I decided I needed another sitcom in my life, since I was getting a little burned out on genre shows and whodunnits. I settled on "30 Rock," which I had seen two or three episodes of during its original broadcast run, and remember enjoying. However, back in 2006 I wasn't consuming much media, and I never really got into the habit of watching regularly. I knew vaguely that it was based on Tina Fey's time as head writer of "SNL," and that she was essentially playing a version of herself, Liz Lemon. Liz is in charge of the similar "The Girlie Show," or "TGS" and spends her time corralling her writing team, including Pete (Scott Adsit) and Frank (Judah Friedlander), keeping her cast out of trouble, including Jenna (Jane Krakowski) and Tracy (Tracy Morgan), and dealing with new NBC executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), her direct boss. The rest of the time, she's trying to survive being a single New Yorker in her thirties.
I remember liking Jack, Liz, and NBC page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) when I first watched the show, and being a little put off by Jenna and Tracy, because they came across as selfish, self-obsessed celebrities that Liz seemed forever playing the voice of reason to. The humor in general felt a little meaner and more cynical than what I was used to. Now, after watching a full 21-episode season, eighteen years after these episodes aired, "30 Rock" feels positively cuddly. Yes, Tracy and Jenna are outrageous and get themselves into all sorts of stupid situations, but they can be generous and warm, and do care about their co-workers. Jack takes Liz under his wing and is genuinely concerned with her personal life. Liz is also just as much of a terror as anyone else on the show, prone to letting her relationship woes run amok, and refusing to let little things go. Everyone is absurd, everyone is out for their own interests, and everyone has to be brought to their senses regularly.
"30 Rock" was fairly bold for its time, airing a show about working at NBC on NBC, and constantly having little meta nods about what was actually going on behind the scenes at the network. The density of the jokes was unusual, with lots of wordplay, pop culture references, and self-referentiality. There are "SNL" alums and other NBC talent dropping by regularly, sometimes playing themselves. There's a running bit where Rachel Dratch keeps showing up as different minor characters, like a cat trainer and a hallucinated monster. Tracy has to go on Conan O'Brien's late night show in one episode, and of course Conan is one of Liz's many exes. The NBC/GE merger had recently gone through, so Jack is the "Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming." The inside baseball aspect of the show went down a lot better this time, and I suspect that it was partly due to nostalgia. As someone who has found myself struggling to keep up with pop culture lately, it's nice to be watching a show where I get most of the references and recognize all the guest stars. I'm dating myself, and I don't care.
Because "30 Rock" is a network sitcom and has the resources of a major network in its prime, it can pull off some fairly ambitious episodes. A clear highlight of the first season is the format-breaking episode "Black Tie," where Jack, Liz and Jenna attend a black tie dinner for a visiting European prince. The prince is a grotesque pervert played by Paul Reubens. Jack turns out to only be there to spy on his ex-wife, Bianca, played by a magnificent Isabella Rossellini. Watching the escalating madness is a delight. The caliber of the show's talent is consistently high, with a Nathan Lane or an Eileen Stritch showing up practically every week. You can also spot up-and-comers in bit parts - Aubrey Plaza and Charlyne Yi both appear as NBC pages in this season. "30 Rock" acts as a great time capsule for 2006, when network television was still a big deal, and streaming videos over the internet was still a very dicey proposition.
It's nice to know that I have over a hundred more episodes of this show to watch, and from what I've read it hasn't even hit its stride yet.
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