After one hell of a pilot, 30 Rock continues to offer great gag after great gag, once again largely thanks to the combined efforts of Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan.
The problem at the center of the episode is Tracy's addition to the cast of The Girlie Show. Jenna is particularly upset when the insane movie star keeps mispronouncing her name while filming a commercial, and things get worse when the name of the show is officially changed to "TGS with Tracy Jordan". Liz's attempts to calm everyone down don't fare much better, as she repeatedly badmouths everyone without meaning it. At this point, the only reasonable thing Tracy can do is throw a party on his yacht and invite the whole staff.
As any sitcom fan knows, boats, and yachts especially, are rarely a good place to be (see the pilot of Arrested Development or the Season 5 finale of Will & Grace) but always the ideal setting for smart laughs. The Aftermath is no exception to that rule, and aside from Morgan being the usual whack-job ("He bit Dakota Fanning on the face!"), the yacht section offers Jane Krakwoski a splendid opportunity to showcase her talents as a physical comedienne. As for the verbal comedy gold, look no further than Jack Donaghy staring at pictures of various people in order to memorize their names ("Heidi Klum. Guy sleeping with Heidi Klum." etc) or Liz trying to get Tracy to say Jenna's name right ("Maroney. Rhymes with baloney."). A work of pure genius.
The problem at the center of the episode is Tracy's addition to the cast of The Girlie Show. Jenna is particularly upset when the insane movie star keeps mispronouncing her name while filming a commercial, and things get worse when the name of the show is officially changed to "TGS with Tracy Jordan". Liz's attempts to calm everyone down don't fare much better, as she repeatedly badmouths everyone without meaning it. At this point, the only reasonable thing Tracy can do is throw a party on his yacht and invite the whole staff.
As any sitcom fan knows, boats, and yachts especially, are rarely a good place to be (see the pilot of Arrested Development or the Season 5 finale of Will & Grace) but always the ideal setting for smart laughs. The Aftermath is no exception to that rule, and aside from Morgan being the usual whack-job ("He bit Dakota Fanning on the face!"), the yacht section offers Jane Krakwoski a splendid opportunity to showcase her talents as a physical comedienne. As for the verbal comedy gold, look no further than Jack Donaghy staring at pictures of various people in order to memorize their names ("Heidi Klum. Guy sleeping with Heidi Klum." etc) or Liz trying to get Tracy to say Jenna's name right ("Maroney. Rhymes with baloney."). A work of pure genius.