My Favorite Weird Deep Cut TV Episode
An Ode To the Phantom Pooper | Vol. 2 Iss. 1
There comes a time in every network sitcom’s life when it turns in on itself. When, exactly, our favorite shows reached this point is a favorite subject of internet debate. What was the last truly great season of The Simpsons? Will SNL ever be the cultural juggernaut it once was?
The Office, by the way, probably should have ended with the Jim and Pam wedding, and at the very least they could have called it quits when Michael left. Parks and Rec stayed better for longer, but I struggle a bit with the post time-jump last season. Arrested Development shouldn’t have been happening at all post-season three. And Community is a weird case because it gets worse and then better and they keep trying to push the Annie/Jeff storyline and I think it’s creepy.
30 Rock held up longer than most. I think 6 is the only generally weird season, and it’s the one I rewatch the least. They added in Hazel, as well as Jack’s teenage nemesis, both weird and largely unnecessary characters played by otherwise good actors. But they also started taking some really big swings. Things like inventing a whole holiday lore for Leap Day including a scary fish man, or spending an entire episode setting up one really good Batman joke.
When a show turns in on yourself, the jokes are for the fans and the writers. Sure, they may not work for people who aren’t deep into the show. But there can also be real payoff to swinging for the fences.
Just to note, there are definitely a few jokes in 30 Rock that you wouldn’t make now and they probably shouldn’t have made then. They’ve pulled the episodes with blackface, which shouldn’t have existed anyway, and if you look at Tina Fey’s work overall her record with Asian characters is not great.
But let’s talk about the best Season 6 episode, and perhaps my favorite of the whole 30 Rock run: Queen of Jordan 2: Mystery of the Phantom Pooper.
The Setup
I can’t find any promos from the time so you will simply have to read my memory of how we get to this episode.
Jack’s wife, Avery, has been kidnapped by North Korea. (They got together in season 4 and agreed to get married when she got pregnant. However, Elisabeth Banks seems to have been doing movies during this time, including possibly the first Hunger Games. So she’s not in much of Season 5 and then she’s kidnapped for almost all of Season 6.) While she’s gone, Jack’s attracted to her mom, played by Mary Steenburgen. Now Avery’s coming home because the CIA used a Kouchtown Couch to torture a North Korean spy. (?!)
Also, Liz and Criss have decided to try and have a baby, which is the show coming back to a very old plotline about Liz trying to adopt which had been mostly ignored for a long time. Plus Kenneth is a janitor and Jenna is more famous now because of the reality competition America’s Kidz Got Singing.
Which brings us to the Jordan family. Angie Jordan wants a job in show business part way through Season 5, so Jack creates a reality show for her, called Queen of Jordan. We see the cameras for the first time when they follow Tracy around. Then 30 Rock does a full Queen of Jordan episode towards the end of season 5 while Tracy Jordan is pretending to be in Africa and Tracy Morgan is recovering from a kidney transplant.
Still with me?
The Phantom Pooper
The second Queen of Jordan episode, like the first, rests squarely on Sherri Shepherd’s shoulders, supported by a really expert sendup of Bravo reality shows, I think in particular the Housewives franchise.
Shepherd spends every moment on screen giving really wonderful line readings, including “I’ve never been more disrespected in my life. And I’ve gone to and worked at the post office.” And, simply, “Rude.” (She’s now gone on to a pretty successful talk show. Always glad to see talented people making it big. I really wanted Trial and Error, where she was a regular, to find its footing, but it had two slightly weird seasons where they weren’t giving her much script wise, and then it got canceled.)
She’s supported by the regular 30 Rock cast, but they also bring in the cast of the reality show itself, all of whom are doing fantastic work. We have D’Fwan, Angie’s hairstylist (Tituss Burgess), Randi who owns a strippersize studio (Paula Leggett Chase (This seems to be her main credit, which is weird since she’s very funny.)), Portia who reads the papers (Moya Angela (Who literally has 3 whole credits on IMDb? What?)) (Okay update these seem to be Broadway folks, whose credits are elsewhere than IMDb. Now I wish they’d gotten to sing.)
These characters who are in the show for all of two episodes get some of the best lines, including, “Did I get involved when Portia took that over-the-counter colon health test at Randi’s domestic violence costume ball? I did but I didn’t want to.” and “A woman’s power comes from her silence.” Also in this episode we get baby Virginia Jordan, who is very cute and who they always subtitle.
