"30 Rock" in 20 Episodes

"There are only two things I love in this world - everybody and television." - Kenneth Parcell

Unlike The Office, choosing the top 20 episodes to represent 30 Rock is not cut and dry.  With the former, it was clear that most of the great episodes also dealt with significant changes in the overall storyline.  Since conflict makes for good entertainment, it stood to reason that the best episodes are the ones that changed the story the most.  But 30 Rock is a different sort of beast.

Focusing on the staff of the SNL-influenced "TGS with Tracy Jordan," 30 Rock placed its emphasis on humor, absurdism, and meta-commentary about creating a show on NBC.  Head writer Liz Lemon would suffer through personal and professional problems while receiving backhanded advice from her boss and mentor Jack Donaghy.  While there were season-long story arcs, the comedy outshone the actual plot in nearly episode.  In fact, it was those episodes that focused too much on the storyline that failed to register as memorable.

And therein lies the problem.  Because humor is very subjective, it wouldn't behoove me to just choose the episodes I consider the funniest.  So, I shall focus on those episodes that brought something new and interesting to the table, whether it be a twist on an old sitcom trope, a bizarre new character, or just something that had never before been seen on television.

Season One

1) Ep. 101 "Pilot"

"I like you.  You have the boldness of a much younger woman." - Jack Donaghy

Compared to nearly all the episodes that followed, the pilot episode is surprisingly grounded and straightforward.  There is some humorous dialogue, but the rapid-fire jokes and editing that the show would become known for have yet to come into play.  Yet, the pilot is important, in that it establishes the central conceit that will remain unaltered for the next 7 seasons.

Liz Lemon's new boss, the quietly charismatic Jack Donaghy becomes the new executive of NBC and immediately tells her to fix her popular variety show The Girlie Show by adding the mentally-unstable and erratic Tracy Jordan, who would bring in the much needed 18-49-year-old male demographic (the most sought after demo in television).  Although Tracy's persona clashes with the original show's ouvre, Lemon ultimately takes him on, feeling it would be better for the show (and to protect her coworkers who Donaghy was in the process of firing).

While a few characteristics would take time to develop (self-absorbed Jenna uncharacteristically cares about Liz's well-being, for example), many elements are already clearly working.  Donaghy's thorough analysis of Lemon upon meeting her establishes their relationship (even though they become friends, he always has a way of saying exactly what needs to be said, even if he is brutally honest).  And Tracy already starts showing signs of being cleverly manipulative yet insanely stupid at the same time.

It took a while for the show to find it's feet, especially since it was competing with the similar Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip at the time.  But 30 Rock's sharp humor kept it afloat and it soon became a show worthy of "Must See TV."

2) Ep. 107 "Tracy Does Conan"

"But, what can you do? Medicine's not a science." - Dr. Leo Spaceman

Many people regard this as the episode where 30 Rock became 30 Rock.  Up until this point, the show had been funny, but still grounded in realism.  Up until this point, we had only been watching an exaggerated version of and NBC show.  Enter Dr. Leo Spaceman.

Characters like Tracy, Jack, and Kenneth the Page may have been over-the-top, but they played on stereotypes based on actual individuals.  Dr. Spaceman just couldn't exist in the real world.  He's a cheerful, woefully incompetent doctor (which we have seen before on other comedies) but the catch is that everyone trusts/takes his medical advice.  Every single line he says is a joke, yet the characters have no choice but to go along with him as if he were the voice of all doctors.  Although he appears briefly in this episode, his presence meant that, in the world of 30 Rock, anything could happen.

This would spark an influence of future guest stars, all of whom would play someone completely ridiculous, making this show a true, live-action cartoon.  Liz would still speak as the voice of reason, but she too would become a bizarre caricature, allowing the show to have it's cake and eat it too.  The only issue was that 30 Rock made it's choice, and the show could never play anything for dramatic effect any more.  Everything was now tongue in cheek.

