(S04E10) "For four years I've had to make do with what passes for men around here, with their untucked shirts, boneless faces, their Stars, both Wars and Trek." - Jack

So Tina Fey got a lot of action in this special double-header. In the first episode, she did it with James Franco (and a pillow - I don't want to know more than that), and in this one she makes out with Danny. Which reminds me: we need more episodes where they actually show what's going on with TGS. We don't see many skits anymore or anything else to do with the show, just plots involving the personal lives of the characters (with the occasional plot about a problem/scheme Jack has concerning NBC and executives). I'd like to get back to more of that.

In the meantime though, this was another good episode. Facebook!

(S04E09) "The local station edited 'Will & Grace' so much that it was just called 'Karen'." - Randy Lemon

In my mind, Jack Donaghy had nothing to do with the whole Leno/Conan/NBC mess. Sure, he's not as high up as Jeff Zucker or Jeff Gaspin or any other executives named Jeff that the Peacock Network might have. But he's the head of a couple of divisions, so they might have asked him for his opinion on the matter. Jack cares about money, sure, but he seems like a Team Conan guy to me.

But I don't like him in "lost Jack" mode, where's he's lovesick and/or frazzled. And that's how he was in both of the new episodes tonight.

I'm not sure what the heck James Franco is doing on General Hospital (though I kind of admire his quirky career strategy), but I do know what he's doing on 30 Rock: he's playing himself, trying to set up a fake romance with Jenna. Here's a sneak peek of the episode, which airs on January 14.

[via Zap2it]

So we didn't have any major walkout or cutting of the electricity during the live broadcast of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting on NBC last night. But we did have enough things to talk about the day after.

I could discuss the lip synching that a lot of the acts decided to do (I'm looking at you, Barry Manilow) and point out just how bad Rod Stewart is at doing either old standards or soul songs. But I really want to talk about Jane Krakowski. She hosted (along with Chuck's Zachary Levi) and it was a little...surreal.

This was a variety show that wasn't too different than a special TGS that the 30 Rock gang might put on, and it almost seemed like it was Jenna Maroney hosting. Krakowski basically plays a really exaggerated version of herself on 30 Rock, and I was waiting for her to say something clueless or potentially racist or have a cat jump on her face and scratch her.

Despite less-than-perfect weather and a threatened labor strike, last night's 'Christmas in Rockefeller Center' went off without a hitch and featured the 77th annual lighting of New York's iconic Rockefeller Christmas tree, as well as performances by Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Shakira, Michael Buble and the Rockettes, among others.

Co-hosted by Jane Krakowski of '30 Rock' and Zachary Levi of 'Chuck,' the special culminated in the lighting of this year's tree, which stands at a towering 76 feet high and is adorned with more than 25,000 multicolored bulbs. Watch our clip for a sample of the performance by the Rockettes, a peek at Shakira's rendition of 'Santa Baby' and a look at the tree lighting itself.

Watch the video after the jump.

Will NBC's 12th annual 'Christmas at Rockefeller Center' special, scheduled for tomorrow night -- with singers and actors prepared to celebrate the lighting of the famed Christmas tree -- go dark?

That's the threat posed by members of National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) Local 11, which issued a statement today saying it would halt the show via a wildcat strike if NBC doesn't make progress on stalled negotiations with the union, which has been working without a contract since March.

If the broadcast goes dark, don't blame the union -- blame NBC, says NABET-CWA Local 11 president Ed McEwan in the statement. "We can't let the Grinch at NBC steal another Christmas from thousands of honest working people," McEwan says in the statement. "This charade must stop. Christmas is supposed to be a time of goodwill, but the network's management is trying to hide behind their fancy lights while leaving their employees in the dark."

(S04E06) "Oh brother. Are they really going to do something this year or just put that stupid green peacock in the corner of the screen?" - Liz, about NBC's Green Week

OK, I think we can all agree that this was one of the more disgusting episodes of 30 Rock. It's one thing to have Frank be really gross; we've seen that in previous episodes (the burping, the tank tops, the porn). But now we find out that he's urinating into jars in his office? I think that's officially holy crap disgusting, even if it does eventually help the Earth and give Jack flowers for his office.

It was also one of the least funny in a while, though that doesn't mean it didn't have its moments.

(S04E05) "He looks like all the guys in my magazines!" - janitor, about Danny

Another week, another "30 Rock isn't as good as it used to be" article. This one is from The Atlantic, of all places. The gist is this: "30 Rock used to be funny, but now it's not!" The Onion thinks so, too.

Oh, that's such crap.

I was talking to Joel about this earlier this week, and while it's probably true that the show doesn't have that "new car smell" anymore, so what? It isn't like the show is halfway through it's first season and it has fallen apart, the show is in its fourth season and it's still strong. This show has more jokes (and funny jokes) in one episode than most sitcoms have in six episodes. In fact, tonight's episode had more jokes before the opening credits than most shows have in six episodes.

