B

Fey & Cannon wrote this episode, which is better than most that season.  Jack's triangle would get old before season's end, but here him being unable to decide between Avery and a newly divorced Nancy is funny and believable.  Meanwhile, Toofer quits because he doesn't want his job through tokenism (despite his nickname, which is lampshaded when he returns), and Liz attends singles events with Jenna and sometimes Nancy.

Steve Hely, who wrote "Black Light Attack!" earlier in the season, here plays Jerem.  Will Ferrell makes his first of three appearances as Shane Hunter, the star of the controversial and nonexistent NBC series Bitch Hunter.

30 Rock: Black Light Attack!

30 Rock: Black Light Attack!
NBC
January 14, 2010
Sitcom
DVD
B

I guess this episode aired the same night as the previous one, but it's much funnier.  In a sort of replay of a first season episode with Floyd, Jack wants to hang out with Danny (Cheyenne Jackson), especially when he finds out that Danny is casually dating Liz.  Meanwhile, Tracy is looking for a female perspective, since he's hoping to have a daughter, so he adds Sue to his entourage.  (Sue Galloway has as many lines in one scene as she's had total in previous episodes.)  And Jenna has to face that she's now being cast as middle-aged mothers rather than college students.  Note that Jack breaks up Liz and Danny by confessing he's in love with Liz, but it's clear to the audience and Liz that he doesn't mean it.

Joseph D'Onofrio is a Crew Guy for the last time.  Jonathan Cohn is again a Cute Guy, while Andrew Goldfarb is again a Page.  Russ Spiegel makes his first of four appearances as a TGS Band Member.  Hockey Fan James Coker would later be a Gen-Y D-Bag.  (Or is that a proper name?)  The screenwriter Steve Hely would play Jerem later in the year.

30 Rock: Audition Day

Goodbye, Josh.  Sorry
things didn't work out.

30 Rock: Audition Day
NBC
November 5, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

Matt Hubbard wrote this story that has some trends that would be troublesome in the next two or three seasons but are still reasonably under control here, with enough wit and intelligence coming through.  Liz and Pete have finally selected a new cast member, but they have to stack the auditions for Jack, using "the Hornberger System."  Unfortunately, the audition is thrown wide open by Jack, who has a different perspective on life now that he's suffering from bedbugs.  Ironically, when Pete literally pulls in a guy off the street-- a robot mime-- that's who Jack likes best.  (The performer is played by a different actor than later, and as Liz observes, "I hope he can speak English.")  As for those trends, the already established Tracy and Jenna Act Like Vain Morons team is obvious here, where they feel threatened by the new cast person, especially since Jenna has baggage with Liz's choice, so they go out and try to find more talented people.  And Jack being humbled works OK here, but it would be an abused motif starting in Season Five.  Not to mention that Jack and Pete making fun of Liz's age feels odd when they're both older than her.

Crew Guy Joseph D'Onofrio previously had played Dave.  Old Janitor Stewart Steinberg would return five more times.  Angela Grovey is Kolandra here and would be Portia in 2011.  Brian Williams returns and is one of the people auditioning, as is Marceline Hugot as Kathy Geiss.

30 Rock: Stone Mountain

She'll outlive us all.

30 Rock: Stone Mountain
NBC
October 29, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

John Riggi wrote this episode where Jack and Liz go to the location of the title, Kenneth's hometown.  (McBrayer plays two of the locals, one a mustached man, another a blonde woman.)  They're looking for someone for TGS, and Jack thinks a ventriloquist act is perfect.  Meanwhile, Frank, Toofer, and Lutz butter up Jenna so that she'll invite him to her gay friends' Halloween party, where all the hot girls will be.  And Tracy fears the Rule of Three of Celebrity Deaths will hit him next.  For a change, all three threads cross over in the end, when the obnoxious dummy (think Soap's Bob without a conscience and a filthier mouth) is beheaded by Jack, and so Tracy can relax and enjoy the Halloween party.

Blaine Horton repeats his role as Jenna's gay friend Sacha.  Frank Anello takes time out of his busy schedule to play a member of the Production Staff, and Sue Galloway is typecast as Sue.   Jimmy Fallon makes his first of four appearances on 30 Rock.  Then 87-year-old Betty White plays herself and in a nice sight gag is shown reading Milton Greene's Carter biography.

30 Rock: Kidney Now!

30 Rock: Kidney Now!
NBC
May 14, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Burditt & Carlock episode, Jack holds a musical benefit to find a kidney for his father.  Meanwhile Kenneth encourages Tracy to accept an invitation to speak at Tracy's old high school.  And Liz gives out bad romantic advice to various women as part of her "Dealbreaker" persona.

