’30 Rock’: The ‘Beetlejuice’ Reunion That Almost Was

Tom Hanks also does a wink-wink cameo on the show’s super-sized 100th episode

Thursday's hour-long episode of "30 Rock" — the show's 100th installment overall — begged one question: Why doesn't this show always run 60 minutes?

Okay, we'd watch a 60-hour episode of "30 Rock," so we're obviously in the tank for Tina Fey's Emmy-grabbing sitcom. But the quality of last night's extra half hour could justify asking the question, especially because it involved something that's been long overdue: a "Beetlejuice" reunion.

Well, almost.

Michael Keaton turned up a few minutes in as an incompetent maintenance worker sounding the alarm about a gas leak, but it wasn't until his short scene with Alec Baldwin early in the episode that got us thinking that a shout-out to their 1988 film might be coming down the pike.

Would Geena Davis be making a surprise cameo? Would Winona Ryder be showing up to float in the air while doing the "Jump in Line" dance? Would Keaton don the familiar maroon duds and start talking to a guy with a shrunken head?

Alas, none of the above happened. A true "Beetlejuice" reunion will have to wait a little longer.

The episode did end with a funny scene in which Tom Hanks makes fun of Tracy Jordan and other former TV actors who return to the small screen after breaking out in film. But then Hanks absent-mindedly sings "My Life," the Billy Joel song that served as the theme song to "Bosom Buddies," the show that launched his career.

With Baldwin also making fun of himself for transitioning back to television after a successful movie career, the episode was a self-referential extravaganza for pop-culture nerds like us.

Watch the full episode below.

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