Not sure how many of you have taken the time to check out MTV's latest reality competition, Rock the Cradle, but I've been spending my Thursday evenings at the live tapings since I know the show's host. It's like American Idol, but less obnoxious. The children of MTV icons like MC Hammer and Dee Snider compete to see who has what it takes to step out of their parents' shadow. Check it out; not only do a few of the performances kick ass every week, the involvement of the parents in each episode introduces surprising heart to the show. Anyway, that's how I started off my Thursday night this week; watching The Office and 30 Rock was the way I ended it. I'm not going to compare the two events, because that would be like comparing apples and oranges, Ingmar Bergman and Brett Ratner movies, but I will say both episodes entertained me a hell of a lot more than last week's lackluster ones did.

On The Office, we found Jim still teasing about proposing to Pam someday soon. My girlfriend and I, who regularly joke about marriage -- scary jokes, I know -- complain about how the surprise goes out of a proposal once the woman becomes aware that she'll eventually be proposed to, which seems to be a big trend in this country. Nobody wants to gamble that they'll be turned down anymore. Jim, though, has found a way to shake that anticlimactic scenario up by appearing to be on the verge of a proposal every time he has to ask Pam a question. It's driving Pam crazy, yeah, but we at home are left wondering when the inevitable will occur, and that's pretty damn cool considering how predictable romantic story arcs are on television. The rest of the episode involved more seemingly inane storylines that at least were peppered with heart; Stanley snaps at Michael in front of the office, emasculating him when he says, "Everyday you do something stupider than the day before," while Dwight badgers ex Angela's boyfriend, Andy, to knock $1,500 off the price of his used SUV, only to immediately flip it for a profit -- a move that impresses Angela a bit. I stopped caring about the Dwight/Angela/Andy love triangle a while back, since I pretty much think Angela is one of the most unlikable characters on television, but it's always fun to watch Dwight go a little crazy.

Next door at 30 Rock, Jack is desperate; Don Geiss is still in his coma and Jack's arch-nemesis, Devin Banks, has turned his new wife, Geiss's unicorn-and-Mark-Wahlberg-loving daughter, into a puppet president. Convinced his career at NBC has been for naught, Jack jumps ship and enlists with the Bush Administration. Watching his closeted assistant sing, "I Will Remember You" to him as he's banished from the 56th floor is classic 30 Rock. Liz, meanwhile, has to contend with the return of her great love, Floyd, who wants to crash at her apartment. She called him shortly after he moved to Cleveland and a woman answered, which she's still holding against him. Leads to the episode's greatest line, when he explains he couldn't say which girl it is because, "I'm a lawyer; I wear nice coats; I'm the Michael Clayton of Cleveland." Liz then tells him she hopes his car blows up. Ah, I love 30 Rock.

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