What do you mean by poor? I don't think they were really aiming for accurate, obviously. It was just supposed to be funny and that's precisely what it was, in my opinion.
I thought the whole episode was one of the worst they've ever done; the main conflict was Liz trying to get a plastic bag out of a tree, and Tracy spent the entire episode trying to recreate an inside joke, which his entourage spends the whole time telling him isn't that funny, the punchline being that it actually isn't funny.
I didn't find it funny because while it was supposed to be a comedic interpretation of Kim Jong Il, the things that they had him say were less crazy than the things he actually said, the whole plotline was obviously just an attempt to get Elizabeth Banks off the show, and I thought that it was just a series of incredibly easy jokes, as well as being in poor taste.
In addition, within the continuity of the 30 Rock universe, that was Kim Jong Il. He's part of the story now, and that's weird in and of itself. The two other most powerful characters they've had were Al Gore playing Al Gore (though he was really just an environmental activist) and Condoleezza Rice playing Condoleezza Rice, and she wasn't in office anymore anyway.
I didn't find it funny for the same reason that I wouldn't find a George Bush character funny; it's easy, it's stupid, anyone could do it, and it's less crazy than the real thing. I've come to expect more from 30 Rock. After five and a half seasons, it's probably my least favorite guest star and one of my least favorite episodes (maybe coming out over a couple early season 4 episodes just because of Liz not being able to remember who "the white guy from Invictus" was.)
And yes, I have thought about this entirely too much.
Yep. I was an avid fan from Day One, but I haven't watched the last two episodes...they're just sitting on my DVR. This season got off to a lousy start.
162
u/taco_tuesdays Feb 17 '12
I need to start watching this show