NBC30 Rock is back! Sort of!
The NBC comedy returned for one night only to help NBCUniversal usher in its upcoming content, and if you were expecting a simple Zoom production a la the (delightful) Parks and Recreation special, you might have found yourselves surprised. Clearly some high-quality cameras were handed out to all the actors here, and it was almost easy to forget this was all filmed in the middle of a pandemic.
Could it be an indicator of the future of TV? We hope not, but also maybe.
In the hour-long special, Jack informed Liz that Kenneth, now the chairman of all of NBC Universal, wanted to reboot TGS, and she needed to get the whole gang back together. Once Liz managed to do that, Kenneth revealed that it was just a trick to confront them all for ignoring his invites to virtual hang outs.
They felt bad, so they all "Zoom bombed" the actual Upfronts presentation (which was held on Webex...) and ruined the presentation, making Kenneth realize he had actually been missing his friends being mean to him. He then allowed them to take over the presentation.
Tracy took over, then introduced Jenna, who sang the NBC Universal theme song and tricked Mandy Moore into forgiving her for having pooped in her thermos.
The whole thing ended with Jack and Liz on a video call. Jack's virtual background was his old NBC office, while Liz sat in front of a giant sub sandwich, as it should be.
Aside from promoting all NBCU content, the special did a great job at catching us up with all of the members of the 30 Rock family. So here's what everyone's been up to!
She's still working on her night cheese, raising teenagers and yelling at people who aren't wearing masks. Now, she gets to write the pilot for a show about "two sexy teen basketball coaches who cause crimes."
Jack was retired and living it up, but now he's going to be in charge of Pea Hen, NBCU's new female-centric streaming service.
Kenneth is now the chairman of all of NBC Universal, and he has a secretary who looks alarmingly like him. He also still just wants his friends to hang out with him, so he tricked everyone from TGS into thinking they were needed for a reboot just so he could yell at them for ignoring his virtual hangout invites.
But he's also got other friends, including Andy Samberg, Andy Cohen, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Todd Chrisley, and more NBC talent who are happy to hang out with the chairman of the company and play a game of charades.
Tracy moved to Canada to be on the more majestic side of Niagara Falls and because he filmed the entire dictionary in front of a greenscreen, computers can just make all of his movies (including Jurassic Green Book, coming soon). He never even needs to leave Canada.
Jenna's been "canceled" ever since she pooped in Mandy Moore's thermos at a diabetes event, and she thinks the nightly 7 p.m. claps and cheers are for her, and not the essential workers. She's mostly been doing really questionable Instagram cooking shows.
Pete is living his truth now, and he and Paula are apparently happier than ever!
Frank (Judah Friedlander)
He was consulting at Peppa Pig, but they wouldn't let him keep his porn collection. He's now desperate for $100 so he can buy a hat.
James, formerly known as Toofer (Keith Powell)
James no longer goes by the name of Toofer, and has been writing Hallmark movies, including A Prince for Christmas, and A Christmas Prince and Two Princes, One Christmas.
Lutz and Sue (John Lutz and Sue Galloway)
As the actors do in real-life, the characters now also live together, and are too busy making out to apparently bother with anything else.
He produces horror movies for Blumhouse now, because as he said to Liz, "after seven years with you, I know horror."
E!, NBC, and Peacock are all part of the NBC Universal family.
You can watch episodes of 30 Rock on Peacock now.