Jack the Writer sets another high standard for 30 Rock, by giving Alec Baldwin more juicy material to chew on and laying the path for hilarious interactions between other characters.
At first, the main problem appears to be nothing but the way Cerie (Katrina Bowden), Liz's young secretary, dresses at work, which results in most of the writing staff - Frank ahead of everyone else - being continuously distracted. Just as Liz thought everything was all right again, Jack starts showing up at every writers' meeting in order to better understand his employees and comes up with (weak) ideas for sketches, leading to a huge shortage of good material for TGS. Finally, the brilliant master/slave relationship between Tracy and Kenneth makes its debut here, as the naive page is ruthlessly exploited by the prickly movie star.
Aside from the limelight being temporarily granted to the good-looking Bowden (never a bad choice), the main pleasure of Jack the Writer is once again the flow of quotable dialogue. Best lines: Tracy's attitude towards life ("live every week like it's a shark week!"), his advice for maintaining your marriage solid ("Work that va-jay-jay!"), and, most of all, the dreadful catchphrase Jack insists someone write a skit around: "Beep beep, ribby ribby!". How could anyone doubt the show's status as one of the funniest things on American TV?
At first, the main problem appears to be nothing but the way Cerie (Katrina Bowden), Liz's young secretary, dresses at work, which results in most of the writing staff - Frank ahead of everyone else - being continuously distracted. Just as Liz thought everything was all right again, Jack starts showing up at every writers' meeting in order to better understand his employees and comes up with (weak) ideas for sketches, leading to a huge shortage of good material for TGS. Finally, the brilliant master/slave relationship between Tracy and Kenneth makes its debut here, as the naive page is ruthlessly exploited by the prickly movie star.
Aside from the limelight being temporarily granted to the good-looking Bowden (never a bad choice), the main pleasure of Jack the Writer is once again the flow of quotable dialogue. Best lines: Tracy's attitude towards life ("live every week like it's a shark week!"), his advice for maintaining your marriage solid ("Work that va-jay-jay!"), and, most of all, the dreadful catchphrase Jack insists someone write a skit around: "Beep beep, ribby ribby!". How could anyone doubt the show's status as one of the funniest things on American TV?