So, we find an episode in which Liz is trying to fight many fires at once, with Tracy going off his medication right before a scheduled appearance on Late Night, Jenna upset at being bumped from Late Night, on-again-off-again boyfriend Dennis Duffy staying at her place, and Jack bothering her to come up with a good opening line for an event he's attending.  All the while, Liz just tries to eat a cookie so that she can regain her strength after donating blood.  It's a wonderful, cartoony mess.

3) Ep. 112 "Black Tie"

"The Habsburg line has ended. You can pick up your gift bags at the coat check." - Royal Assistant

If "Tracy Does Jordan" opened the door for weirdness, "Black Tie" paraded through with streamers and noisemakers.  The main plots center on the introduction of two guest stars.  Isabella Rossellini plays Jack's ex-wife who becomes jealous when she sees Jack attending the biggest event of the year with Liz as his date.  Jack, of course, only invited Liz to improve her social status, but, as with any lead pairing in a show, there are dozens of fans wanting to see them get together.  Jack and Liz have a purely platonic relationship, which works well for the series as a whole (and it makes sense for their characters), but it is fun to see the show tease the shippers with an episode like this.

And the event of the year?  Why, that's the birthday party of the last prince of the Habsburg line, written for and played by Paul Reubens.  The actual Habsburg monarchy, plagued with inbreeding, died out in 1700, but the show imagines what would have happened had the line managed to continue until the 21st century.  The result is Prince Gerhardt, a withered puppet of a man who has every disease and disability imaginable.  Reubens plays this role with such glee that every single scene he's in is pure gold.  The way he moves his tiny legs and ivory baby's hand around is so strangely adorable.

This is the first episode that really steps away from the television studio and explores more of the world that the characters live in, proving that it actually gets stranger.  The fact that everyone is able to keep a straight face with Reubens's character flailing around makes the episode all the more special.  It's a personal favorite, and I'm glad so many others agree.

4) Ep. 118 "Fireworks"

"Skyrockets in flight! Afternoon at night!" - Al Roker

While Jack Donaghy moves through life with such confidence that it appear he can do anything, he lacks seemingly every skill that involves creativity.  In earlier episodes, such as Ep. 105 "Jack-Tor," Jack proved that he found acting to be the hardest thing he's ever had to do, and writing his own material often falls short of enlightening.  Hence, he relies on Liz's brain to fill his creative gap, so when it comes time to propose a moneymaking venture to the network, Jack can only come up with "fireworks" and Liz promises to come up with something more interesting.

Unfortunately, Jack has a nemesis in the way of Devon Banks (played by Will Arnett).  Banks will do anything to get Jack's job, and when he comes to town, Jack uses Kenneth to try to seduce him and learn his secrets (although a similarly minded Banks tries to seduce Kenneth to get Jack's secrets).  Having an equal in the form of Banks is great, because it basically allows two Jacks to inhabit the same space.  Banks has his differences, in that he's gay and seems to be slightly less intelligent or cunning than Jack, but his appearances ensure great storylines to develop, ones where Jack doesn't always win.

And here we see Jack's first failure.  Although he beats out Banks for the money-making idea, he ends up going with "Rockefeller Center Salute to Fireworks" (since Liz is too distracted by her own love-life, trying to impress the perfect guy by pretending to be in AA with him).  Jack asked for a spectacle, and the resulting event is nothing short of spectacular.  It's awful and misguided, but still wonderful to witness.

Season Two

5) Ep. 204 "Rosemary's Baby"

"Never go with a hippie to a second location." - Jack Donaghy

30 Rock pegs itself as being a semi-autobiographical look at Tina Fey's life.  Obviously, things are exaggerated to a great degree, but the work and perspective of Liz Lemon closely mirrors Fey's.  "Rosemary's Baby" gets to the nitty-gritty of Fey/Lemon's life, goals, and fears as she meets her idol, Rosemary Howard (played by Carrie Fisher).  Rosemary was a pioneering female comedy writer, breaking barriers for women in writing.  When Liz meets her and offers her a guest spot on her writing staff, it soon becomes clear that Rosemary is a bit stuck in the past, and her material is too inappropriate for television.  Liz is at first inspired by this and quits her job when told to fire Rosemary, but ultimately realizes that Rosemary's life is highly unstable, due to her unwillingness to be a follower.

