Ray's Top 10:
10. Whatever the Case May Be
9. The Long Con
8. The Shape of Things to Come
7. LaFleur
6. The Hunting Party
5. Through the Looking Glass
4. The Constant
3. Deus Ex Machina
2. Two for the Road
1. Outlaws
RJ's Top 10:
10. Flashes Before Your Eyes
9. Do No Harm
8. Deus Ex Machina
7. Live Together, Die Alone
6. The Incident
5. Through the Looking Glass
4. Happily Ever After
3. Walkabout
2. The Pilot
1. The Constant
Ray's Diagnosis: It seems very fitting that we should be debating the best episodes with myself having picked the ones that I picked and you having picked the ones that you picked. In a parallel of the show it seems that we are in the midst of a "Man of Science, Man of Faith" debate. You are Jack. You are the man of science. All of your episodes prominently feature major mysteries in the mythology of the show. You've included both of Desmond's time jumping episodes. You've included the Nuclear Bomb detonation and electromagnetism incident episode. You've included the episode where we learn that the Island healed Locke from his paralysis. You've included an episode where a light goes on in the hatch. And you've included the episode where we find out that Jack and Kate are off the island. Every time there is a big mystery, you are there with your scientific fascination to see where it leads. I don't blame you. This is a major part of the show. This is what keeps the proletariat coming back for more. They come for answers...they come for explanation. They have to meet their need for scientific explanation (or science fiction explanation).
And that's all good and well. I'm not here to insult your Top 10. They're all good episodes. If you had included Egg Town, Fire + Water, or Stranger in a Strange Land on your list I would be ripping it apart. However, there are no flaws in what you put on your list. All of the flaws are in what you left off of it. You can have your hatches and nuclear warheads and your tropical polar bears. LOST is a show about people. And this is what I watch it for. I watch it to learn more about the psychology of the human spirit. Call me a Man of Faith. Every episode on my list represents a major change in the paradigm of a character. In case you missed why I love these episodes I'll walk you through it.
#1 Outlaws - This episode represents to me the best scene in the history of LOST. LOST was such a stellar character-driven show because it experimented with the way storytelling is done. The reason that we all love the Season 3 Flashforward so much is because they subverted the unwritten rule that every episode, like clockwork, you get flashbacks of a character's past. They pounded that procedure into the first three seasons and then pulled the rug out on that Flashforward and we were all floored. The flashback was the easiest way to give background on these characters and show the audience where there baggage came from. They used these flashbacks to show us that Locke was once in a wheelchair, that Charlie was a cocaine addict, that Kate was a fugitive from the law, and that Hurley won the lottery with some freaky numbers.
These were all some big reveals. But some of the best reveals are those that don't come via flashback. The reason that Seasons 1 and 2 are the most beloved by a lot of LOST fans is because you were still getting to know the characters and that was fun. It's much the same reason that you remember your first few months of college so fondly or that the first few months of a relationship are so great. So I found it marginally ingenious that the creators of LOST decided to use a simple college drinking get-to-know-you game to help the audience get to know some of it's characters biggest secrets. It was a totally simple idea in story-telling but a very powerful one. Here we find out that Kate had been married and that both she and Sawyer have committed murder. It also represents a paradigm shift in the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle. It might be the most powerfully resonant psychology scene in the history of the show. If you don't believe me take a look:
#2 Two for the Road - This episode represents another staple of Ray's favorite episodes. I love it when shows have the balls to kill off a major character or a character that most shows view as not killable. Look at my Top 10 lists. My two favorite Shield episodes feature the deaths of two of the four major Strike Team members...by far the two biggest deaths on the show. My favorite Veronica episodes feature the death of several major characters and a bus load of school children. How is that for taboo death? My two favorite Wire episodes feature some of the most resonant deaths of the series: Snoop and Stringer. But let's be honest...what Wire episode didn't kill off a major player? My favorite episodes of True Blood, Alias, BSG, Friday Night Lights, Dollhouse, House, Life, Oz, The Sopranos, Dexter, and Breaking Bad all feature significant deaths of major or recurring characters. Hell, on OZ my favorite episode is the one where they kill off the narrator of the whole show.
