Rating: 
November 8, 2007
'30 Rock," the funniest, smartest and best-written comedy on broadcast television, is getting even funnier tonight. If it's possible.
Riffing on NBC's own "Green is Universal" push (which apparently doesn't extend to the green in the writers' pockets), Tina Fey and company rip NBC's real-life corporate initiative and the suits who come up with these phony-baloney things.
This, of course, means that the real-life "30 Rock" writers got paid to rip their real bosses on national TV.
Strike? Damn! Get me that job.
Anyway, on the show, as in real life, in order to appear committed to saving the planet, GE is looking for more green programming and Jack (Alec Baldwin) has come up with a great idea: A "Green is Universal" initiative which will include a week of green programming.
Just like GE and NBC have done in real life.
Yes, this is the episode with Al Gore. In fact it should be called "The One with Al Gore," who not only shows up as Al Gore environmentalist/former vice president, but as a tree-hugger who hears troubled whales calling.
And he's very, very funny. Certainly a lot funnier than he was when he was running for president in real life. No wonder he wants to save trees. If you got ruined by paper hanging chads, you'd be looking for alternatives to paper too!
Jack's idea for green week is not just to invite Gore on to push GE products, but to hire an out-of-work actor named Jared (David Schwimmer) to play Greenzo, an eco-friendly super hero, to appear on the "Today" show with Meredith Vieira to push planet-saving GE washing machines.
Jared's happy to have the job. Who wouldn't be?
"My last gig," he says, "was working on the Rick Lazio campaign." That right there will be the smartest line you'll hear on all of TV tonight.
That line is followed by Jack's comments on Greenzo's popularity, which are so hilariously un-PC that I'm surprised they didn't cause the real-life Gore to go into cardiac arrest.
Meantime, much to Liz's (Tina Fey) horror, Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) has decided to give another party. Tracy, (Tracy Morgan) who happens to think Kenneth is cool, decides to help keep the party from being another bust. He starts a rumor that rapper T.I. is going to show up. (No mention of whether he'd be bringing his machine gun or not.)
You can imagine what the rumor brings to the party. If not, think horny Dutch cousins, feuds and fistfights, drunken debacles and the Harlem Globetrotters.
The show just keeps getting better every week. In fact, we decided around here that if brown is the new black, then "30 Rock" is the new "Seinfeld."
"30 Rock"
Tonight at 8:30 on NBC
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