‘30 Rock’: The return of Floyd

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For weeks now, ’30 Rock’ has been all about one thing: Liz’s pathetic love life. It all started with a hallucinogenic visit from all her ex-boyfriends, then she met her ‘Future Husband’ only to decide she shouldn’t settle for someone she hates. So Thursday night, when Floyd (Jason Sudeikis) showed up in the flesh, I was expecting a triumphant reunion.

I should have known better.

Floyd, it turns out, wasn’t in town to try to win Liz back. No, as luck would have it, Floyd wants to split mozzarella sticks for all eternity with a ‘yogarobics’ instructor and ab model named Kaitlin. They’re in town to vie for a wedding on the ‘Today’ show, within hearing distance of Liz’s office.

‘30 Rock’ has put Liz through some cruel predicaments -- like high-definition television and sharing an apartment with Tracy -- but this episode may have been the worst one yet. Now, ’30 Rock’ should never be taken too seriously, but when Liz found out that Floyd was moving back to New York, I felt a righteous womanly rage boiling up within me -- and when Floyd drunkenly called her a ‘badger,’ my heart broke into smithereens. There’s mean-funny, and then there’s plain old mean -- I don’t care how much Jack-glazed salmon you’ve had. Liz’s love life has become the central butt of the joke on ’30 Rock’ (yes, I just said ‘central butt’) and it’s starting to feel like the writers have run out of ways to be funny without being sadistic. Granted, the episode had some light moments -- Floyd’s new tramp stamp was pretty hilarious and all, but really, calling Liz ‘poisonous’? That’s practically Lars von Trier territory.

With Liz suffering for the sins of all womankind for the foreseeable future, I suppose we’ll have to continue rely on Jack, Kenneth, Jenna and Tracy for some levity. Thankfully, they still deliver. Last night, Jack was in above-average form, like when he advised Danny (who apparently is still on the show), ‘A female page? Don’t worry, they disappear all the time.’ Or when he said the words ‘anal rot’ with an astonishing amount of passion.

Tracy and Jenna, henceforth known on this blog as the ‘Problem Solvers,’ had their hands full dealing with some uncomfortable subconscious situations involving a certain NBC page. In order to stop the disturbingly intimate dreams from recurring, they have to pull an ‘Elm Street.’ After seeing Kenneth dance in a pair of silver hot pants with a strategically placed NBC peacock, I may just have to resort to some ‘Elm Street’-ing myself.

What did you think? Were you hoping that Liz and Floyd would rekindle their romance? Is Liz’s love life just too bleak for you, or would Liz be less funny if she were happy? Am I just taking this all too seriously?

Best joke: ‘Floyd never told you? I mean, Bs before Hs, but that is low.’ --Jack

Jack’s Republican talking point: ‘Typical liberal media. That’s why I get all my news from Dick Cheney’s website, dickviews.com.’

Liz’s bad eating habits: She tells Jenna about a bad date, ‘I met him on ‘K Date,’ the personals section on the Kraft food website.’

Quintessential Kenneth: ‘I don’t have a lot of experience reading stuff out loud, so I’m just going to do this the most normal way I can think of. Space space space space, space My Autobiography, space, space, space, space, space, by Kenneth Ellen Parcell...’ Meanest thing said to Liz: ’ She’s alive, like a deer. She runs and sniffs and jumps and stares. She’s not like the badger, with its glasses and rules about sex on weeknights. How are you still single, Liz? There’s so many guys out there that want to be poisoned and yelled at.’ -- Floyd

Most Insane Tracyism: ‘I had a dream that Kenneth and I had an intimate moment in a Jacuzzi. Glistening black and white skin, it was like a closeup of a killer whale being born.’

-- Meredith Blake (follow me on Twitter@MeredithBlake)

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