I won't name all the singers in this episode (OK, it's cool to see Cyndi Lauper), but I will note Michael McDonald had also played himself on the Doobie Brothers episode of What's Happening!!  (an episode that a previous 30 Rock episode referred to).  Staff writer Kay Cannon's last onscreen appearance on the show is as the Young Woman whose boyfriend runs a tanning salon, while staff writer Donald Glover's third is as the Gay Kid.  (He was 25 at the time he was playing 18.)  Paula Pell and Sherri Shepherd return as Paula and Angie respectively.  Frank Anello captures the essence of the Production Staff, and Sue Galloway gets another line as Sue.

Near the end of the episode, Liz tells Jack, "It's been quite a year," and he replies that it's May.  Of course this episode wraps up the second year of 30 Rock, and of TGS.   The former, with the exception of one C-, ranges from B- to A-, averaging out to roughly the B-/B border, slightly on the B side.  The regular cast continues to work well, even if some Flanderization is setting in already.  The guest stars are good to great.  And the writing is still mostly solid.  I recall Season Four as a decline, if not to the point of Season Five of course.

30 Rock: Mamma Mia

30 Rock: Mamma Mia
NBC
May 7, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Ron-Weiner-written episode, Pete and Liz are suspicious of Tracy's supposed "love child" Donald (Michael Benjamin Washington in his first of two appearances), while Jack, at Liz's urging, finds out whose love child he is.  And meanwhile, Liz resents Jenna taking credit for the "dealbreaker" catchphrase, and the photo shoot shows that Jenna has learned from the Maxim debacle of the first season.  The title here is, as is made clear, a reference to the stageplay and film of that name, although in this case two of the three potential dads are immediately ruled out, leaving Jack to deal with the fact that his biological father is a liberal, secular humanist agnostic History professor from Vermont, perfectly cast with Alan Alda.

I'm omitting Friedlander and Powell from the overcrowded tags.  Frank Anello works hard at playing a member of the Production Staff.  And while Alda is of course going to walk away with the "Most Shows In My Collection" Award (if there was ever any doubt), the Longevity award will likely see Stuart Margolin pushing Ann B. Davis out of the way, since his role as Jack's potential-if-not-injured-in-the-war dad Fred comes a good 41 years after his first That Girl cameo.

30 Rock: The Ones

Sue in a Slanket

30 Rock: The Ones
NBC
April 23, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

The Ones:

• Elisa is The One for Jack, so he goes with Liz to pick out an engagement ring;
• Jack es El Uno para Elisa, pero ella es La Viuda Negra;
• Angie is The One for Tracy, who confesses to Jack that he's never actually cheated on her, but he does worry that getting her face tattooed on his back will make him less popular with women;
• And a handsome EMT might be the one for Jenna, but is she willing to kill off Kenneth to get the guy back?

Frank Anello is keeping it real as a member of the Production Staff.  Brian Williams makes his first of eight appearances on 30 Rock, usually as himself.

30 Rock: Jackie Jormp-Jomp

30 Rock: Jackie Jormp-Jomp
NBC
April 16, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is the first of nine 30 Rock episodes Tracey Wigfield wrote, here working with Kay Cannon.  It's also the episode where we actually find out the name, and pronunciation of Jeffrey Weinerslav (Todd Buonopane).  Liz is on probation for "sexual harassment," having in the previous episode unsuccessfully tried to save her show's budget through quid pro quo second base.  At first, she misses the stress, until she meets neighbors who've raised leisure to an art form.  Meanwhile, Jenna is mistakenly reported as dead, which Jack hopes will create some buzz for her Janis Joplin biopic which has no rights to Janis's life.  And Tracy Al-Haigs it in the vacuum of Liz's absence, firing Kenneth's crush that Dot Com is dating.

Danielle Flora, who plays Daphne, would return as a nameless Dancer.  Frank Anello shatters stereotypes with his appearance as a member of the Production Staff.

30 Rock: The Funcooker

30 Rock: The Funcooker
NBC
March 12, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

This, the first of four 30 Rock scripts by Tom Ceraulo, here co-writing with Donald Glover, is uneven but sometimes very funny.  Liz gets stuck doing jury duty, when her Princess Leia scheme doesn't work as well as it did in Chicago.  So of course chaos breaks out with no one in charge.  (Pete is spending Spring Break with his kids.)  Jack could help run TGS, but instead he puts the staff to work coming up with names for his new mini-microwave, hence the title of this episode. Meanwhile Dr. Spaceman prescribes extreme uppers for Jenna, and Tracy's wealth allows him to circumvent the FCC.

