30 Rock: Up All Night, et. al.

I know that when I post my recaps about a month or so after they're actually due (hello, editors? can we get a "PCJ Recapper Gone Bad" tag?), I'm not doing my part to bang the drum for 30 Rock, which is one of my many beloved but underwatched shows of the season. The Rock doesn't have the superiority complex of "Studio 60" (another show which is short a few recaps for this site), and is actually entertaining. If you haven't started watching "30 Rock", please feel free to use the following list to catch up before the next new episodes begin airing again in April.

• Up All Night: Valentine's Day brings food poisoning for the writers (bad seafood), flowers for Liz (secret admirer?), and a divorce for Jack from the exotic if volatile Bianca. Despondent over the divorce, Jack interrupts Tracy's holiday celebration with the missus before getting tossed out of their hotel suite in the company of a possibly insane streetwalker. The flowers were from cute lawyer Floyd, and were meant for Floyd's girlfriend Liz Lemler who works in accounting. At Jack's command, the writers have to stay up all night to write a new show, which doesn't stop them from convincing Kenneth that Cerie wants him. Or Pete from forgetting his wife's birthday and Valentine's Day. When will men ever learn?
• The C Word: Liz freaks when she overhears Lutz calling her a c***, so she tries to compensate by being nicer to the staff (read: she bakes them cupcakes, the staff walks all over her). After a fulfilling marathon of "Designing Women", Liz stays up all night to work on the show, and in the morning gives the writers a big old Julia Sugarbaker-style speech before collapsing from exhaustion (and maybe too much television). Jack brings Tracy to a golf tournament to get closer to GE chairman Don Geiss (Rip Torn!) but Tracy's questions about the absence of other people of color at the event put Jack's plans in jeopardy. It wasn't until a benefit that night when Tracy took the stage to tell a heartbreaking story about his daughter's diabetes that Jack's worries were laid to rest, and Don mentions the possibility of a movie deal for Tracy to Jack. Of course, the story that Tracy told? All made up.
• Hard Ball:Tracy tells Dot Com and Grizz that he just got a check from a dethroned Nigerian prince, and decides to spend the money on a new member for the entourage. Kenneth, turning up with Tracy's lunch from Sylvia's ("I love this cornbread so much I wanna take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant!"), is the perfect candidate after he demonstrates his harmonizing skills with Tracy for an impromptu performance of "Tomorrow". The ebony and ivory love jam doesn't last long, as Kenneth pipes up when Tracy uses the awesome "I wanna take it behind a middle school and get it pregnant" joke once too often, and also kills Tracy in Halo. Dot Com reminds him that Kenneth has to respect Tracy's authority. But Tracy has a revelation -- have the guys been letting Tracy win all this time? Of course they have, so Tracy disbands the entourage. Kenneth takes up for Grizz and Dot Com, defending their behavior -- all they were trying to do was make Tracy feel better. Anyway, Kenneth can't do the entourage jobs of three men. Meanwhile, Jenna is no. 4 on Maxim's list of sexiest women in comedy. Liz is proud, though has yet to see what the honor has to do with comedy. It's good for Jenna's career -- if your definition of "good" consists of greasing up with salad dressing and posing with a rubber chicken in your mouth. The "bad" part is that Jenna comes across as crazy and unpatriotic in the Maxim interview. Jack arranges for Jenna to apologize formally on "Hardball", so Liz coaches Jenna on what to say. Still, Jenna screws up the "Hardball" appearance, too, though she did manage to sing a few bars of "Muffin Top" before Chris Matthews and Tucker Carlson shut her down. Jenna does a special patriotism-themed episode of TGS, but the non-spinning firework pinwheels look like swastikas, so the protestors against Jenna are riled up. Caught up in a melée outside the studio, Grizz and Dot Com save Tracy from a riot, and everybody makes up. While all this is going on, Jack is excited to negotiate with Josh, whose contract is up. Liz wants no part of the negotiation, though Jack is eager to demonstrate his dealing skills to his protegé. Josh is Liz's opponent. Josh comes to the table prepared, though, as his agent demands a contract which includes a 15% raise, a feature film deal, and more time off for the Jewish holidays. Jack counters with $1.00, taking out some incriminating pictures of Josh with Lance Bass at Sea World. Agent pulls out his ace -- Liz's revelation to Josh that his numbers with women 12 to 24 are pretty good. And not only is Jack unhappy, but Liz finds out that Josh is talking to "The Daily Show". Thoroughly offended, she tells Jack to crush Josh. Back at the bargaining table, Jack reveals that Josh's offer from "The Daily Show" was killed, and Josh's agent folds. Liz isn't satisfied, so she makes Josh do "The Worm". Liz goes one step further, making the agent do "The Crab" -- the guys fight until "The Crab" gets a little too excited, and Jack shuts the whole thing down.
