'30 Rock': For the First Time as a Couple, Mr. & Mrs. Jack Donaghy

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NBC

During a night in which NBC premiered its new show Perfect Couples, 30 Rock, in its new time slot, highlighted some of its deliriously imperfect pairings.

The strength of this episode was that, however silly, all of the illogical circumstances of the show can be explained with a bit of reason.

1. Danny and Jenna need to share a dressing room because Jenna's room has been rented out to an Asian IT company. Kenneth frets that they will fight and therefore decides to act as the buffer between them, essentially acting as a child.

2. Tracy, according to Dr. Spaceman, is going to die. As they start a little estate planning, Angie realizes that she needs to earn Tracy's salary in order to maintain her current standard of living. They go to Jack, and Angie starts at the bottom as Liz's intern.

3. Jack and Avery, who is wearing a black cocktail dress, are getting married on an island. Due to the absence of the best man, Liz replaces him, wearing a white dress and the State Department-recommended mosquito head net. The minister is confused about which lady is the wife-to-be and inadvertently joins Jack and Liz in holy matrimony.

The episode nicely set up a few storylines to track through this part of the season, including the impending merger with Kabletown and the changes its bringing to Rockefeller Center. The one story I'm hoping we get a chance to see unfold is Angie's new project after Liz relieved her of her internship duties.



But my favorite scene, and certainly thrown in for all those people who would prefer Jack and Liz get together, was the scene in HR guru Jeffrey Weinerslav's office. He's counseling the newly married couple to avoid bringing their personal relationship into work and reads off a lengthy checklist of things to avoid.



Best random quote that has nothing to do with the show's plot: "I've been to a rodeo, too. It was a cat rodeo in a gay guy's apartment." –Liz Lemon

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Caitlan Smith is a senior recruiter for Atlantic Media Company, having previously worked for The Atlantic as an editorial assistant and researcher. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

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