30 Rock Teaser: Jennifer Aniston, Megan Mullally, Oprah

Jennifer Aniston plays a crazy woman on 30 Rock

Last week, the buzz was Jennifer Aniston is returning to NBC via a guest stint on 30 Rock but it still wasn't clear what her role is.

Well, here's the scoop --- She's not playing herself, thankfully. She is playing a woman who will "rock Jack Donaghy's world".

My well-informed sources say Aniston plays Liz and Jenna's old roommate from Chicago, who pays them a visit in the Big Apple. She's a free spirit who loves to party and isn't opposed to sleeping around. In fact, a certain slick, Republican 30 Rocker will catch her eye.

Word is, their "relationship" won't be the healthiest, as Donaghy gets addicted to Aniston's character, and she becomes a total psycho... much to poor Liz Lemon's disapproving chagrin. | Korbi

Crazy Jen? That I want to see!

30 Rock premieres its third season on October 30th.

Jennifer Aniston to Guest Star on 30Rock

Wheee! She's coming back to NBC's Thursday block...even for one night only!

Jennifer Aniston is guest starring on Tina Fey's 30 Rock. Last year, David Schwimmer was also a guest on this show, playing the eco-mascot Greenzo (Watch the Video).

The actress is said to be already filming her scenes.

30 Rock is the last show to premiere this fall, coming back to TV on October 30th.

Finale Watch: 30 Rock

I wasn't really paying full attention to 30 Rock's season finale (working and watching TV at the same time is hard!). But all I really wanted to know from this episode --- whether or not Liz Lemmons is pregnant ---- was answered. She isn't. Whew. I did not want her pregnant because it would change the dynamics of the show (jump? shark?). Although, she did hint that her almost-pregnancy made her want to adopt a baby. Is that going to happen next season?

Anyway, the finale recap and review.

What's on TV this week? Just --- THE BEST WEEK EVER!

The best week of TV begins this week....I do not know how I will ever get something done or where I should start. I feel some pressure....alright, extreme pressure. And yet I'm also very, very excited about it. I think this week, I'll feel a lot like a newly grad on her first day at work --- anxious, eager, exhausted but fulfilled.

So, are you ready for TV this week? Here's what is on and what's surely going to make my schedule all crazy (with the episode synopsis from their official sites and Spoilerfix):

BROTHERS and SISTERS
Season 2 Episode 13 Separation Anxiety
April 20

• Robert and Kitty visit a fertility clinic. Three months earlier, he dropped out of the Presidential race. He proposes dinner after Kitty is finished and she accepts, but wants to invite Nora and Isaac. Robert informs her they can't come due to Isaac having a special dinner for Nora, even though the Senator doesn't know what is special about it. Kitty is surprised when the man who defeated Robert in the primary reaches out with a possible offer for Vice President. Rebecca and Justin have their DNA tested to see if they really are related.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
Season 3 Episode 16 Sandcastles in The Sand
April 21

• The gang is excited when they will finally meet Simon, someone from Robin Sparkles' past. However, they get even more ecstatic when they learn he wasn't in the "Let's Go To The Mall" video but in her "Sandcastles in the Sand" video. Simon was, according to Robin's word, the hottest guy on the set. The others warn Robin that, with time, people change and it is possible that Simon isn't as hot as he used to be. No matter what the gang thinks, Robin still has a huge crush on Simon and acts like a teenager around him. Simon is part of a band that plays at small venues such as bat-mitzvahs. Barney transforms his apartment in a Bourne Identity-like control room in order to find the "Sandcastles in the Sand" video. Ted is still dating Stella.

SAMANTHA WHO?
Season 1 Episode 12 The Butterflies
April 21

• Samantha finds out about an endangered butterfly habitat and needs to stop her boss and the firm's construction project that would kill them. She decides to use Dena, who is clueless about Sam's plan, to go out with her boss and persuade him to stop the construction project. Todd and Sam share a passionate kiss, which later leaves Sam feeling ignored by him.