And ladies, if you date a guy who doesn't think 30 Rock is still great? That's a dealbreaker.

Well, we know that the singers from Glee were not welcomed into the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade thanks to NBC's territorial attitude. Still, that doesn't mean we won't be watching on Turkey Day. NBC, in fact, will feature one of their own prominently that morning -- 30 Rock's Jane Krakowski will be singing an original song on a float.

It will not be a typical Jenna floppola, either. It's a song being written by the Emmy nominated team of Wesley Whatley and William Schermerhorn. And in case you don't know, Jane's a Tony-winning star who is not only hilarious as Jenna, but a really fine singer/dancer/actress.

That's not all. Alan Cumming is also set to perform in the parade, and it sounds like a doozy, too. He'll sing the Sinatra classic, "That's Life" on the M&M float. What the song, Cumming and Sinatra have to do with M&M candies is anyone's guess.

James Franco is quickly taking over the small screen.

We've already seen him this season as a surprise guest on 'Saturday Night Live.' He also has an upcoming arc on 'General Hospital,' which we're, um, still trying to wrap our heads around.

Now, he's set to follow that with a guest appearance on '30 Rock.' According to the Ausiello Files, Franco will play a version of himself who winds up in a fake relationship with Jenna (Jane Krakowski), all orchestrated by their agents.

With so many different TV roles in the works, we're beginning to wonder if there's anything James Franco can't do. At a turn, he can go from dramatic ('Milk'; TV's 'James Dean'), to hilarious ('Pineapple Express') to ... soap operas (yep, still confused). Clearly, there are no limits to his talents -- which is why we're itching to see more of him on TV. So to help, we came up with a list of shows that James Franco should appear on next.

(S04E03) "I met JJ Abrams once, and I don't know what this means, but he said that the island was just Hurley's dream." - Jenna

In a typical 30 Rock episode, not all of the plots always work. While the A plot will be great, B and C will be lame. If A and B are great, then C will be lame. If A and C are great, B will be lame. Sometimes A is great and B is fair, but C will be really unnecessary and forced. Sometimes there will just be an A and it's great, and there will be dashes of B and C. I don't know where I'm going with this because I was terrible at algebra.

Oh yeah: tonight A, B, and C all clicked, and that made for a very good 30 Rock.

(S04E02) "This isn't the auto industry, Pete. The auto industry was run by a bunch of out of touch white guys selling consumers a product they didn't want. We're GE damn it, and we're going to make a giant, flimsy microwave." - Jack

It's funny how Liz Lemon wrote the book titled Dealbreakers (a plot from last season they've continued this season). You can actually picture a book like that getting published. There must have been a hundred humor books like that released in the past five years, so this doesn't seem like one of those "crazy" fake books that a TV show comes out with. Actually, I'm surprised NBC hasn't actually published a book to cross-promote the show. Hey, Castle did it.

I just hope that the book that Tina Fey is writing isn't like that.

(S04E01) "We'll trick those race-car loving wide-loads into watching your lefty homoerotic propaganda hour yet!" - Jack

One of the many, many reasons 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows is because it's well aware of its own world. For example, one of the running jokes tonight was about Josh (Lonny Ross). I spent most of the last two seasons wondering where Josh was. He'd make a cameo here and there, but he's been pretty much missing since the first season. Liz and Jack talked about this tonight when Jack revealed that TGS needed a new cast member and Liz wondered about Josh's popularity on the show. Jack said "Oh, that's right, Josh. I forgot about that guy. You think that's a good sign?"

For the record, Josh was indeed in this episode, for a few seconds. He quit and then attempted to tip over the table when he found out a new person was coming on to the show.

I can't wait until the fourth season of 30 Rock starts a week from Thursday. Here's a sneak peek/behind the scenes look, with the cast talking about a new plot, guest stars, and what it's like working on the set. I'm already laughing. (Note: it's a bit spoilerish; not necessarily the plots but some great lines you'll hear this season).

[Watch episodes and clips of 30 Rock and other shows at SlashControl.]

(S03E22) "There's no such thing as bisexual. That's just something invented in the 90s so they could sell more hair products." - Liz

OK, so how long before "We Need A Kidney" is available for download from the NBC site or from iTunes? I suspect it will be up before you finish reading this review.

I was going to talk about how this episode was a little disappointing, but then I hit rewind on my DVR and watched it again and realized, wow, they actually hit all of the season finale notes rather perfectly. Not in a "we're having a baby!" or "he has amnesia!" way, but in a way that symbolized that "this is the end of the season but we're not going to go overboard" way. Some might think that having 20 big-name musical guest stars on a season finale actually is over the top, but it didn't turn out that way. This episode was quite funny.