It is a twist on the usual message of being an individual, but it highlights that sometimes it's better to follow the rules so that you can change them from within, rather than rebel all of the time.

But the real highlight of the episode is when Jack helps Tracy go through therapy to stop his own rebellious nature, tracing this need to his abandonment by his father.  Through role-playing, Jack performs as Tracy's entire family, which results in an astounding acting feat by Baldwin.  By having the two main stories run such similar themes of the dangers of idol worship, and then having them end in such ridiculous fashions shows that when 30 Rock needs to, it really brings its A-game.

6) Ep. 205 "Greenzo"

"Do you even bother to compost your own feces?" - Greenzo

Set at NBC Studios, 30 Rock mocked and criticized its parent network every chance it got.  During a week in which all NBC shows were promoting an environmentally friendly message, 30 Rock took the idea and ran with it.  Jack hires an environmentally-conscious mascot named "Greenzo," a superhero who would appear on various NBC shows to spread his message to children.  Portrayed by David Schwimmer, Greenzo lets the power of stardom go to his head, and decides to verbally attack those who are not "green-friendly," even going so far as to denounce General Electric, whom he was specifically hired to promote.  Greenzo never removes his costume, because he believes that he is an actual prophet, saving the planet from doom.

Perhaps NBC allowed the ridicule because at least the episode got Al Gore to talk sensibly about the topic for a brief moment, but it was a great contrast to all the other shows that had been airing that week.

But even without the great Greenzo plot, I might have included this episode for Kenneth's story, in which no one attends his parties.  Kenneth is a lovable optimistic doormat, and Liz always ends up being the only one who pities him enough to go to his parties.  When Tracy gets the idea to turn it into a must-attend event by spreading rumors about the guest list, the entire cast enjoys the party they'll never forget (although all involved would choose to).  What I like about the barely-seen party is that it manages to suck in all the characters from their other storylines (rather than, say leave Jack and Liz to only deal with Greenzo's chaos and make this story only about Tracy and Kenneth).  It's always a treat when full ensembles come together in television shows.

7) Ep. 211 "MILF Island"

"It has sex, lies, puberty, betrayal, relay races... MILF Island reflects the drama of the human experience and isn't that the essence of art?" - Jack Donaghy

During its second season, 30 Rock was on such a hot streak that it felt like a blow when the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike cut down the number of episodes.  But, at the time, I was particularly excited because I knew that of all the shows we were deprived of, 30 Rock was going to have something great up its sleeve for when it returned.

While it didn't actually address the strike specifically, "MILF Island" seemed to be a commentary on the television landscape at the time.  In the episode, none of the writers are shown working, as everyone is engrossed in the season finale of the titular reality show.  During the 5 months of no scripted programs, television stations were forced to fill the airwaves with reality shows, many of them absolutely terrible.  The stakes of the episode are laughably low, as Jack holds the writers hostage for saying something bad about him that appeared in the newspapers (although it was Liz who actually made the remark).  In the end, it was all to teach Liz a lesson (and get her to head a spinoff of MILF Island), as Jack could tell by the language used that it was her all along.

What made the episode work was the parallels between the situation and the tacky episode of the reality show that is constantly playing in the background.  Everything about the episode felt as cheap and fake as those shows.  This wasn't the greatest episode of the season, but it was exactly what the season (and television) needed.

8) Ep. 212 "Subway Hero"

"Shut up crowd! I command you as the Subway Hero to shut up!" - Dennis Duffy

Along with Jack's dream of becoming president of the network, the main driving factor behind 30 Rock was Liz's dream of finding the perfect guy.  Well, finding a guy.  She had her fair share of boyfriends over the show, but none were more fun than her recurring boyfriend Dennis Duffy.  He was the absolute worst boyfriend imaginable, but while each appearance ended with Liz severing ties with him "for good," he always came back.  This was terrible for Liz but wonderful for the viewers, because each appearance meant he would become more and more despicable.

