30 Rock Top 13: Fake TV Shows

By John Everett

Sadly, the final season of 30 Rock begins tonight at 8pm/7pm central on NBC. It’s been a great run, with countless great episodes, memorable moments, brilliant gags, and guest stars galore. As this final season, the show’s seventh, goes on, we here at The Demo will be honoring the cast and crew of TGS with Tracy Jordan by presenting weekly Top 13 lists commemorating the show. Why 13? Well, because that’s how many times we get to enjoy the antics of Liz and Jack and Jenna and Tracy and Kenneth and the rest.

This week’s list is of the show’s Top 13 Fake Television Shows. There are lots of candidates, since 30 Rock loves nothing more than to make fun of the television industry, especially its own network, NBC. Here, then are the best fake TV shows 30 Rock introduced to us:

1. Queen of Jordan

30 Rock‘s spoof of Bravo-style reality TV has been the center of two very good episodes, in which Tracy Jordan’s outlandish wife Angie and her coterie have terrorized the staff at TGS. Queen of Jordan introduced us to D’Fwan, Portia, and Angie’s pronunciation of the word “ham.”

2.Dealbreakers

Liz Lemon’s talk show never got past the test show stage, despite being based on her bestselling advice book. Luckily, Jack was able to turn the show profitable by selling it as background footage for soap operas.

3. Bitch Hunter

A failed pilot from the minds of 30 Rock writer Jack Burditt, Bitch Hunter stars Will Ferrell as a man who, well, that is a literal title. It so inflamed feminist groups that NBC put The Girlie Show on the air.

4. Sports Shouting

A brilliant send-up of ESPN’s brand of argument-based sports-talk, Sports Shouting is just four guys shouting at the camera without listening to each other.

5. MILF Island

Jack’s big summer hit featured eighth-grade boys stranded on a deserted island filled with MILFs, only one of whom turned out to be a prostitute.

6. Gold Case

Kenneth’s big idea for a game show got big support from Jack, who filmed a test episode with John McEnroe as host. Unfortunately the show was doomed by its premise, as the model carrying the case with the gold struggled to lift the weight.

7. Los Amantes Clandestinos

Jack has trouble connecting with Elisa’s abuela because he reminds her of the evil Generalissimo from her favorite telenovela. So Jack takes over control of the show and re-writes the character into a romantic hero. This was a brilliant performance in a dual role by Alec Baldwin.

8. Alfie and Abner

From the second live episode, this spoof of Amos ‘N’ Andy scored big laughs by putting Jon Hamm in blackface.

9. The Love Birds

Also from live show #2, this parody of The Honeymooners featured Alec Baldwin and Liz Lemon in the Ralph and Alice roles.

10. Black Frasier

Two-fer’s big break in show business came in this BET sitcom which attracted little attention since it aired at 9:15.

11. Let’s Stay Together

Dotcom’s well-crafted period piece about a black family struggling through life in 1970s Detroit was languishing until Tracy made the genius suggestion of adding a talking dog.

12. Americas Kidz Got Singing

Jenna’s star rose to new heights as the mean judge on this children’s talent show, which Jack made cheaply by making the kids sing public domain songs like “Old MacDonald.”

13. Makin’ It Happen!

Jack’s rival Devin Banks pioneered the ten-second internet sitcom, forcing Jack to respond by going bigger, with his Salute to Fireworks.

Honorable Mention: The Hot Box with Avery Jessup, The Joey Montero Show, and Van der Hoot: Psychische (De Mentaalist)