Nancy O'Dell appears as herself for the second time.  Andrew Polk had previously played Executive #6 and here is Steven Spielberger [sic], director of the Janis-Joplin-ish biopic that Jenna is starring in and which has been referred to in a couple earlier episodes.  Not only does Sue (Sue Galloway) finally get her first line after two and a half years, but we find out that she's Franco-Dutch.  This is the first of six 30 Rock episodes directed by Ken Whittingham.

30 Rock: Larry King

30 Rock: Larry King
NBC
February 26, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Matt-Hubbard-written episode takes awhile to get going, but it's worth it to see how the threads cross over and pay off.  Tracy goes on the title character's talk show and for some reason is treated as an expert on economics (OK, he is wealthy, but that seems to mostly be dumb luck), and then he induces a worldwide financial panic, and he gives clues to where he's hidden money at 30 Rock, so Pete calls up for more specifics, is identified as "Peter Frampton, Guitar Icon," and still can't figure the puzzle out, but Kenneth, who's helping Liz retrieve her phone from a blackmailing cabbie, figures out that he himself is the safe place.  And meanwhile Jack must choose between love with Elisa (at this point, Liz has had sex twice in '09, Jack not at all) and saving the world's economy, especially GE.

Brian Berrebbi plays Reynolds here and previously was Dave.  Bill Walters is "ND Background" and would later be "Soup Kitchen."  Brian Stack makes his last appearance as Howard Jorgensen.  Frank Anello's fans will be pleased to see him appear as a member of the Production Staff.  And Meredith Vieira makes her second cameo on the show.

30 Rock: Generalissimo

30 Rock: Generalissimo
NBC
February 5, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Robert-Carlock-written episode has one hilarious thread and two weaker ones.  Jack meets Elisa's grandmother Concepcion (Teresa Yenque, who previously was Teresa), who turns out to hate him because he looks like the title character, the villain on her favorite soap opera.  Not only does Hayek get some great lines that she just nails (I had to pause and rewind when she casually replies to Liz's "You're a nurse?" with "Yes, some of us are hot"), but I had to pause, laugh for several minutes, and then rewind when Jack and his doppelganger parodied the Patty Duke theme.  Meanwhile, Tracy has trouble keeping up with partying interns, and Liz uses underhanded methods to woo her new neighbor, Dr. Drew Baird (Jon Hamm in the first of seven cameos in the role), although she does realize that accidentally roofying him is a bad idea.

Matt Lauer makes his first of five appearances as himself on the show.  This time "30 Rock regulars" just means Maulik Pancholy as Jonathan.  Todd Holland would direct another episode the following year.

30 Rock: Señor Macho Solo

30 Rock: Señor Macho Solo
NBC
January 8, 2009
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode written by Ron Weiner introduces the gorgeous and very funny Salma Hayek as Colleen's nurse and Jack's new love interest, Elisa Padriera, who'd appear six times more.  Jack is cynical about lasting love, to the point that he encourages Tracy, who's wasting his money very frivolously (see attached photo), to sign a post-nup with Angie (Sherri Shepherd).  And Liz's baby-craziness leads her to meet and then date a little person (Peter Dinklage, later of Game of Thrones).

Frank Anello obviously plays part of the Production Staff.  Nancy O'Dell would return later that year as herself, while her co-host Billy Bush wouldn't be back till 2012.

30 Rock: Reunion

30 Rock: Reunion
NBC
December 4, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

Matt Hubbard wrote this story where Jack ends up accompanying Liz to her 20-year high school reunion.  He's mistaken for a popular classmate, despite the age difference, but then "rich 50 is middle-class 38."  Liz, however, finds out that rather being the unpopular nerd she remembers, she was verbally abusive, which is believable given some of the times she's insulted her staff.  Meanwhile, Tracy and Jenna resent that Kenneth's cliched jokes in the elevator are more entertaining to the other riders than their own attempts to entertain.  And the episode kicks off with Don Geiss regaining consciousness and deciding to not yet retire.

Adam Smith, Jr. again plays the Propmaster.  Hotel Clerk Jeff Hiller would later play Stewart.  And Marceline Hugot appears briefly as Kathy Geiss.

30 Rock: Do-Over

30 Rock: Do-Over
NBC
October 30, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

Fey wrote this season-opener that sort of picks up where we left off.  Jack returns to GE but Banks makes him start in the mail room, although Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) seemingly offers to give Jack his old job back in exchange for sex.  He has to fake a romance with Liz, making Kathy utter perhaps her only line, urging Jack and Liz to kiss.  (They don't.)  Meanwhile, Liz tries to impress a lady from an adoption agency, getting a do-over when Frank hits the lady with the golden nunchucks that Tracy bought for him, after Liz prodded Tracy to reward the people who helped work on the now very successful porn video game.

Frank Anello's fans will be pleased that he continues his role as part of the Production Staff.  Megan Mullally would actually reprise her role of Bev, the lady from the adoption agency, in the final season.