Capitalizing on the recent current event about a man who sacrificed his life to save a stranger who had fallen onto a subway track, 30 Rock dares to ask the question, "What if the Subway Hero was someone completely awful?" and then takes it a step further with "What if he were Dennis Duffy?"  Of course, everyone in New York hails him as a hero, leaving Liz to express her concern that Duffy is still the same old jerk he always was.  But she too gets caught up in the celebration, starting to consider that maybe he is the right guy for her (after all, they do have a lot in common).

Dennis would appear many times throughout the run of the series, but I feel this is his best episode, as it's the only one that puts him in a positive light.  At least in the other episodes, Liz can share her disgust with Jack or Jenna, but here, even they can't help convince her that she shouldn't date him.  Maybe she'll never be able to do any better than the Beeper King.  At the very least, I like that both he and Liz call other people "dummies" without a hint of irony.

9) Ep. 213 "Succession"

"You get one cry in life.  You’ve chosen well." - Don Geiss

For a show that had mostly stayed away from multi-episode story arcs, 30 Rock introduces two at the end of their second season, each yielding different results.  First, Jack has been chosen by Don Geiss (head of the network) as being his successor.  Jack, in turn, primes Liz to be his replacement.  Unfortunately, while Liz surprisingly finds herself easily fitting into the corporate world, she accidentally lets Don slip into a diabetic coma, meaning that only Jack is the one who knows he has been picked as Geiss's replacement.

Meanwhile, Devon Banks has tried to get the position by marrying Geiss's...intellectually challenged daughter Kathy.  With Geiss out of the picture, Banks convinces the board to keep the line of succession in the family, putting Kathy Geiss in charge (allowing Banks to play puppetmaster).  This storyline works, as it allows for many things to go wrong, and it means Jack has to struggle with not being on top.  The potential this episode create showed that maybe long story arcs would end up working for the show.

Unfortunately, the second story of the episode paved the way for what nearly all storylines would end up becoming: dead ends.  Tracy decides that he wants to leave a legacy, that legacy being a pornographic video game.  In a spoof on Amadeus, a jealous Frank helps him "compose" his masterpiece.  And had the story stopped with this episode, everything would have been fine.  But this story continues, which hurts the comedic possibilities of Tracy's character.  And by the time it wraps up, Tracy succeeds and then moves on to some other project.  A similar storyline played out earlier with Tracy's Thomas Jefferson biopic, and all of them tend to blur together.  He tries to achieve something great, works on it for many episodes, and then fails, succeeds, or forgets about it and starts all over again.  Motivated Tracy just isn't as fun as Manipulative Lazy Tracy.

Other characters would find themselves in their own cycles.  Liz would date someone great for half a season and then break up with them.  Jack would try new methods to become head of NBC, only to have someone else take the spot instead.  Maybe it was a way of keeping things in the status quo, but then, why go through the trouble of devoting so much energy to something that will lead nowhere.  At least the dropped storyline of the new TGS cast member would get jokes made at its expense in later episodes.  30 Rock was built for the short-attention span, and it worked best when it stuck to that formula.

Season Three

10) Ep. 302 "Believe in the Stars"

"...and one time at summer camp, I kissed a girl on a dare but then she drowned!" - Liz Lemon

Being set in the television industry, 30 Rock became a beacon for guest stars of all levels, with several A-listers appearing for some good fun.  At the time of its airing, "Believe in the Stars" netted one of the biggest stars imaginable, Oprah Winfery.  Liz Lemon happens to share a flight with the star, and becomes absolutely star struck, using this once in a lifetime opportunity to air all of her personal problems and get Winfrey's help on dealing with a dispute between Tracy and Jenna.  Her two TGS leads have taken it upon themselves to determine who has it tougher in a white-male-driven world, women or African Americans.  This argument devolves into a horrible display of whiteface and blackface, showing that 30 Rock was willing to push the envelope, even when it simultaneously hosted celebrity royalty.