So it should be no surprise that I loved Two for the Road. They gave us a two-fer. Killing of one character is ballsy. Killing off both Ana Lucia and Libby so unexpectedly was epic. I especially liked the shock value of it all. They did it at the very end of the episode in order to let it fully resonate with you for hours after the episode ended. The only other episode to kill off multiple major characters "" lacked the shock value because they over-dramatized the Sun and Jin deaths and I was still too busy laughing at the irony of them turning the shows Arab character, Sayid, into a suicide bomber. I'm sorry...funny racism gives me the chuckles.
#3 Deus Ex Machina - This episode features a major paradigm shift for Locke as his faith is heartily rattled and then restored in one episode...only for the table to be set for his utter emotional breakdown in later seasons. It also marks the "more or less" death of Boone (he actually succumbs to his wounds in the next episode "Do No Harm") and it marks the beginning of the Hatch era of the show. This is the show's ultimate table-setter episode. It sets up so many future story lines. Until this episode Charlie was in forced remission from his heroin addiction, but this episode introduces a Beechcraft full of smuggled heroin. The death of Boone also sets up Shannon's more independent nature, her relationship with Sayid, and eventually her death. We get our first taste of the tail section survivors, even if we don't yet know it. And later we will find out that the Beechcraft was actually carrying Eko's brother Yemi. When we look at the dominoes of LOST and how they fall, at least a dozen major events can trace their direct origins back to Boone falling to his death in that Beechcraft.
#6 The Hunting Party - We get our first taste of the Others in person. There is a clandestine meeting out in the jungle, some torches go alight, and Tom delivers his "Line in the Sand" speech. This episode also represents the first definitive tilt in the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle. This episode tilts the balance in Sawyer's favor and we learn why Jack is so awful at keeping women (like his wife) despite the fact that he is a very attractive doctor. We've spent the first season and half learning about all of the emotional baggage that Jack and Kate have from their respective daddy and mommy issues, but now we get to see it leak out and effect their lives. We see it ruin Jack's marriage and we see Kate's need for inclusion lead to her being kidnapped by the Others and have a falling out with Jack. In the final season of the series when Jacob is delivering his "damaged goods" speech in the episode "What They Died For", it was this episode that I thought back to. These people are damaged goods. But being damaged isn't a product of what happens to you in life...it's how what happened to you in the past effects how you respond to present stimuli.
#7 LaFleur - If you want to talk about a shift in the direction of the show...this is it. We get a break from all of the drama of the Oceanic 6 and we get a whole episode with the left behind castaways. We were wondering what they were going to do while they were putzing around on the island in an unknown time and they move everything forward by joining the Dharma Initiative. We get some much needed background information on the Dharma Initiative and we see the definitive growth episode that bridges Sawyer from Season 1 Sawyer to Season 6 Sawyer. He learns how to use his conman skills for good in order to protect those who he now must lead. Jack and Locke were always so quick to snatch up the leadership roles because even if they didn't want to lead...they always wanted to be decision makers. But now with a leadership void...we see a natural leader develop. It also marks the major development of the show's best romance: Sawyer and Juliet. That's right, suck on it all you Jack-Kate, Desmond-Penny, Sun-Jin, Rose-Bernard, Sayid-Nadia, Hurley-Libby, Locke-Helen, and Frogurt-Vincent romantics! Juliet and Sawyer was the best that this show offered us and this episode was where it was at.
#9 The Long Con - This episode was just a brilliant study in psychology. There are few things more fun to watch then somebody playing other highly intelligent people with such dexterity that they make them look like mental invalids. Sawyer so thoroughly owns every other Lostie in this episode and he does so by playing on the fears, their motivations, and their baggage. Every misstep that Locke and Jack have made over the past 60 or so days comes back to haunt them in this episode as he realizes that by playing the two biggest power players on the island against each other he can ascend to Big Bad Wolf status. He is able to set his plan in motion and exonerate himself by having Charlie be his accomplice. He doesn't need to manipulate Charlie. Charlie knows what he is doing. He just takes advantage of Charlie's lust for revenge, which is the most under-rated motivator in all of artistic medium. Much like Hannibal from the A-Team...I love it when a plan comes together.
Well, now that I have explained my picks and you feel thoroughly shamed...let's hear what you have to say for yourself.
RJ's Diagnosis: Let's talk about why LOST is the best show EVER and these episodes are the best now available on DVD:
1. The Constant - The best episode of television in my lifetime. It's impossible not to get chills as you watch Penny and Des reconnect through time and space at the end of that episode. It does a more than beautiful job setting up everything throughout the episode to culminate in an amazing and special event in the end. Not only is there romance, there's sci-fi, action, and it makes you think. No episode has been more satisfying than this.
