Tag Archives: 30 Rock

My Favorite Scene, TV

My Favorite Scene: 30 Rock Season 1 (2006) “Jack’s Tuxedo”

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Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy is one of my favorite TV characters of all-time.  Baldwin’s megalomaniacal, prescient, manipulative, eccentric NBC executive was a hit from the pilot, but really had his first moment of pure “Jacktasticness” (trademark pending) in 30 Rock’s sixth episode.  Jack has his overworked showrunner Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) pulling extra duty during an especially busy time writing jokes for a conservative fundraiser at which he’ll be speaking.  This scene is the culmination of an episode of Donaghy messing with Lemon for his own amusement, plus it contains the greatest one-line explanation for why a character SHOULDN’T be wearing a tuxedo in entertainment history.  30 Rock went on to become one of the seminal sitcoms of the last 25 years, and in the sixth episode you can already see why.Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock

My Favorite Scene, TV

My Favorite Scene: 30 Rock Season 6 (2012) “Kouch Town Commercials”

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30 Rock is one of the last great network sitcoms, and was absolutely stellar throughout its seven seasons on the air.  Choosing ONE moment from a season of 30 Rock is a superhuman feat, not unlike when Alec Baldwin’s elitist, CEO character, Jack Donaghy, attempts to have a perfect day (“Reaganing” is what he calls it).  Jack Donaghy is easily one of my top 10 characters in TV history, and it will be the defining role of Alec Baldwin’s career.  One of my favorite Jack moments comes in season 6 episode 18 (“Murphy Brown Lied to Us”) when NBC is purchased by a fictional company called KableTown, and Jack is demoted to running their subsidiary company, KouchTown.

Tina Fey, 30 Rock, Liz Lemon
30 ROCK — “Murphy Brown Lied to Us” Episode 618 — Pictured: Tina Fey as Liz Lemon — (Photo by: Ali Goldstein/NBC)

The couches, unfortunately are death traps, closing like Venus Flytraps on their sitters.  This may have stopped a lesser CEO, but this is Jack Donaghy and he was going to impress the new brass by selling every one of those  death traps.  He hires actor Stacy Keach to film an increasingly hilarious and desperate series of commercials; marketing them as the Tough Man’s Couch.  It’s stupid and brilliant and that’s 30 Rock in a nutshell.  Here’s a bonus video of some of Jack’s other great moments with some commentary from 30 Rock‘s writers.


Tina Fey, Liz Lemon, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan,

My Favorite Scene, TV

My Favorite Scene: 30 Rock Season 2 “Therapy Jack Style” (2007)

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Tina Fey is a freaking genius.  30 Rock never got the critical acclaim it should have over its seven year run, but it never flagged, was always true to its characters and delivered some of the funniest moments in the last ten years of television.  Fey created, wrote, produced and starred in the show, plus she cast actors generally known for their inability to work with others and wove it into the fabric of the show.  No greater example of this is Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy, one of my ten greatest sitcom characters of all-time.  His effortless ability to segue from wise, all-knowing executive into complete lunatic and back provided some of the show’s best moments including this clip from the second season episode “Rosemary’s Baby” where the NBC shrink asks Jack to help Tracy Morgan with some parental issues.
30 Rock, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin

Movies, Obituary, TV

RIP Homeland Actor and Veteran Character Actor James Rebhorn Has Passed

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You probably don’t know James Rebhorn’s name, but if you watch TV or movies AT ALL, you’ll most likely recognize his face.  Rebhorn is the epitome of a career character actor, blending into dozens upon dozens of roles, most lately as the father of Claire Dane’s character on the Showtime hit Homeland.  Rebhorn was such a consummate character actor that in the David Fincher film The Game, he plays a career character actor acting in the titular Game INSIDE the movie.  Rebhorn has been battling melanoma since 1992, the cancer finally taking him today at age 65. Continue reading RIP Homeland Actor and Veteran Character Actor James Rebhorn Has Passed →

Movies, TV

2014 SAG Award Nominees Announced

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SAG Awards

The Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees were announced today with 12 Years as a Slave cementing its status as current Oscar front runner on the movie side and accolades for the departed Breaking Bad on the TV side.  The actual awards (and they are hefty suckers) will be handed out Sunday January 27, 2014, and the ceremony will be broadcast on TNT.

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bruce Dern – Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Forest Whitaker – Lee Daniel’s The Butler (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra Bullock – Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Judi Dench – Philomena (The Weinstein Company)
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County (The Weinstein Company)
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks (Walt Disney Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Daniel Bruhl – Rush (Universal Pictures)
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
James Gandolfini – Enough Said (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County (The Weinstein Company)
June Squibb – Nebraska (Paramount Pictures)
Oprah Winfrey – Lee Daniel’s The Butler (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
12 Years a Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
August: Osage County (The Weinstein Company)
Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
Lee Daniel’s The Butler (The Weinstein Company)

TELEVISION PROGRAMS

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Matt Damon – “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
Michael Douglas – “Behind the Candelabra” (HBO)
Jeremy Irons – “The Hollow Crown” (WNET/Thirteen)
Rob Lowe – “Killing Kennedy” (National Geographic Channel)
Al Pacino – “Phil Spector” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Angela Bassett – “Betty & Coretta” (Lifetime)
Helena Bonham Carter – “Burton and Taylor” (BBC America)
Holly Hunter – “Top of the Lake” (Sundance Channel)
Helen Mirren – “Phil Spector” (HBO)
Elisabeth Moss – “Top of the Lake” (Sundance Channel)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi – “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Bryan Cranston – “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Jeff Daniels – “The Newsroom” (HBO)
Peter Dinklage – “Game of Thrones” (HBO)
Kevin Spacey – “House of Cards” (Netflix)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Claire Danes – “Homeland” (Showtime)
Anna Gunn – “Breaking Bad” (AMC)
Jessica Lange – “American Horror Story: Coven” (FX)
Maggie Smith – “Downton Abbey” (PBS)
Kerry Washington – “Scandal” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alec Baldwin – “30 Rock” (NBC)
Jason Bateman – “Arrested Development (Netflix)
Ty Burrell – “Modern Family” (ABC)
Don Cheadle – “House of Lies” (Showtime)
Jim Parsons – “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Mayim Bialik – “The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
Julie Bowen – “Modern Family” (ABC)
Edie Falco – “Nurse Jackie” (Showtime)
Tina Fey – “30 Rock” (NBC)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – “Veep” (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
“Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
“Breaking Bad” (AMC)
“Downton Abbey” (PBS)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“Homeland” (Showtime)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
“30 Rock” (NBC)
“Arrested Development” (Netflix)
“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS)
“Modern Family” (ABC)
“Veep” (HBO)

SAG AWARDS® HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
All is Lost (Lionsgate)
Fast & Furious 6 (Universal Pictures)
Lone Survivor (Universal Pictures)
Rush (Universal Pictures)
The Wolverine (20th Century Fox)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series
“Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
“Breaking Bad” (AMC)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“Homeland” (Showtime)
“The Walking Dead” (AMC)

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