The reveal of the Oprah story is marvelous, as having Liz actually become friends with Oprah would have upset the status quo far too much.  While Oprah mostly played the straight-woman, it was fun to have her stop by for a day and allow for such a great storyline.

In the B-story, Jack decides to push Kenneth's "goody-two-shoes" act to the extreme, seeing if he is a truly moral person.  He creates real-life scenarios of hypothetical moral quandaries and Kenneth passes all of them.  I haven't talked too much about Kenneth at this point, but he is an absolute treat.  Always perpetually bubbly, even though he possesses many backwards views on life.  This was the character that actually sold me on the show (and of course Jack McBrayer would go on to play versions of this character in every project afterwards...actually, the same could be said of all 30 Rock cast members).

11) Ep. 305 "Reunion"

"I want to go to there." - Liz Lemon

We all tend to be the heroes in our own stories, and we identify with the main characters of other works, rooting for them every step of the way.  So it was a real shock to find out that, for once, your hero was completely in the wrong.  Liz dreads going to her high school reunion, feeling that she was the picked-on outcast with no friends, and will only return to a sea of bullies.  However, she soon learns that her classmates actually feared her in school, being genuinely hurt by her sarcastic comments (which she preemptively used as a defense mechanism as a teenager).  Everyone turns on her, although, from their point of view, she was the one who started it.

Meanwhile, Geiss has awaken from his coma and decides not to step down as the head of GE, throwing Jack into a funk.  Through a series of circumstances, he too attends Liz's reunion and pretends to be a former student, who apparently had the best reputation in the school.  Jack embraces is new role, feeling good to be on top again, even if it is all just a lie.

The episode does a good job at breaking down the social constructs that we believed when we were in high school, and showing that it's what happens after you leave that truly impacts who you are to become.  And in the end, it's always best just not to care what others think about you.

12) Ep. 314 "The Funcooker"

"I think I should be rewarded for going this long without swearing on live TV." - Tracy Jordan

30 Rock is a comedy.  This episode is hilarious.  End of discussion.

Okay, what makes it work?  It's just a series of small stories wherein everything falls apart, forcing Liz to regain control of her staff.  There is a loose subtext throughout the whole show that suggests Liz's work has filled the void of having children.  Tracy and Jenna behave inappropriately and without consequence, and the one time she is most needed to clean up their messes (for sleeping/swearing on live TV during a family friendly parade), she is called away to jury duty.

This leaves Jenna in the hands of Dr. Spaceman who gives her medication to replace sleep, allowing her to work in two different time zones on two different projects.  Tracy, however, takes matters into his own hands when he realizes that the worst that swearing on TV can result in are fines (and he can pay whatever fines the FCC throws at him).  Jack further complicates matters by hijacking the TGS writing staff to come up with an inoffensive name for his new pocket microwave.  Kenneth ultimately dubs it the "Funcooker."

SPOILERS!  (I know I've been spoiling these episodes already, but the ending for this one is perfect).  Ultimately, Tracy's free speech results in him sharing his rear end with America (as well as his name for it, the Funcooker) while Jenna nearly dies onstage.  Liz returns, considering the words of the arsonist in her trial, and accidentally (?) traps everyone in her office and burns the writer's room down, thus ensuring everyone will treat her with respect and listen to her requests.

13) Ep. 315 "The Bubble"

"I didn't like it outside of the bubble, Liz.  It was very ironic." - Dr. Drew Baird

This episode takes the premise of "attractive people get away with more" and takes it to the extreme, resulting in the revelation that Jon Hamm is a great comedic actor.  Playing Liz's boyfriend of the month, Hamm's Drew is a successful doctor who is quite handsome.  So handsome that he lives in a "bubble" where people treat him so nicely that he fails to experience the downside of life and becomes extremely sheltered (and incompetent) as a result.  He believes that in life, one never has to pay parking tickets or wait for a table.  Being a doctor, this starts to endager the lives of others (seeing as how he has no medical skills whatsoever).