2. The Pilot - Not only had nothing been as cinematic and beautiful looking, but the story, as simple as it was, captivated audiences from the opening image... Jack's eye opens. It was from here that we knew this show was different and it was from here that this show changed television.
Also... my second argument for this episode is this picture...
3. Walkabout - Some of the best acting of any episode in the series. We find out Locke was in a wheelchair... wow. What more could you ask for?
4. Happily Ever After - This episode brings back the nostalgia of LOST. After a very slow season 6 start, it reminds us why we love the show. Charlie puts his hand on the window as to tell the audience that the writers still have some awesome tricks up their sleeves.
5. Through the Looking Glass - one phrase needed, "We have to go back!" Holy shit this rocked my world... and to find out that they were flash forwarding us... damn.
6. The Incident - The bomb is detonated. Everyone is wondering what will happen. One of the best payoffs of the series. Also, at the end, when the screen goes WHITE instead of BLACK and LOST comes up. Bam! It's amazing. Gets me excited just writing about it.
7. Live Together, Die Alone - After a long season, this episode kept us interested. With John in the hatch and Des getting blown away at then end, it doesn't get more exciting than this episode. Also, we find out that Henry Gale is actually Ben, the leader of the Others. Crap. So much goes wrong. So much to be pumped about.
8. Deus Ex Machina - The Theme of the series and the tone for the series are clearly presented for the first time in this episode. We learn what the series is going to be about and with the light coming on in the hatch at the end, it leaves us salivating for more. One of the best written episodes ever. Can't deny that ending. The light comes on. Who would have thought the light would come on?
9. Do No Harm - A dark episode, but one of the best. A big death in the LOST world. Boon. And, how does he die? Because Jack CAN"T save him. It's Jack's biggest flaw... he can't do everything right. A ballsy episode. The main character is the reason for a lovable character's death. Very powerful and moving. Amazing.
10. Flashes Before Your Eyes - This one is just Damn Interesting. Oxford and Des is there to meet Faradey. How cool is that? We get a little nerdy with time travel talk and we learn about the constant. This is the episode all the nerds and sci-fy fans had been waiting for. We needed to talk some science fiction and this episode does it brilliantly. Also, without this episode, you can't have the best episode of television ever... the constant.
PS - We are missing a big one... both of us are. The one where Des tells Charlie he's gonna Die... big one!
WHY YOU ARE WRONG:
1. Outlaws (Season 1) - This episode is simply boring until the end.
2. Two for the Road (Season 2): The fact that this is an Ana Lucia centered episode is the ONLY REASON NEEDED for this to not be on the list. Ana Lucia is easily the worst character/worst actor on the show LOST. While this story is captivating, it is no more captivating than any of my top ten and Ana Lucia... while good looking... is obnoxious.
3. Deus Ex Machina (Season 1) Duh...
4. The Constant (Season 4) Duh...
5. Through the Looking Glass (Season 3): Duh...
6. The Hunting Party (Season 2) - This is a LONG episode. I will agree that the line in the sand moment when the torches light up is amazing, but that is the only good part about this episode. It's cool only because of one scene.
8. The Shape of Things to Come (Season 4) - The best part of this episode is when his daughter is killed. Two big flaws... 1) Summoning the smoke monster is not clear. Ben goes to the bunker and does something vague. They kinda phoned it in for that part. 2) Widmore would have way more security in his condo at the end. Ben gets in too easily. If he's really that high powered and important, he'd have some security.
9. The Long Con (Season 2) - Kind of a lame episode in the larger sceme of things. Interesting tensions on the island, but who cares about his daughter... obviously he didn't, and neither did the writers of lost.
10. Whatever the Case May Be (Season 1) - Biggest flaw of this episode - Kate and Sawyer's romantic tension. It's WAY too early for this shit... they just met and sawyer is an asshole. Also, the aunt from Sabrina the Teenage Witch plays Kate's mom... please...