THE OFFICE
Season 4 Episode 11 Night Out
April 24

• Michael and Dwight decide to surprise Ryan in New York for a night of clubbing and meet his friends. Meanwhile, the Scranton branch is upset when they find out they have to come in on a Saturday for Ryan’s website project. Jim’s plan to save them has unexpected results.

30 ROCK
Season 2 Episode 13 Succession
April 24

• When Don decides to promote Jack and make him his successor over Devon, Jack decides to give his old job to Liz because she always has his back. However, a turn of events concerning Don's health compromises Jack's promotion. Meanwhile, Tracy thinks that his son is embarrassed of his career because he did not invite him to fathers day at school.

SCRUBS
Season 7 Episode 9 My Dumb Luck
April 24

• J.D. taunts Dr. Cox when he has a patient, Alex Macrae, whom he has not been able to diagnose for two years. After J.D. loses Mr. Macrae's urine sample, he figures out what's wrong with him. The staff objects to Dr. Kelso's dismissal as Chief of Medicine and the board convenes to hear them out.

LOST
Season 4 Episode 9 The Shape of Things To Come
April 24

• Locke's camp comes under attack, and Jack tries to discover the identity of a body that has washed ashore.

UGLY BETTY
Season 2 Episode 14 Twenty Four Candles
April 24

• Betty plans to spend her 24th birthday accompanied by Henry, but Charlie's sudden appearance jeopardizes her plans. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina plots against Renee and Daniel's relationship by hinting at secrets from a hidden past in her sister's life.

GREY'S ANATOMY
Season 4 Episode 12 Where The Wild Things Are
April 24

• Six weeks after Derek and Meredith ended their relationship and Derek began dating Rose, Meredith and her fellow residents, Alex, Izzie and Cristina, compete in a surgical contest, with Bailey serving as judge. Meanwhile interns George and Lexie adjust to their new, squalid apartment, and Callie finds a friend in her roommate Cristina's nemesis, Erica Hahn.

Aside from this, I'm also...

• watching new episodes of My Name is Earl and The Big Bang Theory
• catching up on three episodes of Greek
• proceeding with DVD Marathon I began last week: 1) Scrubs 2nd Season, which finally arrived from Amazon (freebie! whee!), and 2) Arrested Development - which I'm introducing to my son, am sort of testing if he'd get the humor...and you know what? He digs it!
• tuning to Bostong Legal and Lost Season 2 on cable. Just because.
• rooting for my favorite Idols on American Idol.
  

I wish there was a way I could get myself a powerful satellite or something...and move to Venus. Because over there? The days are longer...something I'd need to have to finish all these shows and still be productive.

Have a great week ahead!

Comedy Grande

Hey, hey, hey...TV junkie here, getting her fix!

It's wonderful to be spending a lazy day watching comedies!

I've rounded up this week's stories on Click TV (30 Rock, Scrubs, My Name Is Earl), as well as provided a recap of The Office: here.

I think I need to see a doctor about having my eyes checked soon. This monitor is suddenly blurry...

Had too much TV last night

...that I actually slept at 4 am. Old episodes of Ally McBeal and Charmed kept me up past 1 am. And when I couldn't sleep anymore, I had to watch Ellen's show also. It seems the reception on those freeTV channels on cable are better after midnight and my new channel of choice is 2nd Ave. They are bringing in some must-watch TV shows --- Mad Men and The Riches, as well as a score of other new shows. I recommend you ought to check out the channel.

Anyway, also from last night... some note-worthy episodes from 30 Rock and Ugly Betty:

30 Rock, simply rocked. Too many quotable quotes, mostly lines from Kenneth. I don't know where to start. Tina Fey, while mostly recognized as a brilliant writer, is slowly coming into her own as an excellent actress/comedian. The "Midnight Train to Georgia" musical ending was unexpected and downright hilarious. I'm trying to find a video of it online, but couldn't come up with any.

Just some of my favorite quotes:

Kenneth: I don't drink any hot beverages. That's the Devil's temperature!
Kenneth: (after drinking) I love the way coffee makes me feel. It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain!
Kenneth: I've always been told that New York was the twenty-first-century city of Sodom and look what's happened? I've become one of them. I've been sodomized.