In the other story, Tracy's TGS contract is up and Jack tries to prevent him from leaving, knowing that he doesn't need to renew his contract because he has enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life.  Tracy promptly quits, causing strife for his family and the staff.  Fortunately, Tracy has gotten so used to Kenneth tending to his every need that Jack decides to fire Kenneth as well, to prevent him from taking care of Tracy any longer.  Tracy selflessly agrees to work again, proving that there was at least one thing he enjoyed about working at TGS.  It's a sweet story that's mostly worth it for Kenneth's accent that comes out when he's upset.

Both stories about privileged people learning that life isn't as easy as they once thought are quite clever and have stuck with me, making this an episode I often refer back to (especially when interacting with attractive peers).

14) Ep. 316 "Apollo, Apollo"

"'Lizzing' is a combination of 'laughing' and 'whizzing.'" - Liz Lemon

Here's an episode that appears on nearly every "best of" list and it's hard to pinpoint a single reason why.  Maybe it's Tracy's story about wanting to travel to space, forcing the TGS crew to stage a shuttle mission for him.  Maybe it's the return of Dennis Duffy, who reveals that he once cheated on Liz with Jenna, driving a rift in their friendship (despite the fact that someone as awful as Dennis shouldn't come between them).  Maybe it's Jack's quest to make himself happy on his 50th birthday by locating the childhood birthday gift that caused him to vomit with joy.

Maybe it's just that all three of these stories are golden and they add up to a wonderful whole episode.

No.  It's because Kenneth sees everyone as Muppets.

Season Four

15) Ep. 407 "Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001"

"Your hair is... fine." - Jack Donaghy (and later Dr. Spaceman) to Liz Lemon

You'll notice that a majority of this list focuses on the first three seasons of the show.  By Season 4, 30 Rock had become a well-oiled machine, which gave a sort of "going through the motions" feeling that lasted a long while.  With latter seasons, there were two major problems.  One was the reliance on multi-episode story arcs, which caused the show to work at a much slower pace than usual.  The other issue was predictability.  Even if storylines were keeping things different, the characters became basic versions of themselves, resulting in a lack of surprise.  A Jack-Liz conversation would always be the same, Kenneth's asides would retread past jokes, Tracy would say something weird via a play on words.  The writing was still strong, but there style remained so similar that it seemed redundant.

"Dealbreakers" managed to be one of the strongest episodes of the season.  It marks the end of one story-arc (Liz's bestselling relationship advice book) and the beginning of a new one (Tracy's attempt to "EGOT," or win every major creative award).  But it's the role reversals that allow this episode to stay strong.

Jack decides to have Liz become the host of a talk show inspired by her book.  But due to the pressure of being in the limelight (or almost being there), Liz begins to behave like Jenna, resulting in a Gollum-inspired meltdown in her dressing room.  This creates a great contrast between Liz's original dreams and goals and her current life to which she has become accustomed.  She could have very well been a Jenna, in another life.  Meanwhile, Frank begins behaving like the old Liz in her absence, learning why she's so stressed out all the time.  And Tracy's interest in being taken seriously and leaving a legacy through the quickest means possible sets up a great story (even if the results are less than ideal).

But the real reason this episode is here is because we get to see Kenneth as a Muppet.

Season Five

16) Ep. 516 "TGS Hates Women"

"And the whole 'sexy baby' thing isn't an act.  I'm a VERY sexy baby." - Abby Flynn

Thanks to 30 Rock and her spot-on Sarah Palin impression, Tina Fey became somewhat of a hero for female comedians.  She took home the Mark Twain award for humor the previous year and elements of the show began to reflect her position as a groundbreaking performer/writer.  While the rest of Season 5 was filled with an increasing number of "gimmick" episodes (like Ep. 504 "Live Show" or Ep. 517 "Queen of Jordan" which mocked live television and reality shows respectively), along came an "average" episode that used Fey's real-life persona in an great way.

