Feminist Music Geek

Season three of 30 Rock ended last night on a high note (ugh, pun). Sending up celebrity charities and benefit concerts will always be funny. You can watch the full episode here.

Now, I could get into a discussion of my qualms with the past season — particularly how episodic it became and how it tended to give the show’s supporting players the shaft in lieu of more screen time for the leads and many, many guest stars.

I could also get into a larger discussion of my feelings about the show’s gender politics (some of which you can read here) — I will say that Pete calling Liz a bitch last night hurt my stomach, and that bisexuality was not invented in the 90s to sell hair products. As the show goes on, sometimes I’m not sure if misogynistic jokes are made as a commentary on misogyny or if they are simply misogynistic jokes. Tricky. But I’ll bracket it for now.

Things I liked.

1. Cindy Lauper: Still drunk after all these years.
2. Norah Jones: Hello, cutie! Like your hair. Hope that Lonely Island makes a video with you for “Dreamgirl,” the song you did together.
3. Why is Sheryl Crow the only one getting paid? Give some money to Mary J.
4. Jenna singing, if only briefly. Jenna singing = comedy gold. Kudos to Jane Krakowski for a) being a great singer and b) mining it for laughs. More of Jenna singing next season, please. In fact, how about a 30 Rock musical episode?
5. The Beastie Boys (minus MCA, where have ya been?) and Talib Kweli rapping about how good things don’t always come in pairs, like heads or attack dogs. I’ll always have love for the Beasties, who’ve renounced their early mookish persona and embraced feminism. I’ll also always love Talib Kweli, who has written celebratory rhymes about fatherhood and childbirth. Yay, dudes who get it!
6. Mary J. Blige’s foundation is still looking for that Loch Ness Monster. Keep hope alive.
7. Clay Aiken is totally Kenneth Parcell’s cousin.
8. Elvis Costello is an international man of mystery, as I’ve long suspected.
9. This storyline a) sent up the vapid, self-serving do-goodery celebrities are known for and b) brought us closer to the inner workings of putting on TGS, two things that I’ve always loved about 30 Rock. It also reminded me of Musicians for Free-Range Chickens, a charity group SNL gave a platform to in the mid-90s.

Can’t wait for season four!