Warning: Clip is US-only. U-S-A! U-S-A!

At first glance I thought it was a black MacBook with a Windows logo pasted over the Apple, but that's not it—the case is too shiny and angular, looking more like a slick Lenovo or something. 30 Rock has been very obvious in its love of Apple products in the past, with Liz and Jack always using iPhones and the writers using MacBooks, so it's pretty surprising to see a Windows computer, even if it's an imaginary one. But 30 Rock has always been a little edgy about product placement anyway, once breaking the fourth wall to ask advertisers "Can we have our money now?" But hell, at least it's not at the point of the "Dr. Pepper Amuse Bouche Challenge" nonsense of Top Chef. [Hulu]

Yes, read that screenshot from my queue above and weep. In a month, there will be no more 30 Rock episodes (no more Heroes either), and the only Office eps will be early ones. Why the upheaval? You already guessed our most likely guess: Hulu.

As soon as the new seasons kick in, Hulu will be the place NBC will want people to go to catch up—remember, it's ad supported so traffic matters. And what better way to drive people there than to make the best content exclusive? It's just a case of the Sheinhardt Wig Company looking out for the Sheinhardt Wig Company.

Another network, CBS, appears to be yanking some CSI content even sooner, but NCIS looks stable. (I could do this all day, so give me a hand: Go ahead and check your own queues for verification, and report the status of your favorite Netflix VOD series down in comments.)

Sucks for you, Netflix, and for those of us who somehow had the impression that any content on Netflix VOD would be there forever. Now, Hulu, about those VOD widgets for TVs, Blu-ray players and game consoles...

The guys from Slanket tell me that they've been talking to the people at 30 Rock since January, and:

Tina Fey is a fan of The Slanket and has bought many, including one for everyone on her staff, which she had embroidered.

They filmed this episode in February, so it wasn't my huge battlemodo that tipped the scales for Slanket to be featured there. They were smart enough to figure it out on their own.

Compared to Chuck's recent homage, 30 Rock went for a more literal imitation of Apple keynotes, and we have to say, they got the details right. The casual dropping of their product's marketing stats and the visuals especially were nice touches. But, as much as it pains us to say this about as stellar a show as 30 Rock, aren't keynote parodies kind of passe at this point?

Steve Jobs, in all his turtlenecked glory, is doing his best to shy away from the spotlight, and his absence from future Apple keynotes should indicate that the well of parodies would start to dry up. On the other hand, maybe we're not giving 30 Rock enough credit; after all, Liz Lemon's presentation, as elaborate as it was, earned nothing but a curt dismissal in response.

And of all the people to do a Jobs impression, 30 Rock could have chosen so much better. Does anyone play a monomanaical executive better than Alec Baldwin? And has there ever been a more hilariously surreal impressionist than Tracy Morgan? Maybe they'll let Baldwin do Ballmer to make up. [30 Rock]

The Office/30 Rock hour is already an iFest—you can expect at least one App Store commercial to hit during each show almost without fail. Apple's obviously hitting a demographic sweetspot here, which lends a certain feel of suspicion to the serious iPhone placement in the last few episodes. Jack and Liz both are constantly showing photos to people on their iPhones, and even the Generalissimo gets to use one.

The kicker is that without fail, the tongue-in-cheek (but still for real money) product placements from the likes of Snapple, McDonalds or SoyJoy always get some kind of official mention in the credits, as you can see. But there's nary a mention of Apple. Some have spotted Apple shout-outs in episodes downloaded on iTunes, but there aren't any on the regular broadcast or on Hulu. This could be completely unrelated to the placement, since it's found on Apple's turf already.

So what do you guys think? An elaborate, somewhat covert and guerrilla marketing tactic? A sign that some of the smartest people on TV right now have similarly smart taste in phones? You tell us, and be on the lookout for an iPlacement tonight. [Shouts to our friends at Defamer for being on the same page]

They're putting their shows out online in a million different ways (you can even download 30 Rock, The Office, Conan and Leno direct to your desktop now) and more than happy to pipe 'em to you, as long as it's in a controlled sandbox of some sort. NBC Direct requires a walled-garden player install with loads of DRM, and they wanted copyright controls from Apple and Microsoft to give just two examples, not to mention Hulu. It's sorta surprising that the QuickTime feed for iPhone is unprotected, but theoretically it's restricted to two devices. You know, if they'd just relax a bit, overall, they'd be in a good place online. [Silicon Alley Insider, Thanks Peter!]

Still, many of us wondered if Verizon saw the shot coming ahead of time. Here's what the company (Lou Rossi, director of media and sponsorships) has had to say about the ad:

We talk with NBC on a consistent basis about opportunities...We had engaged them to think about some ways we could help increase our presence in the marketplace, and they came back to us with the '30 Rock'-specific opportunity.

But that Tina Fey is a total bitch.