Since Valentine’s Day has come and gone, the timing seems appropriate for me to go public with a revelation that I just can’t hold back anymore. I haven’t felt this way about anyone in a long time, and my heart flutters a little whenever I hear that melodious voice, saying those three special little words . SHUT IT DOWN!
Yes. Though she may be unaware, Tina Fey and the rest of the cast of “30 Rock” were my valentines this last weekend.
In a world with shows that aim to exploit people or suggest that there are females in the world who are not utterly repulsed by Bret Michaels, I’ve become increasingly disillusioned with TV. I may have a lot of shows listed on my Facebook profile, but I rarely keep up with them-except one.
In this particular case, I’ve become a woman obsessed. I’m not (particularly) ashamed to admit that I’m “that girl” who has full-length episodes on her phone, just in case the urge to watch Tracy Jordan channel his inner Oprah at The Source Awards hits me while I’m away from my MacBook.
I can’t even give a straightforward explanation for such a deep obsession. Maybe it’s the way that all the snappy one-liners make for great Facebook statuses whenever I’m not feeling clever enough to come up with my own. Or maybe it’s the way that half of this column was essentially written for me thanks to the show’s brilliantly quotable script. Either way, I love this show so much that I want to take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant.
“30 Rock” strikes the perfect balance of current event references and political satire without being pretentious, and low-brow humor without dropping IQ points, all while maintaining an interesting plotline with some outrageously imaginative characters.
After all, how many other shows manage to completely cross taboo lines and yet still return victorious the way “30 Rock” does? How many other shows manage to turn blatant product placement into comedic gold? What, no answer? Ya BURNT!
In between tongue-in-cheek jabs at Conan O’Brien, it’s the show that taught me to live every week like it’s Shark Week, that nothing is impossible except for dinosaurs and that I can be a freaky-deaky and do data entry.
I may never be a TV junkie, but “30 Rock” has single-handedly revived my belief that some television shows can be intelligent, funny, cynical, optimistic, sarcastic and immature, in the best possible sense of all those words. It’s the one show that has really grabbed me in the last few years, and I’m quite sure it won’t be letting go anytime soon, like a killer whale goin’ nuts on his trainer at Sea World.
Patke OUT!
Windmills of My Mind is a column written by a different contributor every week on memories about a film, book, play, song, or piece of art. Interested in writing one? E-mail the editor at [email protected].
