This past week I saturated myself with all things Tina Fey. Frankly, I’m a little surprised I didn’t start having dreams about Fey considering all the time I spent with her. There was the 100th episode of 30 Rock, which meant a whole hour of the show (and it was a great hour, to boot). Inspired by the episode, I went back and watched a bunch of episodes from the first season of the show on Netflix. Finally, I finished reading Tina’s recent book Bossypants. As if that weren’t enough, I was actually listening to the audiobook version, which, as you may guess, was read by Tina Fey.
Chuck did a great job covering the 100th episode, but I did want to throw my two cents into the ring. It was a very funny episode, and in particular, it had a ton of great callbacks. There were all the flashbacks, of course, but it even went a little deeper than that. As I mentioned before, I went back and watched a bunch of first season episodes over the weekend, and was amazed to see all the details that were called back in the 100th. I’m sure most people remember Tracy Jordan running down the street yelling “I’m a Jedi!,” I know it’s one part of the show that has stuck in my memory. There were other things that I noticed too, though, which I hadn’t remembered. It was great to see Rachel Dratch back on the show as the animal handler, a role she played in the pilot (after being booted out of the role of Jenna, which she played in the original pilot). I also appreciated the flashback to the as yet unseen meeting between Pete and Jack, where Pete took the firing bullet for Liz. The scene never appeared in the pilot, but the build up to it did (including Liz getting bonked in the head with falling debris).
It’s really amazing going back to that first episode and seeing how the show has come along. It was certainly convenient during the 100th episode to have Jenna (played by a very pregnant Jane Krakowski) featured in a skit about morbidly obese Pam, but I wonder how many people remember that the same exact skit was produced in the pilot episode? I certainly didn’t remember. I also loved hearing Liz talk about her old boyfriends in the pilot episode, casually mentioning a guy named “Dennis.” Oh man, we didn’t know what we had in store for us, did we?
As for Tina’s book, Bossypants? I really enjoyed it. Chances are, if you think it’s something you would enjoy, you will enjoy it. There’s not a whole lot of mystery there — you either like Fey or you don’t. Fans of hers will recognize her brand of comedy, and there are a lot of interesting anecdotes from her past. There is also some very cool insights into her time on Saturday Night Live (I didn’t remember that she was only a behind the scenes writer before joining Weekend Update), playing Sarah Palin, and creating 30 Rock. If you’re a fan, it’s definitely worth checking out.
I may not get to hear Tina reading to me in my car anymore, but thank goodness we get a few more episodes of 30 Rock before the season ends. And, of course, there are all those past episodes to watch again.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Apr 26, 2011 @ 14:00 EST5EDT
