. . . to chris: track 3 of Neil Young's 'Harvest' = 'A Man Needs a Maid.'

great piece as usual, heather. 30 Rock is starting to grow on me. Baldwin's re-invention as comic character actor is really fantastic. Loved the digs at Studio 60.

re: Tyra: I saw a short piece a few days ago somewhere in which Tyra suggests that her ANTM persona is intentional self-parody. Don't know if that makes her any less ridiculous (haven't seen the talk show, so I can't comment on whether or not there's any difference bet. Tyra as 'ANTM tyrant' and Tyra as 'Oprah wannabe'). Just thought it might be worth mentioning that Tyra at least claims to be in on the joke.

"Everybody Ought to Have a Maid" is from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Zero Mostel! Not Neil Young.

Weird thing to get confused.

This is Salon. We're supposed to climax with joy over the Wire, only the Wire and nothing but the Wire so help you God, who of course only exists for insufferable hillbillies. Get with the program or we'll pull your snarky liberal membership card.

some sandwich (of the type that Tina Fey's character might eat or Tyra Banks might model through) got into my nose. Thanks, Heather. Lunch was really fun.

Ronn, it's from Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." It's about a hundred years old. FYI.

I am an American who's lived in Germany for the past 12 years. That may be the reason I am not familiar with " frumious Bandersnatch." Would you be so kind and explain it or tell me where to find the definition.

I just briefly read a couple of comments on your latest TV reviews. I stopped reading them after one silly comment about Trya Banks. Briefly the writer made mention about how other people will call you racist because of your opinion about the silly Ms. Banks. I am an African American. What does your thoughts about Ms. Banks have to do with racism? It's a pity that many Americans are too narrow in their thinking eventhough they are supposedly "well learned!"

I read your reviews often and find them enlightening. It's encouraging finding a writer who provides readers with ample food for thought and has the ability to steer them away from mediocrity.

What about The Wire Season Finale? Now that is something worth writing about.

I love reading Heather's columns - or I should say that I loved reading her until she claimed, ""30 Rock" is the funniest new show on television. " I really wanted to love this show myself when it was coming on, and did my level best to watch it and enjoy it, but after several attempts, it's become obvious that if "30 Rock" isn't the most insipid show to come to television since "My Mother The Car," it's definitely in the top two. And how in God's name did Heather miss this fact.

There isn't one character on this show that wouldn't have to come up 10 steps just to simply be one-dimensional. Tracy Morgan (who is actually a very funny guy) is saddled with a character so...one note that we saw the entire depth of his character 30 seconds after he appeared on screen during the first episode. Everyone else on the show, including Tina Fey, pretty much failed once they uttered their first syllables. And the best that can be said about the story line of the show is that - they have one.

I will, however, agree with Heather that that Alec Baldwin is the best performer in the cast. Of course that's kind of like being the best swimmer on the Titanic who didn't get into a life boat. Sooner or later he is going to sink and die.

I think the bottom line here is (and for whatever reason, Heather, who really has a keen insight chose to ignored this obvious fact) that Tina Fey is simply not a particularly good writer. She's pedestrian and always has been. I'll give you that every once and a while she would write a good skit as the head writer on Saturday Night Live, but that made her, at best, lucky and not necessarily talented.

My suggestion would be that Heather should watch a couple of old episodes of say, "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Honeymooners," "Seinfeld," or "Friends," just to name a few, and then try once more to tell us how great "30 Rock" really is.

Best column ever, Heather. We are a doomed culture, amusing ourselves into oblivion. Cheers!

We need to stop watching this stuff and change the world.

I'm just saying.

...Dangerfield.

I will never, ever forget the moment in Caddyshack when he aggressed his nouveau-tacky self into a snotty country club full of sneers and when he farted loudly, bugged his eyes and brayed:

Whassamatta? Somebody step on a duck?

For some reason, I could watch that on an endless loop...

I think if I had cancer it would cure me.

for saying this:

"she's also the antidote to every adorable, perky, good-natured heroine on TV. That's right, I mean you, Calista Flockhart and Anne Heche and Sarah Paulson, you with your deeply feminine values and your giggling fits and your cute little button noses."

And for the Tyrant bashing - I can't bear to look at her oozing out of her corset tops any more.

I maintain that Havrilesky's writing is terrible, but I would never call her a racist, as several posters have done. We should have reached a place in this country where it is possible to critique and even mock black people, as long as race isn't the criterion for mocking. It will probably take a decade or so before the same is possible when critiquing Hispanic and gay public figures.

And as for the SNL performers, yes, they had a few good movies. But their performances were anything but consistent. Bill Murray made "Ghostbusters," but also "The Razor's Edge," where he unsuccessfully tried to attack a deadly serious dramatic role. More appropriate to the season, in "Scrooged," he not only was unconvincing as a cynical evil guy, but made his "redemption" sound like another con job. Only worth a brief mention are his unimpressive performances in "Quick Change," "Charlie's Angels" and "Osmosis Jones."

Listing Chevy Chase's disasters would be too cruel. Dan Aykroyd, ostensibly the "smarter" of the Blues Brothers, has had decreasing film fortunes since Belushi's death; perhaps he did need a partner to work off to be funny, and Jim Belushi hasn't worked out.

Every performer makes bad movies, but I argue the SNL guys had a higher percentage of duds, because they were cast specifically on their reputations as "funny guys" who would rescue pathetic scripts and productions. That is the sad fate of Eddie Murphy, who was cast in "Beverly Hills Cop" when most of the A-list male actors turned it down. When he turned around that particular sow's ear, he wound up in "Holy Man," "Vampire in Brooklyn," "Boomerang" and other awful scripts.

Perhaps the SNL guys took every paycheck waved in front of them, because they didn't know when the checks would stop or they would only be considered top actors while they were actually working. Or maybe they lacked any ability to tell a good script from a bad one. Certainly the studios didn't see any need to protect actors by demanding good stories, they way they did for Bob Hope in his prime. Whatever the reason, the SNL performers won't even have Hope's record - and for a guy who was "America's favorite comedian," look how fast Hope has fallen after his death.