Jump to content [s] Jump to comments [c] Jump to site navigation [0] Jump to search [4] Terms and conditions [8]

30 Rock is the best show on television

By not taking itself too seriously, 30 Rock has managed to outlast the more fancied Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

30 Rock
The underdog comes good ... Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey in 30 Rock

Until Californication ended its current run, the double bill with 30 Rock on Thursday nights was the best hour of telly every week. Now it's become a 30 Rock double bill, I say it's still the best thing on telly.

It remains to be seen whether Ashes to Ashes can change this.

The US sitcom proved its mettle by surviving a particularly inauspicious launch alongside Studio 60 in 2006. With confusingly similar names and essentially the same premise - "behind the curtain" of a weekly Saturday Night Live-style sketch show - and both on NBC, only one was likely to survive.

But while Studio 60's fate as a one-season wonder is well documented, underdog 30 Rock is thriving - critically, if not commercially.

Now in its second season, it has a best comedy Emmy under its belt and stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin have picked up SAGs and Golden Globes. With a change of broadcast slot in America, hopefully the disappointing ratings will pick up, too.

In hindsight, 30 Rock (the nickname for NBC HQ at Rockefeller Plaza) had one big advantage over Studio 60 - not taking itself too seriously. That, and SNL alumna Fey really knowing her subject.

While Studio 60 built up the show-within-a-show as a work of genius, 30 Rock sends it up. The number of times we see unstable, sub-Eddie Murphy actor Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) in Oprah drag suggests it wouldn't win many awards.

30 Rock goes for broad laughs as well as employing a wry, East Coast kind of humour. "Just because I think gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all have hybrid cars doesn't mean that I don't love America," says head writer Liz Lemon (Fey), with a winning look to camera (and the Midwest beyond it).

Oily exec and unapologetic alpha male Jack Donaghy (Baldwin) - head of network programming and microwave ovens - is the kind of character that career revivals are made of. "Sometimes you have to change things that are perfectly good to make them your own," Donaghy growls about his office refurb on arrival.

Who hasn't had a boss like that?

Printable version

Send to a friend

Article history

's comment

Comments in chronological order (Total comment)

Loading 0% complete

Loading comments...

Go to all comments on one page

Comments are now closed on this entry.

Staff

Contributor

Go to all comments on one page

Comments are now closed for this entry.

Comments

In order to see comments, please turn JavaScript on in your browser.

Comments

Sorry, commenting is not available at this time. Please try again later.

Apologies, something has gone wrong and this action cannot be completed. Please try again later.

${comment.Author.displayName}

${comment.PostedAtTime|formatDateTime:MessageTime}

{if comment.Author.isStaff} ${comment.Author.userTier}

Staff writer {elseif comment.Author.isContributor} ${comment.Author.userTier}

Contributor {else} {/if} {if comment.IsFeatured && currentUser && currentUser.hasCapability('featureComment')}

Featured comment

{/if} {if comment.ContentBlockingState != "Unblocked"}

${|getCommentBlockedMessage}

{else}

${comment.CommentBody}

{if currentUser && currentUser.hasCapability('featureComment')} {if comment.IsFeatured} Unfeature {else} Feature {/if} {/if} {if comment.CurrentUserHasRecommended == "False" && !commentRecommendingClosed} {/if} {if comment.NumberOfRecommendations > 1} (${comment.NumberOfRecommendations}) {else} (${comment.NumberOfRecommendations}) {/if} {if comment.CurrentUserHasReportedAbuse == "True"} Report abuse {else} {/if} | Link

{/if}

{/for}

${prev|generateCommentPageLink:'Previous',urlParams} ${next|generateCommentPageLink:'Next',urlParams} {if (renderPageNumbers)}

${first|generateCommentPageLink:'First',urlParams} {for pageNumber in pageNumbers} {if (pageNumber == currentPageNumber)} ${pageNumber} {else} ${pageNumber|generateCommentPageLink:'',urlParams} {/if} {/for} ${last|generateCommentPageLink:'Last',urlParams}

{/if}