1.26.2007

A Curious Case of Editi

Last night was Repeat night on NBC, including 30 Rock. I am a big fan of 30 Rock, not least because of the episode on last night, which I caught previously. Plots and subplots included Tina thinking Tracy is illiterate and Alec Baldwin's CEO trying to act. Tina uses the memorable exhortation "nut up" and they flash to a clip of Tracy Jordan's movies where he just spouts buddy cop movie cliches one right after the other, including a funny variation on Murtaugh's "I'm too old for this shit."

However, my memory must have been faulty because that line wasn't on the show. Maybe I imagined it. But then I noticed that one of the plotlines wasn't set up properly. The first time I saw the episode, two of the writers decide to trick the ditzy star of the show, played by that blond from Ally McBeal. The scene where they plant the idea that she is going to be fired is missing...I rewinded on TiVo to double check. They come back from commercial and the blond confronts Tina about it. No set up at all. At least 2 short scenes were missing.

So I guess, for some reason, Repeat Episodes get edited or cut between their first and second showings. It must be for time, to fit in more commercials, but why didn't that happen in the first one? Very strange. Has anyone ever noticed this before with other shows?

1 comment:

Mike Ingram said...

Pease, I think you're onto something. I saw that episode last night, and had also seen it before. I kept thinking something seemed missing, or different, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I know they cut the Simpsons episodes when they put them into syndication, but I'd never considered the possibility they did this with "fresh" reruns.

Or maybe they workshopped and someone said "I think you could cut some of this setup and get right to the action."