January 11, 2008 8:59

The Morning After: She's Leavin' (Leavin'!) On That Midnight Train...

NBC Photo: Nicole Rivelli

30 Rock is gone, and we shall never laugh again.

I had forgotten that there was one more original episode left, so it was a wonderful surprise when my TiVo sprung to life and started recording it last night. Wonderful, and cruel. Watching each favorite scripted show dwindle down to nothing has been sad and unsettling. This must be what the peak oil people predict it will be like when the world's petroleum gradually runs out.

Anyway, I could describe how solid an episode it was, how amid the silliness it managed to stay true to its characters by tying Liz's apartment search to her worries about her financial future and her romantic life, or lack thereof. But I'd rather just list all the stuff I liked, so I can bookmark this post and read and re-read it until the writers' strike finally ends. At which point we'll be watching TV in the floating city of New Chicago:

* "I have a star that my aunts had named after me, although that was recently downgraded to a gas giant."

* Tracy springing for a cappuccino machine to apologize for his behavior in a dream.

* The German "sitcom" on the network GE is considering buying: "Industry castrates art."

* "The founding fathers never intended the poor to live into their forties."

* Go, nerdy teenage Liz!

* Kenneth falling prey to Demon Coffee, from "I don't drink hot liquids of any kind. That's the devil's temperature" to "It's like my heart is trying to hug my brain."

* "God, I wish this town weren't halfway between New York and D.C."

* Liz's disastrous, nervous interview with the co-op board, including Lorelai's dad: "There's something coming out of your nose."

* Liz drunk-dialing the co-op board that rejected her. "I've moved on. I bought a whole bunch of apartments. I bought a black apartment."

And needless to say, the whole Midnight Train to Georgia finale, which made for a good season-ender even if it wasn't intended as one. Your additions, comments, or questions about the co-op approval process in New York City welcomed below. Time for me to go have a Jewish donut.