Ray's Top 10:
10. Out on a Limb
9. The Ocean Walker
8. Amigos
7. Motherboy XXX
6. Pier Pressure
5. Righteous Brothers
4. Making a Stand
3. Good Grief
2. Forget Me Now
1. Mr. F
Amy's Top 10:
10. Immaculate Election
9. Storming the Castle
8. Staff Infection
7. Extended Pilot
6. Good Grief
5. Bringing Up Buster
4. SOBs
3. Top Banana
2. Righteous Brothers
1. Afternoon Delight
Ray's Diagnosis: Normally I would start this off by calling you a big dummy for your ill-advised Top 10 list. However, the problem with that is that there is no such thing as a bad Arrested Development episode...so there is no such thing as a bad Arrested Development Top 10 list. That being said...your list is wrong. The thing that made Arrested Development one of the greatest comedies in the history of television was that it was the master of recall. It set itself up for jokes so effortlessly and then knocked them out of the park. The jokes would build and build over the seasons, and as time went on the show had more and more in-jokes to work off of. However, for some reason you included the first three episodes of the series in your top 7. Don't get me wrong, they're good episodes, but they have the least amount of built-in in-jokes to work with. If Arrested Development is like farming then Season 1 is where they sew the seeds for great jokes and Season 3 is where they get to harvest them. With Season 2 being a little bit of each. I think that's my main issue with your Season 1 heavy Top 10.
I have to admit that I left off some beloved characters as well. By making SOBs my final cut, I have no Tony Wonder or Phillip Litt on my list. I also sadly am without Mr. Bananagrabber, Surely Funke, or Warden Stefan Gentles. And it appears that neither of us could find room for the misleading doctor. However, my list does a better job of encompassing what Arrested Development is all about. Let's take a look at my #1: Mr. F, which for reasons unknown failed to make your list. Which is ironic...because that's one of the reasons that your list gets an F. Mr. F has attained the title of "greatest Arrested Development episode" because of it's incredibly funny one-liners and call-back jokes, it's witty parodies of Hollywood movies, and it's incredibly ambitious three-pronged dialogue that it required for Rita. I'll address these one by one.
1. This episode just had some incredibly hilarious jokes. My favorite line in the history of Arrested Development is when GOB is talking about deceiving the Japanese investors by building a model town in the distance: "It will look real if you squint. God knows they're squinters!" Racist humor is almost always OK with me. Also, the Godzilla impressions that they do might be even funny then they're various chicken impressions. And that is saying something. Also, this episode featured the Surrogate, Larry Middleman, to great effect to put a whole new spin on the mistaken identity plot device that has been around since Shakespeare's time. It was brilliant. I also included four of Larry's five episodes in my Top 10 because the guy is a pro...at making me laugh. The jet pack video, the homo-erotic double talk between Tobias and the CIA agent, when the boom mic appears in the shot during Bob Loblaw's speculation that there is a leak...it all adds up to an uproariously funny episode.
2. This episode parodied at least five other films in a tremendous send-up of Hollywood. The title of the episode and the catchy theme music that they kept playing was an homage to Dr. No. Rita's Uncle Trevor taunting her with the chocolate, snapping the box at her fingers, and the way she cackled is a direct reference to Pretty Woman. Maeby's job trying to spin the film Love, Indubitably (a parody of Love, Actually) at her studio was one of her very best storylines. It also made fun of films where Americans play British people to mock the fact that this very episode had Charlize Theron (a South African) playing a British person. This was one of the best parts of Arrested Development: it's insider-skewed biting satire of industry workings.
3. However, what makes this episode the most ingenious episode in the history of the series is the way that they wrote dialogue for Rita Leeds. This was the episode where we get the big reveal that Rita is actually a mentally-retarded female. However, for the duration of this episode and the three that proceeded it, the writers need to write every line for her character to have three different meanings. Michael thought that she was a sweet British kindergarten teacher. The audience was meant to think that she was a spy who was helping to build a case against the Bluths. And in actuality she was an MRF...a mentally retarded female. Every one of her lines had to have three meanings and they were all perfectly on point. As somebody who has written for amateur stage and screen, I can not overstate how difficult that is. This makes this episode a hell of a lot better than Afternoon Delight. Just because the value of GOB's suit exponentially increases every hour doesn't make it a great episode. And Michael and Maeby, and Lindsay and George Michael singing Afternoon Delight together is probably about the 65th funniest joke just on incest that Arrested Development has done. That was an average episode. And how you left off Forget-Me-Now with Tobias's Analrapist business cards, Franklin's best racist jokes of the series, and tons of jokes about rufalin is beyond me. "I don't want no part of your tight-ass Top 10 list...you freak bitch!"
grease, one-by-one, completely depriving the world of any future viewings, which would
be the last ones to go?