The episode is filled with little sight gags like Randi shaking a martini in the back of a limo as she rocks baby Virginia, or D’Fwan’s wine brand saying “White Throwing Wine” on the bottle. Also, at one point, Tracy is reading “Black Yachts Magazine.” Many of the regular characters get joke lower-thirds to introduce them, including:
Kenneth, not worth describing
Lisa Limpanelli?
Virginia, Baby
Diana, Jack’s Mother in Law, Keeping it Tight
Bernardo, Andi’s Date/Arby’s Customer
To add to the reality show feel, they sometimes show camera operators running through the shot. They also reference previous episodes of the reality show and much of the plot revolves around the sort of loosely relevant social events that get the whole cast of a reality show in one place to fight. (Plus, there’s at least one dramatic flashback in black and white to earlier in the episode.)
Angi has started her own clothing line, called Cheek (“It’s French!) She’s holding a fashion show that night. Jack and his mother-in-law Diana are trying to deal with their attraction when his wife/her daughter is about to return from North Korea. They get caught on camera saying they won’t tell Avery “about us.” They then each try to explain what they actually said, either “about Gus” (Jack’s business partner who was Avery’s boyfriend/professor at Yale) or “about Rus” (the mythological founder of Russia and the name of a new restaurant). To continue the cover up, Jack invites “Gus” (one of the show’s “recurring hobos”) to a business meeting. The conflicting explanations are revealed, and Jack and Diana claim that Gus is, in fact, the chef at the restaurant Rus. And to up the stakes, Gus says the restaurant is also opening that night.
Which is how we end up in an Indian Banquet Hall which is hosting both the fashion show and the restaurant opening at the same time. This whole plot, and the end scene in particular, feels like the show pushing the Jack/Diana joke, and the conceit of the reality show cameras being around, as far as they can go. If you take about two seconds, the restaurant doesn’t make any sense. But the escalation feels almost like good improv, and it’s a lot of fun.
I haven’t watched any of the Housewives shows more than a few minutes, but I can tell from “Phantom Pooper” that the 30 Rock team had a lot of affection for the format. That love makes for great comedy, and creates one of the most joke-dense episodes in a show that’s already going as fast as it can. (I frequently have to google specific references, but it means I understand a new bit almost every time I watch.)
And maybe that’s why I love this episode so much. 30 Rock is serialized, at least lightly, and there are certain longer storylines I come back to again and again - the Jack/Avery/Nancy love triangle in particular - but this is a great standalone because it’s mostly committed to being hyper specific and deeply silly. When I need a laugh, I don’t need to remember the business about the Kouchtown Couch or even Liz’s plan to have a kid. I can just enjoy Liz being in a feud with a baby, including showing up to a party in the same dress.
This is the real comfort of comfort TV - even after a show has jumped the shark, there come a few perfect moments with our favorite characters. Plus, they finally solve the mystery of the Phantom Pooper.
Some Favorite Lines
“I know they’re not married. I just like them to know I don’t give a f*ck about their lives.”
“Is this one of those reality shows like Ken Burns’ Jazz?”
“That’s what the guards said at Jackie O’s funeral. But I got in there, and sang almost all of ‘Hey Big Spender.’”
“Do you act? Because we should do a movie together where we’re on a road trip just being sluts.”
“I really don’t watch TV, I’m more of a masturbater.”
“I still have to go to the Coney Island Beet Market”
“Deandra ‘I-didn’t-know-I-was-pregnant’-ed”
Other Bits
While I was watching this episode on Hulu I saw a Carnival Cruises ad that starred Shaq, and I don't think I believe Shaq has ever been on a Carnival Cruise.
At one point in the background Tracy is trying to William Tell with Dot Com.
This episode spoiled the end of the first Song of Ice and Fire book for me. Except I couldn’t remember if they said Ned or Robb. Joke’s on me, because eventually they’re both dead.
They bleep Liz saying Virginia bit something, but the bleep is really long and I can’t figure out what would go there. Probably this is the joke in itself.
My official theory about Jack/Avery/Nancy triangle is that they had to make Jack pick Avery because he would have been happy with Nancy and that would have been way less funny. Avery was a silly enough character that they could do things like send her to North Korea and keep the show going.
What Else
Christmas
Please enjoy these pictures of some of the McCrary family pets.
Fashion
We’re going to a formal wedding this summer, and I’m hoping to make my own dress. If you have thoughts on what makes a long dress not look like a bridesmaid or prom, the advice would be much appreciated.