After learning that a feminist blog finds her show to be sexist towards women, Liz decides to recruit an upcoming, popular, young comedienne named Abby Flynn to add to the writer's room.  Abby, however, appears to have developed a schtick centered around the worst representation of women (that they are childish, unintelligent, sex objects).  Abby has become so attached to this persona that she refuses to break it, even when Liz calls her out on it.  What results is a surprisingly honest exchange about how, by attempting to squash Abby's talents, Liz is only reinforcing that she doesn't care about women's rights.  Abby just chooses to be this way, and she is all the better for it.

Reinforcing the feminist theme of this episode, Jack finds himself with a new nemesis.  At this point in the series, Jack's original boss has been replaced by a man who is the polar opposite of Jack.  Instead of being a cunning and cutthroat business man, Jack must now warm up to the family-friendly, warm Hank Hooper.  This change in tactics for his ascension to the head of the company leads to Jack trying to make nice with Hooper's granddaughter Kaylee, played by perfectly-cast Chloë Moretz.  As a young teenage girl, Kaylee proves to be just as capable, if not more so, than Jack when it comes to trickery and manipulation.  As I said before, Devon Banks was a great Jack nemesis because he was exactly like Jack.  But having someone so physically, emotionally, and mentally different than him makes for a more intriguing premise.  The Kaylee Hooper saga was one of the highlights of the later years and this episode is a prefect introduction to her character.

Having both the Kaylee Hooper and Abby Flynn characters in one episode is a great juxtaposition in expected female stereotypes, with both revealing their true colors at the end.  Season 5 may not have been as consistent as what had come before it, but it still managed to pull out a few intelligent and satirical moments as seen in great episode.

Season Six

Ep. 609 "Leap Day"

"I saved Leap Day! And connected with my son! And I solved the big case from earlier!" - Jim Carrey as 'Leap Dave Williams'

The sitcom holiday episodes are as traditional as the holidays they represent, but in recent years, there has been an emphasis to try something new.  No one wants to do the same old Christmas episode.  Luckily, the delayed scheduling of Season 6 meant that 30 Rock would miss Christmas, and instead they put all of their yuletide cheer into "Leap Day."  There hadn't really been very many "leap day" episodes of television before, but in 2012, every show on the air celebrated it in some format.  But 30 Rock's was the most memorable, as it transformed this minor chrono-anomaly into the biggest day of the year.

Having missed the previous Leap Day in New York, Liz learns that the holiday actually has a huge turnout for celebration.  Introducing a bunch of absurd customs and a background that includes its own traditional classic movie Leap Dave Williams, the day takes on a special meaning as everyone has an extra day to do whatever they want.  Liz contemplates sleeping with a nerdy billionaire who had a crush on her in college, Tracy tries to spend his expiring $50,000 gift card to Benihana's in one day, and Jack tries to get more business done in a Scrooge-esque scenario that has him reliving past Leap Days.

Taking every holiday cliche and embracing it, "Leap Day" makes for an inconsequential yet extremely fun half hour, a shining gem in the diminishing sixth season.  It easily could become a holiday tradition, like Charlie Brown or the Grinch.  Apparently, it caused many New Yorkers to wear blue and yellow the following week (the "iconic" colors of Leap Day).  For a show as cynical as 30 Rock, it's nice to have a wonderful holiday classic to provide warm fuzzy feelings.

Ep. 619 "Live from Studio 6H"

"One of these days Dorris I'm gonna take a shotgun and BLAM! blow your face off!" - The Loverbirds

The fifth season's "Live Show" was a fun attempt to recreate the 30 Rock style in a live medium, with the same fast-editing between scenes.  But, to me, it only came out as a mediocre affair.  Aside from the obligatory "We're doing a live show" jokes, the story wasn't particularly interesting or memorable.  When I heard there would be a second live episode, I wondered why they would even bother.  Fortunately, the staff learned from their mistakes and produced a much better stand-alone episode.