I can tell you right now that some of Ray’s list would be a melted goop before my top ten
even broke a sweat.
I know Ray is going to argue specifics with me: not enough of certain characters, not
enough of certain running gags, missing out on certain periods or plot arcs in the series.
And as a die-hard Arrested fan, I understand why those things matter. I love the inside
jokes, the repetition, the foreshadowing and the callbacks just as much as any other fan.
No show has ever constructed such an elaborate system of tropes, cultural references,
hidden gags and Easter Anns eggs, and it’s one of the reasons I claim it as my favorite
television show, period.
However, I think there’s one thing I love more than Mr. O’Brien: Nostalgia.
I will readily admit that my list is heavily skewed towards the earlier episodes and leaves
out some significant (and even some of my favorite) jokes and portions of the “plot.”
And you know what? I don’t care. This isn’t about the number of returning jokes, the
number of times Franklin kisses someone or the number of chicken dances performed
simultaneously in the span of 22 minutes. This is about which episodes you throw into
the fiery depths of forget-me-now eternity and which you don’t.
Firstly, my choices reflect this fact:
This show is a culture. It is a language. It’s a time and a place and a person. It’s not an
antisocial experience; AD is a means of relating to other people—and if you think that’s
too philosophical or academic of me, then excuse my English degree.
The episodes I have “preserved” on my list are the ones I’ve found most essential and
enjoyable when sharing this show with others over the course of the past seven years.
And I know I’m not alone in these choices. For proof, I give you The Balboa Observer-
Picayune, arguably the best Arrested Development website, if not one of the best fan
sites period. Hundred of users have ranked the 44 episodes (extended pilot included) by
preference, collectively charting their favorites throughout the series. Let’s compare the
respective rankings of the episodes on Ray’s list and my list:
#24 Mr. F
#17 Forget-Me-Now
#3 Good Grief
#15 Making a Stand
#6 Righteous Brothers
#1 Pier Pressure
#11 Motherboy XXX
#27 Amigos
#26 The Ocean Walker
#38 Out on a Limb
Average rank: 16.8
#7 Afternoon Delight
#6 Righteous Brothers
#4 Top Banana
#14 SOBs
#9 Bringing Up Buster
#3 Good Grief
#13 Extended Pilot
#16 Staff Infection
#20 Storming the Castle
#5 Immaculate Election
Average rank: 9.7
Six of my episodes are in the top ten, none are lower than twenty, and all are in the upper,
fan-proclaimed “better” half of the series. Meanwhile, Ray’s number one ranks at #24—
his lowest at #38 out of 44, and only three are in the top ten. My average ranking is
nearly half of his (with the highest possible average being a 5.5).
Yes, I do think this is important, and not remotely trivial or irrelevant.
I’m well aware that we all have our biases. I, for instance, am terribly biased towards
G.O.B., G.O.B.’s suits, G.O.B.’s sexual harassment speech, and G.O.B.’s “shh-shh-
shhoul-sh-shh…”, while many others prefer J. Walter Weatherman or “Franklin Comes
Alive.” I’m not entirely concerned about the difference between my picking “Afternoon
Delight” over “Righteous Brothers,” or that fact that fan-favorite “Pier Pressure” falls just
short of my list.
No, I think an essential part of loving this show is liking what other people like (which,
ironically, means we probably wouldn’t have been watching the show in the first place,
but I digress). I want to like what other fans like. That’s why I think The OP’s list is
important. I want to be able to instantly go up to someone, belt a raspy “COME ON,” and
have him or her laugh because we love the same thing. Arrested Development has its own
code and its own style of communication, and I chose episodes that I felt were essential
developers and implementers of that communal knowledge.
I don’t get that same sense with a large majority of Ray’s choices, and I do think it’s
because the list is quite light on the earlier, foundational episodes. Watching some of the
later ADs can feel like trying to have a conversation with only 5 syllable words—it still
makes sense and you appear very intelligent, but it can come off as just noise.
Don’t get me wrong; I will defend Season 3 against all haters/mole men/seals-with-a-
taste-for-mammal-flesh that come its way. It is complex, hilarious, and still very, very
smart. The simple fact is that (with some exceptions) the later episodes are far less
memorable than the ones that propelled them. They lack some of the ingenuity and
simplicity seen in the earlier two seasons, which can make them difficult to distinguish
from one another. For me and, I’m sure, many others, season three often blends into a
haze of inside jokes and Charlize Theron, serving more as a nostalgia-aphrodisiac than a platform for original content. I don’t necessarily mind this, but I don’t necessarily prefer
it either.
