8:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27
NBC

The freshly anointed best comedy on television (according to the TV academy and the Emmys) kicks off its sophomore campaign in midseason form with a rip-roaring opener featuring Jerry Seinfeld in a guest turn that's altogether inspired.

We will soon get a foolproof indication as to whether "30 Rock" suffers from terminal "Arrested Development" disease or if it can finally begin to draw something more than flies in terms of ratings. God knows it deserves to.

This episode is charmingly written and superbly acted, with stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin proving an irresistible combo. The half-hour deftly intersperses a trio of plotlines that never trample one another. The A-story involves how boss Jack (Baldwin) has hit on what he believes to be a boffo idea: Use all of that NBC-owned footage featuring Seinfeld to digitally insert him into every NBC primetime show imaginable (introducing "SeinfeldVision!") and capitalize on the network's intellectual property. It goes less than swell. Big shockeroo, that.

As the single-camera comedy resumes, the show-within-the-show has been on summertime hiatus, and what a tumultuous hiatus it has been. Liz's (Fey) boyfriend Floyd has split up with her. Jenna (Jane Krakowski) has put on a zillion pounds while starring in "Mystic Pizza: The Musical" because of all the actual pizza she had to eat. And Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) becomes Tracy's (Tracy Morgan) office wife after his actual wife boots him out of the house, forcing him to take up full-time residence in his office.

The stories are interwoven with seamless ease, all joined at the hip by the bouncy soundtrack. Fey is superb as a lovelorn control freak in transparent denial, and Baldwin ... well, he's a flat-out revelation, leaving us wondering how it was again that Ricky Gervais beat him out for the lead comedy actor award at the Emmys. The academy certainly has some splainin' to do. Then again, so does the TV audience for failing to support such a grand comedic exercise. But if recent history tells us anything, it's unfortunately that things rarely change once the die is cast, Emmy or no Emmy.

So enjoy "30 Rock" while you can.