USA Today. I can’t say I would ever go to you for reputable cultural or artistic criticism.

Case in point, this review of 30 Rock.

Were numbers the only problem, Rock fans might be able to relax. The show, after all, has already been renewed for next season. But since the strike, this once-dependable sitcom has also lost its way creatively, ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of Family Guy.

Certainly, that’s the approach taken in tonight’s hectic finale. On the plus side, it does yield some funny moments from Alec Baldwin, Jack McBrayer and Matthew Broderick as a Bush official who is desperate to join the ranks of the unemployed. (Even those who dislike the administration, however, may not want to see a network sitcom go so far out of its way to mock it.)

But as often happens lately, the jokes come at the expense of our attachment to the characters and to the show’s fraying links to reality.

…

Liz doesn’t have to be sane, but when she’s as unstable as the nuts circling around her, you get a show that plays more like a barely related series of sketches than a sitcom.

It’s possible that 30 Rock is trying to learn from the failure of Studio 60, which took the efforts involved in producing comedy too seriously. But as is so often the case in life and art, one can also fail by moving too far in the other direction. If the show she’s writing doesn’t matter, then there’s nothing at risk for Liz — and no reason for us to care about Jack’s efforts to mentor her, which were once 30 Rock’s best asset.

A few things:

1. Doesn’t everyone want to see the Bush administration mocked?
2. Aren’t the show’s “fraying links to reality” what makes the show fun?
3. I feel like the Family Guy analogy isn’t apt. It’s more like The Simpsons — chock full of non sequiturs, subtle jokes that only make sense if you are really paying attention and non-verbal jokes that you only pick up on during repeated views. However, it always comes back to the main plot.
4. Boo!

Alright, guys… I need more entries for the 24 giveaway.

I’m guessing I made it too hard on you. Maybe the whole “come up with a cheesy saying for Jack Bauer to mutter after biting that guys neck off” contest was too much to ask. I mean, I get it. It’s a lot of pressure to have to come up with something and be happy with it and then send it in when you have no idea how many people were entering.

Suffice to say, response has been wanting.

But believe me, it’s okay. I used to be the same way — agonizing over every word I wrote on this precious blog. But now, all I really do is type stream-of-consciousness style and cross my fingers that it is actually comprehensible and not some sort of William Faulkner-style rant (on that note, I’m going to refer to Maggie and John as Quentin and Quentin just to make things unnecessarily confusing. Sound and the Fury joke! I say it like I understood the book, but I never finished it even though I was supposed to read it for two separate classes).

Where was I?  Oh, 24…

Okay, I really need to boost these numbers so I’m going to change the game. Here’s the new deal:

If you want to win the first season of 24 on DVD, send an e-mail to tifaux -at- gmail -dot- com, put “24 giveaway” in the subject line and give me the name of your favorite vegetable. It can be any vegetable. For example, a carrot.

Seriously, that’s just one. If you need help, here’s a list of vegetables to choose from.

• I’m shocked: Some college kids say they get high before watching “Yo Gabba Gabba!”
• Craig Ferguson to release memoirs detailing his drunken suicidal punk rock days
• Choose your spin: Katherine Heigl is dragging down Grey’s - or - Heigl is too big of a star for Grey’s
• Gossip Girl gets a 24 episode season next year
• Watch Britney’s return to HIMYM right here
• American Idol reject busted for chattin’ up the little boys
• Say that 5 times fast: Weather Channel sex scandal!
• Is 30 Rock becoming too Family Guy-ish?
• Tim Gunn’s new cohost for Guide to Style has been announced
• The many faces of Michael Scott
• Claire from Lost talks to E! Kristin
• Adam Sandler to bone Ms. Garrett from Facts of life
• Just what Heroes needs, more characters!
• Dwight Schrute’s Xterra auctioned on eBay, then pulled, but should be posted again soon
• This day in lists: 17 comedic actors who moved into dramatic roles