As such, the ten episodes I chose to save from boiling in the hypothetical cornballer of
extinction are the ones that have kept me speaking the “language” of AD with strangers,
friends and family for more than half a decade—they shape an alphabet made of fire
sales, chicken dances, “The Final Countdown,” excessive censorship, kissing cousins and
dead doves. Yes, they are mostly early episodes. But they are the episodes that inform
everything else I love about this show, and my nostalgia-bleeding heart doesn’t need
much else to go off.
So, Ray, you are free to accuse me of choosing too many episodes from a certain season,
not enough from another, of “not getting” the point of the later episodes, or just being
plain boring. However, I stand by my choices, accompanied by the preferences of the
collective AD fandom, and I feel confident in saying that my list is decidedly better than
yours. I assure you that I chose just the right amount of episodes from exactly where
I wanted; that I understand exactly why people love the later episodes, because I do
too; and that I’m only boring during sporadic intervals of the summer TV hiatus…and
probably while I’m sleeping. Which is admittedly often.
Wow. We’re just blowing through naptime, aren’t we?
10. Cooter
9. I Do Do
8.The Source Awards
7. Khonani
6. Believe in the Stars
5. Rosemary's Baby
4. Gavin Valoure
3. MILF Island
2. Generalissimo
1. The Fighting Irish
Will's Top 10 (10-2 in no particular order):
10. Blind Date
9. Secrets and Lies
8. The Break-Up
7. Klaus and Greta
6. Sandwich Day
5. Jack-tor
4. Subway Hero
3. The Fabian Strategy
2. The Bubble
1. When It Rains It Pours
My episodes feature substantially more one-shot guest stars. My episodes feature: Wayne Brady, Nathan Lane, Carrie Fisher, Matthew Broderick, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Martin, Matt Lauer, LL Cool J, Molly Shannon, Paul Scheer, John McEnroe, Will Forte, and Ghostface Killah. I also included just about every Liz boyfriend and Jack girlfriend including Jason Sudekis, Dean Winters, Jon Hamm, Michael Sheen, Matt Damon, Emily Mortimer, Selma Hayek, Edie Falco, Julianne Moore, and Elizabeth Banks. Yours are decidedly less reliant on one-shot guest stars but very heavy on certain guest arcs. Specifically, you're a big fan of Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters) and Drew Baird (Jon Hamm). I've never been a big fan of either of these two. I never thought they worked with Liz for different reasons and I always just saw Ryan O'Reilly from Oz and Don Draper from Mad Men pretending to be Liz's boyfriend. I have always found Jack's relationships to be much more interesting.
- I don't like the Fighting Irish because Liz tries to use her new-found power to make things "look up for old Liz Lemon". I like it because Jack and his clan name their fists, get drunk, and try to con each other.
- I could care less about Liz's relationship with Gavin Valoure in the episode of the same name. I love it because Tracy is using a Japanese sex doll to "remain convincingly un-Menendezed".
- I don't give a damn about Liz meeting Orca (Oops, I mean Oprah) on a plane. I just couldn't stop laughing in that episode when Kenneth tried to choke himself out with a belt to save the other people in the elevator because it wouldn't succumb to Jack's concept of "white man's burden".
- And I surely don't care about Liz's attempt to adopt a baby in Rosemary's baby...I love that episode for Jack's performance during Tracy's therapy session in which he imagines Tracy's family as the cast of Good Times.
- The Fighting Irish - More ethnicist humor as every negative Irish stereotype (many of them totally true) are shoved down your throat.
- The Generalissimo - A hilarious send-up of Puerto Rican culture. They do just go to McDonald's and order coffee. I've seen it.
- MILF Island - Not extremely racist aside from pointing out that since the winner of MILF Island was black she couldn't have a regular name...it had to be pronounced De-Boar-uh.
- Rosemary's Baby - Jack's portrayal of Tracy's family
- Believe in the Stars - Jack explaining "white man's burden" and Jenna in black face
- Khonani - Tons of Southeast Asian stereotypes
- The Source Awards - How did the NAACP not boycott after this episode?