Rather than try to play like a normal episode, "Live from Studio 6H" played on the conventions and genres of previous live television shows.  The framework has Kenneth locking everyone into one room to convince them to keep TGS a live show by retelling famous live broadcasts.  It's a thin story, but it's bottle episode nature serves to highlight some wonderful moments.  The actors get to play a variety of characters in various settings, spoofing The Honeymooners, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Amos and Andy and even the news.  The cameos were used much more effectively (with some creative casting for the young versions of Liz, Jack, and Tracy) and the whole enterprise felt a lot more special.

Even the more traditional storyline of Jenna's public proposal fit into the live-narrative, as she was hoping to sabotage the final live show in order to inflate her ego.  Sure, with a live audience, it's easier to tell when jokes don't hit, but the overall theme of "anything can happen" was alive and well, making for an iconic and fitting tribute to television's past.

Season Seven

Ep. 708 "My Whole Life is Thunder"

"Listen Jenna, I didn't mean to steal your thunder." - Liz Lemon, prompting this episode's title.

When a television show knows that it's ending, all of the creative juices start flowing more forcefully, as if the inevitable demise reminds the writers that this is their last chance to do whatever they always wanted/needed to do with the characters.  Alec Baldwin had been threatening to leave the show during the fifth and sixth seasons, citing the lack of quality.  So once it was revealed that the seventh season would be the last, everyone brought out their A-game.  The season only lasted 13 episodes but each one of them was a true return to form, feeling like the classic seasons.  I would just put this whole season as worthy of mandatory viewing, but I shall stick with the two best.

First, the whole season had an air of finality to it, with storylines being tied up left and right.  Liz had finally gotten married (in a spur of the moment decision with only a few witnesses), resulting in Jenna's jealousy to take complete control of everyone's attention, trying to sabotage Liz's life with her own surprise wedding.  But before we get to the pay off of the Jenna-Monster, we must address the other big story of this episode.

Jack's mother Colleen was one of the show's greatest recurring characters, representing someone who would never be proud of Jack, despite his many accomplishments (and always having a biting insult to those unfortunate to stand in her vicinity).  When she finally dies, telling Jack that she just wanted him to be happy, Jack dwells over this final blow, knowing that he must give her the perfect eulogy even though he knows it will not be perfect enough.

The eulogy scene is another great 30 Rock moment, showing that at the end of its run, the show can still pull out some real gems.  And to top off the perfect funeral service, Jenna unveils her surprise wedding, making a great moment infinitely better.

Ep. 713 "Last Lunch"

"There is a word, a once special word that's been tragically co-opted by the romance industrial complex and I would hate to use it here and have you think that I'm suggesting any kind of romantic sentiment, let alone an invitation to scale bone mountain...," - Jack's goodbye to Liz

While this episode is considered the second half of a two-parter with Ep. 712 "Hogcock!," the different vibes between the two halves prevented me from counting it as one big episode.  The important elements from the first half that carries over into this episode are that Jack, having acheived everything he ever wanted in all facets of his life, is still not happy and Tracy's contract requires that he do at least one more episode of TGS (despite it ending already) or else he will get a payout from NBC.  This results in Tracy stalling production of the final episode while Jack seemingly prepares to commit suicide.

This is a wonderful episode to end on because, unlike the 137 episodes the preceded it, this one actually  aims for emotion.  Tracy and Liz return to where they first met in the pilot to discuss the difficulties of saying goodbye and, later, Jack and Liz have one last heart to heart, showing how much the two have actually grown by being each other's friends.  Also, Jenna must part with her mirror, Lutz holds the writing staff hostage with his awful suggestion of Blimpie for the last lunch, and Pete fakes his own death.

Everything reaches it's natural conclusion, providing a great epilogue to the series (where Kenneth finally gets to be the head of NBC and we learn the truth about his life).  It may not be the funniest episode of 30 Rock, but it certainly is the most heartwarming.  But what's truly great is that it didn't make me long for more episodes.  Rather, it emphasized the importance of endings, and taught us to accept when things are over.

The final episode (and season) redeemed to longevity of the underrated series and allowed for the craziest show on television to exit with dignity.