Monday was Emmy night down here in the Land of Oz, and while I was very happy with most of the results, I was kinda pissed that
The Office lost out to a show that I had never even heard of, let alone seen. I thought either the Academy had lost its mind (not the first time) or that this show was really funny, so I decided to take a chance. A quick browse on eBay, a few extra bucks for express delivery and twenty-one episodes later, I've now seen the entire first season of
30 Rock and to put it simply, I'm totally hooked.
The story revolves around 35 year old New York woman Liz Lemon (played by creator and writer Tina Fey, of SNL fame), the executive producer and showrunner of a successful variety comedy show on NBC called
The Girly Show. A new network executive, Jack Donaghey (played brilliantly by Alec Baldwin) arrives and forces Liz to change the format of her show by hiring eccentric, struggling movie star Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) as the lead. The rest of the stories revolve around Liz's floundering romantic life, her constant battles with her eclectic staff or writers. All of these elements make for a truly witty, and outright hilarious half hour of television.
The show is held up primarily by its three leads; Liz, Jack and Tracy. The three actors play off of each other very well, with snappy comedic timing and pitch perfect delivery almost every time. Most of the scenes in the show involve these three characters, and the results are well worth your time. But, as with all good comedy, there are some wonderful supporting characters, mostly made up by the cast and writers of Liz's show, especially the cheerfully clueless NBC page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer). His are some of the funniest scenes in the show.
30 Rock also boasts an impressive bunch of cameos, including Rip Torn, Conan O'Brien and Isabella Rossellini.
The comedy in the show comes from a lot of different places. There are moments of absolute absurdity (such as when one of Tracy goes on the Conan O'Brien show and pretends to be a stabbing robot with real knives, forcing Conan to turn for his life on live television, or the title of one Liz's actor's independant movie;
The Rural Juror. Try saying that three times fast. Even saying it once at normal speed is kinda tricky). But the writing, at times, is very smart and very witty, particularly the scenes between Liz and Jack. The writing of
30 Rock is a classic example of what good comedy television can be.
There really isn't anything else I can say.
30 Rock is a funny, outrageous, downright brilliant piece of comedy, and when it does slow down for emotion (this happens very rarely) it doesn't stay slow for very long. There are very few places we can go for really good comedy these days,
30 Rock is one of them. The performances are hilarious, the writing is tight and snappy. It's second season will begin its run in October, don't miss it. I cannot recommend this show highly enough.
Here's a little taste:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3p1za4M5WE&mode=related&search=Matt.
Pages: 1
Author
30 Rock
Logged
Locked Board