30 Rock Review: I'm In Chinatown Baby

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"Idiots Are People Two" was another funny installment of 30 Rock's sixth season, but it failed to work as well as the premiere due to a retread of the same old Liz's weird boyfriend storyline, and the confusing appearance of Kelsey Grammer.

Honestly, haven't we seen this a thousand times on 30 Rock? Liz has a boyfriend who has a bunch of strange quirks, and eventually she figures it out and drops him. Sure, The Floydster and Carol Burnett were close to normal, but those are the exceptions to the rule.

Protesting for Morons

Watching Liz nitpick over her significant other's blatantly weird behavior has never really been that funny, so watching her imagine Jack's doing the same thing was less than humorous. It was just weird. I know complaining about weird on 30 Rock is unheard of, but this just didn't seem to fit.

Then there was the return of Kelsey Grammer, playing himself, which was completely out of left field. Let's cut to Kelsey at a makeshift casino where he makes strange statements with James Bond-like music!

The ending tag, while it had its funny moments, had to make you scratch your head. Yes, I laughed when Kelsey was standing there eating cereal or playing chess against that really old computer, but it was almost just funny because I couldn't help but think what on earth is going on right now?!?!

Sometimes that's what is so great about 30 Rock. It goes for it and is absolutely out there. It might not always click on all cylinders, but there are always enough hits in the laugh department to make it an enjoyable half hour.

This week a lot of those laughs came from Tracy and his clan of idiots. All of the stereotypical dumb people that he had picketing with him were fantastic: the frat boy, the loud mouthed old bitch, the tramp stamped. As a Parrot Head myself, I take offense to one of the others he mentioned, but I'll let it slide in the name of comedy.  

When Denise Richards showed up as the celebrity spokesperson for idiots everywhere, I lost it. Why did she use "for all intents and purposes" correctly, though?

The Jenna and Kenneth stuff was good for a number of hilarious quotes - as most moments are from those two characters - but the story never came together all that well. That is probably due to the fact that we got a "to be continued" at the end, which was weird for the second episode of the season.

It was a bit hit or miss, but thankfully there were enough hits in "Idiots Are People Two!" to make up for the confusing or irritating moments. Take a look at some of our favorite lines of the night below, and don't forget to check out the 30 Rock Quotes page before sounding off in the comments.

Liz: Why did you have to offend the gay community? It is the most organized of all the communities. They make the Japanese look like the Greeks. | permalink
Kenneth: I'm afraid I have bad news.
Jenna: Jenny McCarthy died? But who could have been slowly poisoning her? Was she poisoned? I have no way of knowing 'cause I'm just hearing about it. | permalink
Liz: Now I'm heading home for a nooner, which is what I call having pancakes for lunch. | permalink
Tracy: You can take our freedom, unless you take our lives! | permalink
Jenna: Imagine what the internet would do with this. Maroney found in closet with unconscious married man and inbred virgin...again!?!? | permalink

Idiots Are People Two Review

Editor Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 3.9 / 5.0 (20 Votes)

Dan Forcella is a TV Fanatic Staff Writer. Follow him on Twitter.

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30 Rock Season 6 Episode 2 Quotes

Why did you have to offend the gay community? It is the most organized of all the communities. They make the Japanese look like the Greeks.

Liz

Happy three month anniversary, and happy two week anniversary of you going to the bathroom when I'm here.

Criss