30 Rock: Baby got front

I intend to devote a good chunk of this evening to watching Yanks-Indians game 1, so posts on "The Office," "Earl" and "Mad Men" are going to have to wait until sometime tomorrow. But since I've seen both the "30 Rock" premiere and "Grey's Anatomy" episode two in advance, I'm gonna blog 'em early, separate posts for each. Spoilers for the former coming up just as soon as I fill my house with the sound of the ocean and the smell of bacon...


"30 Rock" is back, and all is right with the comedy world. Like I said in the column, this wasn't one of the show's best episodes, though I put a lot of the problem on the guest star they're counting on to bring in more eyeballs. Seinfeld's never been able to act, even turned it into a running gag during the "Seinfeld" season about the making of the "Jerry" pilot, and in the exaggerated world of that show, his clumsy mugging worked just fine. (If anything, some of my favorite "Seinfeld" moments involve Jerry overacting terribly in moments of panic, like the two-line phone mishap from "The Outing.")

But even though "30 Rock" is a farcical, sometimes surreal show with characters like Tracy, Kenneth and Dr. Spaceman (who makes a triumphant return next week), everyone is played in a style that's believable within this strange universe. Tracy's insane, but in a way that makes him work next to more realistic characters like Liz and Pete (who got his weekly line with "I thought you broke up!"). Seinfeld, on the other hand, is just a great comedian who can't act, and that stuck out like a sore thumb in a way it never did when he was playing scenes with George and Kramer. (Fey did use it to her advantage in the "Seinfeld-Vision" clips, which became funnier precisely because Jerry was just shouting clumsily.)

Beyond that, though, it was a really funny episode, and when "30 Rock" is clicking like this, it isn't so much a show that you review as one where you list all the jokes that you liked. Among my faves:

• "She needs to lose 30 pounds or gain 60. Anything in between has no place on television" (the entire Jenna plot, in fact, which is the best use of Jane Krakowski to date.)


• "Office wife" Kenneth quickly getting into a bickering spousal relationship with Tracy


• The Saul Rosenbear flashback


• Tracy suspecting his wife is sleeping with D.L. Hughley ("Studio 60" may be dead, but the "30 Rock" digs at it live on!)


• All the talk about the country only rich people know about


• Dieting Jack sniffing the photo of french fries on Liz's wall


• Liz calling Twofer "Chocolate Rain"


• Tracy seeing Liz in the wedding dress and asking if a Korean person died

What did everybody else think?