30 Rock – TV review
When Tina Fey left Saturday Night Live to work on other projects, many thought she would wander off into relative B-grade obscurity, like most ex-cast members of SNL. But what most people weren’t counting on was her extraordinary comedic writing skills. They weren’t counting on her becoming recognized as one of the best comediennes of the modern era, and they were definitely not expecting 30 Rock.
30 Rock is a single camera sitcom set inside the NBC building in New York City. It focuses on the life of sketch-comedy show-runner Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and the people she deals with on a daily basis.
She is the head writer of a TV program called The Girlie Show, a sketch show starring her best friend, and ex comedy duo partner Jenna (Jane Krakowski of Ally McBeal fame). She has to deal with the shows producer, the cast of the show, and the team of writers, all of which are morons, basically. The show is not a huge success, but there is a change a-coming.
The head of NBC programming has just died and been replaced by Jack Donaghey (Alec Baldwin). Jack is a corporate, republican, hard ass who doesn’t have time for stupidity or the people who create stupidity.
To make sure The Girlie Show doesn’t get cancelled, Liz has been ordered to let Tracey Jordan (Tracey Morgan) be a new cast member on the show. Tracey is a movie star with a history for making stupid broad comedies and having a private life that is anything but.
At first glance, 30 Rock seems like a simple show with a simple premise and you would be forgiven for thinking that it is predictable. But you would be wrong, and here is why. This is, quite possibly, the smartest sitcom ever produced for an American audience. There, I said it.
Liz Lemon is a great character. She is a woman in power. She has risen to the top of her field, only to find that being at the top can be very lonely, and stupid. She has silly habits, but isn’t silly. She is obsessed with food, but never gains weight. It’s almost like she accidentally made it to the top and now has no idea what to do. But she is not an idiot. She is just a non-professional girl living in a very professional world. Her constant struggle to match artistic merit to corporate ideals is a never ending battle that she can’t possibly win. But she keeps on trying week in, week out.
Though just about every character in the show hinders her ability to do her job, her number one challenge is Jack Donaghey. Jack is second in charge at General Electric, the company that owns NBC. Being that he is also the head of G.E’s microwave oven division, he has no idea of how to run the largest network of entertainment in the U.S. He believes that The Girlie Show is the lynch pin that the entire corporation hinges on and that it is his job to whip it into shape. He doesn’t care about artistic merit. He doesn’t care about quality comedy. He cares about money, and therefore, ratings.
Liz’s other hindrances are Jenna and Tracey. These two are now the stars of The Girlie Show and constantly need to have their egos stroked by Liz just to keep them working. They are both divas with next to no talent, and they are both crazy. One thinks that everyone wants to hear them sing all the time, and the other will do anything to be seen as crazy by the public. Imagine Judy Garland and Martin Lawrence both vying for the attention of one person. Yeah, sounds crazy? That’s because they are.
The writing staff are no better. We have a lazy slob who can’t open his mouth without saying something offensive, one that has no confidence, and one that is afraid of black people even though he is the only black person on the show.
Why is this show so smart? Well, the dialogue is clever and hilarious. Unlike Frasier which spent so much time being pretentiously smart, that it sometimes forgot to put the humour in there. The show does require you to use your brain a little. Whether to remember old movies to catch the constant barrage of referential comedy (one episode relies on the viewer to have seen the movie Amadeus), or to just remember everything that has happened already in the shows history (30 Rock, now it’s third season, is still putting the punchlines on situations that happened in the first couple of episodes).They have really thought ahead on this show.
The characters are strong and stick with you. It is probably the most quotable of any American sitcom made since Seinfeld. It also doesn’t rely on a laugh track to tell you where the gags are. If you are smart enough you will notice the jokes. I consider myself a savvy person, I have seen thousands of movies and TV shows in my life, and I remember most of them, but I struggle to keep up with this show from time to time.
There are a few catches to 30 Rock. You have to watch the episodes in order, you have to have an open mind, and you have to get past the first four episodes. The first four episodes have a lot of setting up to do, and the bulk of exposition is in the pilot. But if you don’t see the charm of this show by the end of the fourth episode, you probably never will. In fact, the first time I tried watching this show, I only watched the first three and didn’t think much of it at all. Six months later I came back to and gave it another try and it is now my favourite show. In fact, what I thought was a shaky start made more sense later on. I have now watched the first season five times and those first episodes were just as good as the rest, it was just that I wasn’t used to the shows style yet.
I know I haven’t given too much detail on the show. It’s a problem I have with reviews. I want to tell you all about it, but I want you to discover some things on your own. If I told you the actual storyline you would never watch it.
So get out there and see this. It is definitely worth buying the DVDs of the first two seasons, because you will watch them again and again, trying to pick up on all the references. This show has everything us nerds love. Sci-Fi references, geek trivia, hot chicks, great comedy, strong kick ass characters, and even a little violence from time to time. Please, take my advice and enjoy 30 Rock.
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I made a mistake folks. There are two black people on the show. I’m just so metro that I don’t really notice colour. Ha ha.