“30 Rock” Brings Back Tired Trope Of “Porn” For Women

Last night's episode of "30 Rock" concluded with another brilliant idea from Jack Donaghy. Unfortunately, it's one we've seen many, many times before.

Yes, in order to revamp the cable business, Jack decided to pursue the untapped market of "porn" for women: or, as demonstrated in the clip above, a video of a handsome man who's just dying to listen to a woman chatter on and whine about her problems. Obviously, the premise is sad, sexist, and misinformed; it's also just plain lazy and unoriginal.

The writers from "30 Rock" aren't the first people to tap into the brilliant idea that women get off from mundane chatter—in fact, there's already an entire series of books devoted to the idea. Yes, the Cambridge Women's Pornography Cooperative has a whole franchise devoted to the idea that what women really want is to watch fully clothed men doing chores around the house. Sorry, but that's not the kind of thing that gets this woman's engine revving.

There is a lot more that I could say about just what kinds of porn get the ladies hot and bothered, but perhaps it's best to keep it simple. In the words of the venerable web comic XKCD: "In my porn, people fuck."

· "30 Rock" (nbc.com)