The Hot Richard

30 Rock got back to basics last episode by focusing on the core cast rather than the constant parade of guest stars. Though its hard not to like the occasional new face, the show works best when its written in the voice of its principle players. Happily, the trend continues this week.

Despite dressing up like Princess Leah, Liz is forced to sit on a jury for an arson trial. While twiddling her thumbs in court, the show spirals out of control. Tracey has decided that he can essentially say anything he wants since he can pay his own FCC fines, Jenna is involved in an experimental drug trial that leaves her shakier than a country meth addict and Jack has finally achieved his dream of creating a miniature and portable microwave oven.

Jack’s dream of mini-appliance domination is dashed however as the legal department refuses to allow its original name as its offensive in some languages. Jack forces Frank and the other writers to ignore the show to work on new names for his mini-wave. The list of names they come up with reads like a list of dirty jokes from Urban Dictionary.

After Tracey finds out that the FCC fines that are being dropped on him not only affect him but also the sponsors, he decides to buy all the advertising himself. He uses these as opportunities to tell the world his wife is throwing away old towels, deny his own apologies and show his “fun cooker” on television.

Jenna, desperate to keep herself working on the show and her faux Janis Joplin biopic, turns to Dr. Spaceman. I love Chris Parnell as Dr. Spaceman and I wish 30 Rock could find more ways to use him. The Spaceman gives Jenna an experimental upper that he’s been working on, essentially turning her into a lab rat. Jenna wanders around chugging water, licking her lips and acting like a coked up gerbil. Jenna is the weakest element of the show for me, but she does well in this episode.

Back in court, Liz listens to the accused arsonist. A middle aged woman who has managed a Mailboxes Plus for years has a massive breakdown brought on by her insane underlings. Though the woman is convicted, she rejoices in her freedom from her employees. Liz can’t help but see the parallels and when she returns to her jackass staff, she contemplates torching them. Though she thinks better of it, she accidentally throws a match and sets a blaze. No one is hurt, but the writers and cast are immediately put back into line.

A solid episode overall. I loved Tracey as usual and Jenna turned in a better than usual performance. The real star of the show this week though was the random references to made up offensive terms like “the hot richard” and “the fun cooker”. Its a reminder that even benign terms could be offensive in the right context.