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The Invention of Lying hits theaters on September 25, 2009

Comicbook writer Brian Lynch reveals the seedy underbelly of Tina Fey’s beloved NBC sitcom.  He makes a pretty compelling case that 30 Rock is nothing more than a rip-off of The Muppet Show.  It starts with Liz Lemon as Kermit the Frog and continues on down.

Both are the most normal people on their respective shows. Both are unlucky at love. Both are neurotic worrywarts and type-a personalities who slow burn into a crazy breakdown once per episode. AND both have some kind of flirtation with the guest stars that ultimately goes nowhere. There is absolutely no difference between Liz Lemon and Kermit the Frog save for genitalia (Liz is a lady, Kermit has none).

Clearly Tina Fey has studied Kermit for hours preparing for her role. Remember the wacky voice Liz Lemon used to get out of Jury Duty? Oh man, that was funny. UNLESS you saw the part in THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN when Kermit got amnesia.

I’m buying the similarities, intentional or not.

Hard to believe that her turn as Sarah Palin would thrust Tina Fey into the stratosphere.  I mean when your grandma knows who Tina Fey is then it’s safe to say she’s gone nuclear.  Anyway, the timing couldn’t be any better for two profiles of her this week.

Maureen Dowd profiles her in Vanity Fair: “Elizabeth Stamatina Fey started as a writer and performer with a bad short haircut in Chicago improv. Then she retreated backstage at S.N.L., wore a ski hat, and gained weight writing sharp, funny jokes and eating junk food. Then she lost 30 pounds, fixed her hair, put on a pair of hot-teacher glasses, and made her name throwing lightning-bolt zingers on “Weekend Update.” Speeding through the comedy galaxy, she wrote the hit Mean Girls and created her own show based on an S.N.L.-type show: 30 Rock. The comedy struggled in the ratings for two years but was a critical success, winning seven Emmys last fall and catapulting Fey into red-hot territory. Before she even had a chance to take a breath, a freakish twist of fate turned her from red- to white-hot, and enabled her, at long last, to boost the ratings of 30 Rock: Fey was a ringer for another hot-teacher-in-glasses, Sarah Palin, the comely but woefully unprepared Alaska governor, who bounded out of the woods with her own special language to become not only the first Republican woman to run on a national ticket but also God’s gift to comedy and journalism. So where does Fey go from white-hot?”  There are also interesting takes on her marriage, family and work ethic.  Good read all around.

And there is the other side, in which she gets taken down by The New Yorker’s Nancy Franklin: “Fey has surrounded herself with a cast [on 30 Rock] that has one spectacular member [Alec Baldwin] and a couple of really good ones, but that averages out to only fair. Her own performance falls into the not-so-great category. It may be that in her effort to keep the show from being a star vehicle—such things have a tendency to crash—she is too generous; although she’s onscreen a lot and is game to do anything for a laugh, I sense that part of her is keeping her distance from the fray. Jerry Seinfeld appeared to do the same thing on his show—make way for his fellow-performers—but then I found him cold, too.”  Yowzas.

So, it’s been quite a while since I’ve had a chance to post, and I’m going back to an old favorite of mine: Totally Hot Women on TV.

Lest you think that I’m some wretched fanboy living in a basement who has nothing better to do than fantasize about women that I’ll never meet, I should point out that I live in an attic and not a basement. And that I passed whatever the maximum age is that can be classified as “fanboy” several years ago. As to the rest, no comment.

In one of my last posts, I was arguing for the idea that we had entered a new Golden Age in television, particularly for the hour drama. I think we may have achieved Diamond status for the IBBSI (incredibly Beautiful Babes per Square Inch). Telemundo and Univision are solidly in the Platinum category (if you ignore futbol) but we have definitely narrowed the gap.

Even sticking with only the shows that might be worth watching—ie., not much CW or Fox, no E! or Lifetime or Spike—the list is long, so I’ve separated it into two parts. First, the dramas. Second, reality shows and traditional sitcoms.

I’ll try to limit individual comments, and just list the women by show, but obviously feel free to add to the list in the comments or give us grief/props for our selections.  MORE »

I won’t argue whether or not SNL is relevant or funny or what not.� I’m guessing there will be more dead silence this year than the last, but what a spot on way to kick off the season.� Tina Fey came back, like everyone hoped once Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, to team up with Amy Poehler.

SNL hasn’t been this spot on it quite a bit.� Maybe the election will bring something good out of the venerable NBC sketch show.

If you live outside the US, then you’ll want to swing on over to NBC to watch the clips.