Will's Diagnosis: As any educated man, woman, or household pet knows, 30 Rock is probably the funniest show on Television these days. (In contention is A&E’s “Intervention,” but that often goes sour after 30 minutes or so) While other shows have declining market shares like Michael Vicks’ dog walking service, 30 Rock still kicks ass season after season. Of course no show is perfect and some episodes shine less brightly than others. You can imagine my surprise when I found those episodes in Ray’s top 10. Let me take you through a brief stroll of why Ray’s opinion quite frankly sucks on occasion.“The Fighting Irish”
Compiling a list of my 10 favorite episodes of 30 Rock was not easy. What was easy was leaving off “The Fighting Irish.” I liked this episode slightly more than I enjoyed this week’s live episode. Three things stick out that make this one of the lamest episodes ever.
First: Lemon Light
The greatest content of the television show comes from the browbeating of Tina Fey. When everyonehas to be nice to Liz terrible things happen. Frank wears a lame hat. Worst of all, Cerie wears a puffy jacket outdoors and a sweater indoors. A sweater!
Second: Lame Fist Names
Now I understand that Nathan Lane is called upon for having poor fist names, but every fist fell short here. A fist deserves a real name like The Jackson 5 or Rudy (as in Giuliani or the Notre Dame movie character – the ambiguity is part of the intrigue)
Third: Jack the Omniscient
No one pulls a fast one on my boy Jack; especially not Max Bialystock, who couldn’t even trick some foolish investors back in 2005.
“Believe in the Stars”
If there is one person who can make any subject less appealing its Secretary Treasurer Timothy
Geithner. If there are two people, its big Timmy and Oprah.
Exhibit A: Planet Earth was a huge success in both America and the UK. With the option between the
voice of alien slayer Sigourney Weaver or pussy slayer David Attenborough you really can’t go wrong. A few years later Discovery tries to rebirth the cash cow with a new voice. The last person I wanted to have narrate a lion mercilessly hunting down some foolish gazelle is the woman who tried to tell me to read White Oleander and how to have a better sex life after menopause. Though, Oprah and the lion do have similar dining fashions.
Unlike Liz Lemon, unfortunately, I was not under the influence of enough narcotics to enjoy Oprah’s appearance on my beloved show. Beyond that, apparently these days Oprah is even hefty enough to fill the African American quota for the show in order to bump Dot Com and Grizz to a measly 5 seconds and 2 lines. Even my beloved Cerie was scuttled off the screen to visit a mall after hearing about “Oprah’s” favorite things of the year. Imagine what she could have been doing/wearing otherwise. If she had come back wearing a sweater-cape I probably would have killed myself. The only exciting part of the episode is when Oprah turns out not to be Oprah but some other overweight girl who solves everyone’s problems. But right as your dick is good and teased thinking that you won’t have to see Oprah again until you come across her magazine in a trash can, they throw her back in before the closing credits. Woof.
“Khonani”
Let us revisit the principle of “Jack the Omniscient.” In true 30 Rock fashion, Jack would either have both Avery and Nancy or just Avery. There would be no difficult decision making process. Fine wine ages to perfection, Irish women from Boston do not. They age more like bread. Not good enough? How about this: You are choosing between two women and one gives you a pint of your favorite hometown ice cream and the other breaks into Ronald Reagan’s pyramid and steals the cufflinks he is buried in to give to you. Based upon the hardship of procuring these gifts, which do you think is willing to do more in bed? Case closed.
Another problem with this episode was that it paid far too much attention to the “Tonight Show” host wars in a fashion that I didn’t find to be too impressive. Instead of actually having the lovely Elizabeth Banks and the notably less lovely Julianne Moore, we get headshots and two bickering Indian janitors.
The major conflict of the show was also wildly unrealistic, as Liz would never be out late enough to find her coworkers mingling without her. She would be either watching the Food Network or working on her night cheese.
Please note that this was the only episode written exclusively by Vali Chandrasekaran and I say he writes no more.
In conclusion…
A great mistake in compiling your list of favorites was not taking the time to update it for Season 5.
Fantastic episodes like “The Fabian Strategy” and “When it Rains it Pours” beat the pants off the likes of these previously ridiculed shortcomings. Other episodes in your list were more honorable, but still flawed. Jon Ham, my boy, has made a number of appearances and all of them glorious, but to say that his introductory role in “Generalissimo” was greater than that of “The Bubble” is just wrong. Also, how one who has watched 30 Rock could possibly leave out Dennis Duffy the Beeper King AND Subway Hero…well I am just at a loss for words.
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