30 Rock: Sandwich Day

30 Rock: Sandwich Day

NBC

May 1, 2008

Sitcom
DVD
B

The title of this Burditt & Carlock episode refers to the one day a year that the teamsters bring the staff wonderful sandwiches from a secret location.  Liz's writers eat her sandwich and she makes them get her another, which involves a drinking contest.  But Liz's more immediate problem is that Floyd is back in town and she's having trouble reading him.  Their reunion at the airport lampshades that rom-com trope.  And meanwhile, with Don Geiss still in a coma, his daughter Kathy (Marceline Hugot) is still the figurehead, and Jack has been banished to the weird and creepy (think David Lynch) 12th floor.  Note that Jack tries to revive Geiss by claiming that (the worst nightmare for both men) Hillary Clinton has become President.

Screener Johnnie Mae previously played a Nurse.  We haven't seen Brian Dennehy, here playing teamster Mickey J.,  in my TV collection since he was MP Ernie Connors on M*A*S*H.

The Big Bang Theory: The Nerdvana Annihilation

The Big Bang Theory: The Nerdvana Annihilation
CBS
April 28, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

Bill Prady wrote the story, Engel & Molaro the teleplay, where Leonard bids on the time machine from the movie The Time Machine, thinking it's a miniature, when in fact it's a beautiful full-size model.  He can't even afford the $800, but his friends chip in so they can all share.  It's unclear how they would shuffle it back and forth between their homes, when it's hard for them to even get it up the stairs.  They're blocking the stairs when Penny is running late for work.  She has a series of mishaps when trying to go to work using the neighboring building and she in fact misses a day's pay.  She's so angry that, although usually sweet-natured, she yells at the guys, which is understandable.  However, she also calls them immature, which hits Leonard hard.  He's ready to give up his fandom merchandise, even after Penny apologizes.  Penny kisses his cheek and he wants to ask her out, but then her date shows up.

Watching this, I kept wishing that Leonard would go after a girl who would think the time machine was cool.  I understand that his pining for Penny is part of the set-up, and they would later date and marry, but it did bother me that he was willing to give up things that are important to him for a girl who thinks of him as a friend.  That said, his conflict is well done (Galecki can still act, even if he's never given anything as meaty as he got in the glory days of Roseanne), and the time machine and the gleeful geeking out over it are adorkable.

30 Rock: Subway Hero

30 Rock: Subway Hero
NBC
April 17, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Burditt & Carlock story has three good threads:

• Jack recruits has-been Bucky Bright (Tim Conway doing self-parody, a decade after his appearance on Ellen) to be a celebrity Republican but decides that Tracy would be better, which Tracy agrees to after having a dream where Jack is Nixon and Toofer is Sammy Davis, Jr.;
• Meanwhile Kenneth gradually gets disillusioned with Bucky;
• And we see the return of Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters) and understand more about why he and Liz got together, from a flashback to their snarking at the Hours (which I heartily agree with) to a Liz & Jenna talk where (ironically as it would turn out a few episodes later) Dennis is compared to the off-brand Mexican Cheetos that Liz likes.

30 Rock: MILF Island

30 Rock: MILF Island
NBC
April 10, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Fey & Hubbard story, a show that Jack previously referred to appears in clips, running parallel to the plot that Liz insulted Jack in front of a reporter and fears Jack discovering she's the anonymous staffer quoted.  I'm not up on reality TV, but the parodying feels on target.  Frank Anello returns from the break to play a member of the Production Staff.  Oddly, Jenna is absent, although it would've been interesting to get her take.

This is the 1700th sitcom I've reviewed.  I don't think we'll make it to 1800.

30 Rock: Episode 210

30 Rock: Episode 210
NBC
January 10, 2008
Sitcom
DVD
B

This on-the-cusp-of-the-writer's-strike episode (hence the generic title) was written by Robert Carlock with Donald Glover, who had appeared onscreen a few times and was an executive story editor, although this is one of only two 30 Rock scripts that Glover actually wrote.  Jack tries to balance work with his relationship with C.C. (Edie Falco again), literally meeting her halfway, in a Pennsylvania betting parlor.  Meanwhile, Liz unsuccessfully tries to buy an apartment and Kenneth gets addicted to coffee.  I would've gone with a B-, but the rendition of "Midnight Train to Georgia" is great.  (And Gladys Knight appears but doesn't sing.)

Edward Hermann's many credits include the role of Capt. Steven J. Newsome on M*A*S*H and Walter from the co-op board here.  Jonathan Cohn would play another Cute Guy in 2010, but not necessarily the same Cute Guy.  Many of the regulars are absent, even Frank.

And, yes, less than a decade left of this blog!