• The Source Awards: Tracy is reluctant to attend the Source Awards after music producer Ridikolus (LL Cool J) is kept out of a TGS after-party and promises to eat Tracy's family. Liz meets Steven (Wayne Brady!), Tracy's new business manager, and gets to know him over a series during the after-after-after parties that take them from the studio to a bar to a taxi dispatch to a rooftop somewhere (possibly Queens? If so, holla!). They make a date, the discovery of which prompts Jack to give Liz some advice on interracial dating based, of course, on his own relationship with Condoleezza Rice. Liz appears to be the only person who isn't hung up on the fact that Steven is Black, until she wants to break up with him -- Steven accuses her of being racist, which leads to her overreacting and declaring her love for him. To prove it's not racial, she takes him to the Source Awards as her date. Also, she shoots him with Jack's pistol. Jack wants to get rid of some bad "Donaghy Estates" sparkling wine and when he sees that Tracy doesn't vomit at the taste, decides he might be able to solve Tracy's problems and his if he can get Ridikolus to accept Donaghy Estates as the corporate sponsor for the Source Awards. Ghostface Killah is enlised to make a commercial for the wine, though it doesn't seem to agree with his or anybody else's tummy. Ridikolus won't accept an apolgy from Tracy, though Jack's suggestion that Tracy host the awards is accepted. Tracy will do it, though under protest as shooting is a tradition at the Source Awards, and Tracy has a lot of beef with just about everybody scheduled to appear at the show. Tracy also finds it easier going to go as Oprah.
• The Fighting Irish: Cute flower guy from "Up All Night" comes back, though only to introduce Liz to his girlfriend and see Liz make a fool of herself in an exercise class. Liz, convinced that his reappearance is a sign that things are lining up for her, decides to fire the other Liz (she has to fire 10% of her staff, and conveniently the other Liz works in accounting for TGS. When she fires the other Liz, Pete and the rest of the accounting staff's protests frazzles Liz so much that she fires them, too. Jack reconnects with brother Eddie, who delivers the sad news that Papa Donaghy is dead. Flat broke, Eddie refuses a handout from Jack but takes up a collection for the nurses at Chicago All Saints Hospital. It's not long before Eddie's scam is discovered, and Papa Donaghy, alive and well, arrives in time to get into an all-out brawl with Jack, Eddie, and the reunited Donaghy siblings (Patrick, Patricia, Katherine Catherine, Katherine Catherine's husband Bobby, and scowling Margaret). Liz, taking a hit from Patricia, earns points with Jack. Jack, though can't do anything about the other Liz's firing -- not only did he rehire her, but he promoted her to a position at corporate headquarters in Connecticut. Will love spring eternal for Liz on April 5? Time will tell. Oh, and Tracy finds religion, briefly becoming Irish Catholic before the threat of Irish Catholic guilt looms its ugly head, and Tracy is right back where he started. Though if it were me, I'd definitely go with Kenneth's crazy basement church under the Cuban restaurant.