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• 30 Rock upsets “The Natural Order”

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I’m of the opinion that television can educate people. From 30 Rock alone, I’ve learned that votes for God in elections are votes counted towards Republicans, that there are 31 letters in the white alphabet, and tonight I learned that Florida is America’s Australia. Yes, tonight’s episode titled “The Natural Order was usual greatness that makes me wonder why people watch The Office and not 30 Rock.

Tonight’s episode was somewhat unusual from 30 Rock’s usual formula, in that the main plot didn’t concern Jack and Liz working together. Instead, Liz was pitted against Tracey who was arguing that since we now have an African American president that everyone was equal. In order to prove this, Liz demands that Tracey start showing up on time with his lines memorized. The situation moves on from there, with Tracey and Liz one-upping each other to see who will cave first. It’s a typical sitcom plotline that doesn’t appear so cliché since 30 Rock doesn’t deal with usual sitcom situations. For example, Liz was forced to go to a strip club for Lutz’s fake bachelor party since he realized no woman would ever marry him.

Meanwhile, Jack’s mother was back in the picture and she was dating a man who she met in Florida. Jack is immediately suspicious and sends out his private eye (Steve Buscemi with another cameo) to find the man’s dirty little secret.

One distinctive way of knowing just how much 30 Rock better is than the rest of television is how well they are able to do single story episodes as opposed to major arcs. With shows like How I Met Your Mother and The Office, the episodes that are just about the characters and not a major overarching plot seem boring, whereas 30 Rock is consistently entertaining and hysterical regardless of the story.

With two episodes left in the season, here are my top five 30 Rock episodes of season three thus far:

1. "Retreat To Move Forward"

2. "Reunion"

3. "The Bubble"

4. "Flu Shot"

5. "The Funcooker"