These 30 Rock Episodes Are Almost Better Than Night Cheese

You can't help but enjoy the frantic energy of this episode, in which Liz & Co. are racing against the clock trying to prepare Tracy for an appearance on Conan O'Brien's late-night talk show. The bar is pretty low considering Tracy tried to stab Conan during the last appearance. But Tracy is even more unhinged than normal and experiencing hallucinations due to a bad reaction from medication prescribed by his physician, the delightfully inept Dr. Leo "Medicine's not a science" Spaceman (Chris Parnell). Meanwhile, we also get the first glimpse of Jenna's amazingly titled film, The Rural Juror, and witness Jack's one-percentre response when asked why he's wearing a tuxedo: "It's after six. What am I, a farmer?"

It's Christmas at Studio 6H, and everyone is ready to rage — everyone except Tracy, who has an ankle bracelet and is prohibited to drink (if you look closely, in addition to Tracy, the ankle bracelet headquarters is also tracking all the Lohans). And what are the holidays without a little quality family time? Liz's overly supportive parents and quirky brother (Andy Richter), who is stuck in 1995 due to a skiing accident, arrive in town. Jack's constantly disapproving mom, Colleen (the late, wonderful Elaine Stritch), also shows up and takes every opportunity to take a jab at Jack. She single-handedly dismantles the cheery exterior of the Lemon family to reveal their underlying dysfunction, and everything is so ludicrous, there's nothing left to do but laugh.

Liz's ridiculously good-looking boyfriend Drew lives in a beautiful-people bubble of what Jack describes includes "free drinks, kindness, and outdoor sex." His handsomeness is basically his only asset: he's a former college tennis player who can't hit a ball to save his life, a doctor who doesn't know the Heimlich maneuver, and an adult who thinks putting Gatorade on salmon counts as cooking. Liz breaks the truth to him and they both realise he's content living that bubble life. He ends up riding off on a new motorcycle that he most definitely does not know how to ride. It's worth watching this episode just to see Jon Hamm flex his comedic chops and smile like a doofy human Golden Retriever. And, of course, to look at his ridiculously good-looking face.

Liz gets her own talk show and learns how hard/awkward it is to be in front of the camera. She locks herself in her dressing room, where "Regular Liz" has a pep talk with "Crazy B*tch Performer Liz," and Jack has to ask Jenna, of all people, for advice. Tracy starts his EGOT quest and tries to get advice from Whoopi Goldberg, actual EGOT. One of the funniest and wackiest bits (and there are many) of the episode is seeing all the characters through the high-def camera: Liz looks like a monster, Pete ages by a million years, Kenneth becomes a puppet, and Jack is, of course, just Alec Baldwin in his younger, even handsomer years.

In an episode that feels especially relevant in today's climate, Liz tackles sexism after feminist website joanofsnark.com (Tagline: "Perhaps correct. Definitely exhausting") publishes an article with the headline "Why does TGS hate women?" In response, Liz exclaims "I support women. I'm a human bra" and hires a young female comic as a guest writer. The woman who shows up turns out to be every female stereotype Liz is trying to avoid — blond, scantily clad, with an air of damsel in distress, essentially "a very sexy baby." Liz goes on to oust the comic's true identity in front of the writers' room and online, only to find out she's made a possibly fatal mistake and inadvertently proved that TGS maybe does hate women after all.

The genius of this episode is the show-within-a-show format, where everyone gets made fun of through a secondary lens. Tracy's wife, Angie, is starring in her own reality show that is following her budding music career and her single "My Single Is Dropping" dropping. Liz, Jack, and Jenna all appear as strategically edited versions of themselves in the reality show, which like any good Bravo instalment, involves copious amounts of drama, wine throwing, and contractual hair pulling. We also meet actor Tituss Burgess, who plays D'Fwan, a self-professed gay hairdresser and gay party planner, who would later go on to star in another Tina Fey creation, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. As if there weren't enough going on, a side story involves Susan Sarandon making a cameo as a former teacher and registered sex offender, and yes, the two are related. PSA: there's a second "Queen of Jordan" episode in season six, "Queen of Jordan 2: Mystery of the Phantom Pooper."

Technically, this is two episodes, but you really have to watch both of them to get the full story. With TGS on the brink of cancellation, the team pulls out all the stops and gets Tracy — who is now an Oscar winner — back for the 100th episode. The episode is packed with throwback moments and A-list cameos, including Michael Keaton as a janitor and Tom Hanks as himself. After there's a gas leak, everyone starts having hallucinations and losing their minds: Tracy and Kenneth go to the roof with a hare-brained plan and a gun, Jenna plots how to have a baby because it would be a great PR move, and Jack runs into a past, future, and alternate-universe version of himself. Watching it will make you feel like you too inhaled some gas, but in the best, most entertaining way.

30 Rock's wackiness is on full display in this episode, which turns Leap Day into a mainstream holiday with its own dress code (blue and yellow), rules (nothing counts on Leap Day), and mascot, Leap Day William, who looks like the Monopoly man in technicolor and trades children's tears for candy. On this extra day of the year, Liz gets indecent proposal'd by an old nerdy high school classmate, Jack has an It's a Wonderful Life moment where he discovers the true meaning of the holiday, and Tracy tries to spend a $50,000 Benihana gift card in one day. Jim Carrey pops in and out of the episode because there's a USA marathon of the fictional movie Leap Day Williams, starring Jim Carrey. If none of this makes sense, it's because it's Leap Day, and real life is for March.

This was one of 30 Rock's two live shows, an ambitious episode where Kenneth lectures the gang on the benefits of live TV as shown through a live roster of various sketches. There are guest stars aplenty; Paul McCartney makes a cameo, as does Jon Hamm. Look out for Amy Poehler, Donald Glover, and Jimmy Fallon, who play younger versions of Liz, Tracy, and Jack, respectively. The delight of this episode is that anything can happen on live TV, so there's no telling what surprises are in store or who will break character first.

For seven seasons, Liz dated some interesting men, and we finally see her get her happily ever after with Criss Chros (James Marsden) after they decide to get married "like every other idiot on Earth" to increase their chances of adopting a baby. Despite Liz insisting she wants to take a stand against the wedding industry, she realises she does want to be a princess and have her day in the sun. Their wedding at City Hall is extremely sweet and extremely Liz Lemon, complete with a Princess Leia outfit, flowers stolen from a hospital, the exchanging of a police auction ring (for her) and grillz (for him), a live performance by Tony Bennett, and Dennis Duffy (along with his wife and adopted son, Black Dennis) as a witness. Bonus: that masterpiece Liz Lemon eye roll is from this episode, in response to how much she says she cares about her special day.