As Seen on TV: The Maple Syrup Smell on 30 Rock

While the maple syrup smell remains a two-year-old mystery to us, 30 Rock entered the fray with a hypothesis. On last night's episode, Liz Lemon, who smells waffles from her Upper West Side apartment, calls Tracy Jordan to remind him to practice his Re-Run dance for the What's Happening! sketch. But Tracy, in his NJ home, says that the smell of waffles is distracting him. Then Liz gets another call - it's Jack Donaghy, over on the Upper East Side:

Jack: Do you smell maple syrup?
Liz: Yes!
Jack: Don't panic, Lemon, it's probably not a chemical attack.
Liz: What do you mean, probably?
Jack: It's probably just a strange wind pattern coming over those factories in Staten Island where food flavors are made. I don't think it's northrax.
Liz: What's northrax?
[Tracy starts his Re-Run dance]
Jack: It's a chemical agent we sold to the Saudis in the 1980s that smells exactly like maple syrup. But I don't think this is it.

We don't know how long ago this episode was produced, but just for that part, we give it five stars, especially since last week the smell returned. You can watch the full episode at NBC.

Alec Baldwin actually lives on the Upper West Side, which is where many of the maple syrup smellings occur. And when the city smelled like natural gas (or mercaptan, the chemical added to natural gas to make it noticeable), the city blamed New Jersey.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on November 16, 2007 9:23 AM

Comments [rss]

parlophone

i love northrax! i even made a website dedicated to how awesome it is: www.northrax.com

Murray Hillster

And look at me. Forgetting "don't" in my previous post.

The police don't know what it is. Sheesh.

Murray Hillster

@Anonym0us

"You do realize it's the cops testing air dispersion patterns so they can be prepared in the event of a chemical or biological attack, don't you?"

You are completely wrong. The police know what it is. Worse, you use your error to be a pain in the ass.

"There were so many calls that the city's Office of Emergency Management coordinated efforts with the Police and Fire Departments, the Coast Guard and the City Department of Environmental Protection to look into it. ...

"We are continuing to sample the air throughout the affected area to make sure there's nothing hazardous," said Jarrod Bernstein, an emergency management spokesman. "What the actual cause of the smell is, we really don't know.""

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/nyregion/28odor.html

"The problem is, no one knows where it's coming from and now the NYPD is looking into the mysterious odor. ...

Ray Kelly, Police Commissioner: "So far no toxic or hazardous material has been found, but the testing is continuing.""

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=3583493

The air dispersion patterns tested by the police used odorless gas.

"Allwine is overseeing the Urban Dispersion Project... and came to New York City in March, tracking the path of nontoxic, odorless gases through well-traveled sections of midtown Manhattan."

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-08-07-manhattan-simulation-attack_x.htm

Nice going, jackass.

Novanglus

Tina Fey got that cut on her cheek from a knife fight after some bitch resist when Tina tried to stick her for her paper.

Tina's got a rough scar, but the other girl is missing an arm and a lisp that prevents her from properly saying words like "Robitussin", "Antediluvian" and "And".

JRod5417

Best show on TV.

Anonym0us

You do realize it's the cops testing air dispersion patterns so they can be prepared in the event of a chemical or biological attack, don't you?

By the way, how's it going with the forcing commenters to register? Glad to know your crusade to eradicate stupidity from this site has been such a smashing success!

Or maybe reform begins at the top. Just sayin'.