It's no surprise and Rusty wins.

All right. Can we talk about "30 Rock"? Please? I'm sure we all have our own opinions about this fabulous idea for a show, but maybe there was something lost in the execution - because I, for one, was Debbie Disappointed. Cue: Wah-wah.

Make no mistake: Tina Fey getting her own non-"SNL" T.V. show is like a Messianic event for me. She's my own personal career deity, as far as I've concerned. But it was the little things that irked me. Like that not-so based on Jimmy Fallon character who was laughing at his own jokes and constantly looking at the camera (even in scenes that didn't take place on the soundstage! Okay, that was hilarious.)? It seemed like I had seen that before, and I had, in a rerun of the "Family Guy" that was on when I left the DVR running after it. Well, except in that version, Peter Griffin pwns him and says, "Who do you think you are, Carol Burnett? She earned it, bucko!" And the vaguely unsettling feeling that I am finding something on "Family Guy" somewhat funny, after comparing it to something that came from Tina Fey's iMac.

Or the fact that every commercial in real life was for the fake product supposedly invented by Alec Baldwin's character? Things just seemed so thinly-veiled, (real shout-outs to Carol!, Tracy's posse, and Dennis McNicholas, I suppose) and yet, it seemed like she was sort of phoning it in. Maybe a staff could help, but then we'd lose her brilliantly unique style.

And, yeah. Nice move, NBC. Replacing Dratch with one of the original members of Starlight Express? Way to recast.

Anyway, while I'm on the tangent of morbid fascination (with actors on rollerskates, and...um, actors! On! Rollerskates!), I should note here that I'm genuinely invested in this show. I'd take Fey's unusually high self-esteem masquerading as self-deprecation over Aaron Sorkin's much-less thinly-veiled self-loathing disguised as a hatred of everyone else anyday. I have no doubt in my mind that maybe the show could get better. Maybe if Fey puts her mind to it. Maybe when they incorporate a fully-accomodated writing staff. Who knows?

Come on, Stamatina. I only want what's best for you. And I know you'll salvage the good out of whatever wreckage was left in the wake of last night's "30 Rock" pilot. If anyone can do it, it's you. I mean, even Anaxerxes managed to exempt the Levites from taxation. And do you know why I'm comparing you to a semi-minor New Testament figure? Because you're worth it.

And if you're there, and if you know, then show me which way this show should go.