30 rock
the baby show (9/21)

Continuing tonight is the Golden Globe- and Emmy award-winning sitcom following the fortunes of long-suffering TV comedy writer Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). In tonight’s episode, Liz is reminded that her biological clock is ticking; Jack deals with his problematic mother; and Josh gets himself into trouble with Jack and Tracy.

Never one to miss an opportunity to show off, Jenna decides to sing a rousing show tune to celebrate her birthday. She is in the middle of this performance when comely receptionist Cerie steals her thunder by announcing that she is engaged. “Hey, this isn’t going to change the way you dress or eat lollipops, is it?” asks a worried Frank. Having assuring Frank that it will not, Cerie alarms Liz by telling her that she is getting married because she wants to have babies soon. “You only have a really short period when you can be a young, hot mom,” Cerie explains earnestly. “If you wait too long, you would be, like, 50 at your kid’s graduation!”

Cerie’s ill-considered words get Liz thinking – should she also be considering motherhood before it is too late? After unwisely confiding in Jenna, Liz is horrified to learn that everyone in the studio now knows that she is on the hunt for a ‘baby daddy’ – even the strange ‘cat wrangler’ lady, who informs her solemnly: “I’d like to carry your child, if I might.” Liz is exasperated that her personal life is now public knowledge and tells everyone to let it go –but is she more desperate to have a baby than she had realised?

The ticking of her biological clock is not Liz’s only concern this week. Not only have Josh and Tracy fallen out, but Liz must also work around an increasingly unstable Jack, who has been acting erratically of late because he is dealing with his demanding mother. “My mother is my best friend!” says Kenneth brightly when Jack tells him about his troubles. “Mymother tried to send me to Vietnam to make a man out of me,” replies Jack grimly. “I was 12.”

Preoccupied with his own problems, Jack tells Liz to deal with any business crises herself and leave him alone. So when Tracy threatens to go over her head and complain to Jack about Josh, who has offended him with an uncannily accurate impression, Liz tells Josh to smooth things over with the star. However, Josh decides to bring out another of his impressions to sort out the problem and phones Tracy, pretending to be Jack. He warns Tracy to “back off” because Josh’s father is an assassin for the Russian mafia. “Forget it,” says Tracy, believing that he is talking to the boss. “I don’t need any of that noise!”

Unfortunately, Josh’s ‘Jack’ also tells Tracy that he is going to give him an invisible motorcycle and admits to an embarrassing sexual problem – and it is not long before Liz finds out what Josh has been up to. “Are you insane?” she shrieks, before realising that Josh’s Tracy impersonation could be used to fix this. She gets Josh to call Jack, as Tracy, and tell him that anything weird he might say about invisible motorcycles is just because he is off his medication. But it is not long before Jack and Tracy both figure out what is going on – and exact some creative revenge on Josh...