Sadly, like many shows airing this week, this will be the last one for awhile.


Ugly Betty was entertaining mainly because of Amanda and Marc once again. He introduces her to a psychic who tells Amanda how he's supposed to find her father (who apparently is KISS' Gene Simmons).

Wilhelmina is looking for a surrogate mom, who will bear her child and Bradford's (whose sperm she had frozen).

Betty convinces Daniel to have normal-looking models for Fashion Week in the hopes of swaying Justin's model-obsessed classmates. Betty ends up doing the catwalk on the runway and convinces at least one impressionable teener that normal-looking is still beautiful.

Betty has about a couple more episodes left, if I'm not mistaken.

Some TV News bits...

• Tom Hanks tries to save the day, speaks up against AMPTP.
• A Dexter Protest from Australia - "references to Adelaide as some sort of serial killers' capital damages the city's reputation and its tourism industry."
• Golden Globes still on... somewhat

30 Rock S2 E5: Greenzo

Awww, I have missed this guy:



David Schwimmer guest starred on 30Rock this week, playing an out of work actor/dickhead who is hired by the network to promote "going green", which incidentally is what NBC is doing all week.

Greenzo is clearly a prick but he's a prick who's also the first nonjudgmental business-friendly environmental advocate.

And the above scene kinda reminded me of when Ross did his dance with Monica at Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve something something Party on Friends.

[30 Rock], [David Schwimmer]

30 Rock Pilot

Before anything else, let me quote a couple of lines from NBC's new comedy, 30Rock:

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey): What are you doing down here?
Jack (Alec Baldwin): I was known for being hands-on
Liz Lemon: Clearly...
Jack: That's how you should dress by the way.
Liz Lemon: Yeah, If I was President of the Philippines.

TV.Com info: Liz Lemon, played by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey, is the head writer of the fictional TV show, 'The Girlie Show.' When her old boss dies and a new boss comes in, Liz must try to run a successful TV show without losing her mind.

The Girlie Show is something similar to SNL aka Saturday Night Live, from where Tina Fey came from (she was SNL's headwriter/lead star for over a decade). In other words... this, 30Rock, is a spoof of what she really does in real life. It is named aptly so because 30 Rock stands for 30 Rockefeller St., location of NBC studios, where SNL (or this fictional SNL --- The Girlie Show) airs.

So how was it?

Lemme put it this way....those lines I quoted from the show (above ^)? Not funny! (I quoted it only for the Pinoy mention. Heh!) And apparently, the rest of the show is deficient of some humor, except for Alec Baldwin --- whose character here reminds me of his character on Friends, Phoebe's date, who annoyed everybody because he was very enthusiastic about everything --- "Take a mental picture". Yep, he's a little bit like that guy here (only, less enthusiastic but more annoying).

Anyway, moving a long...

The show just did not capture me. I was fairly disappointed with the pilot since I expected to be laughing out loud (didn't!). And also because I would've liked for Tina Fey to succeed with this show since I like how smart she is.

However, it's still the first episode. Obviously some more tweaking should take place after the reviews and ratings are out. Plus the previews of upcoming episodes seem insteresting. And then there's Rachel Dratch too. So, we'll see....

Incidentally, this show is being compared to Studio 60, because they are similar in many ways:

1. airs on NBC
2. is about an SNL type of show
3. the lead characters are writers
4. has a number on its title (divisible by 2 or 5 or 10!)

... but the similarities end there.

Studio 60 is a drama, it's the West Wing of the Television World. 30 Rock is clearly a comedy. I'm actually getting a Curb Your Enthusiasm & Extras vibe watching the pilot episode and that should say something to me since these two shows I compare it with are outstanding, but 30 Rock just falls short and I can't figure out why that is so...for now.

Promising, yes.

Spectacular, as I expected it would be (because of all the buzz!) --- so far, nope.


30 Rock
Season 1 Episode 1 - The Pilot
Original Airing: Oct 11, 2006
Network: NBC