# 30 Rock question - what kind of show are they making? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617 "2014-09-16T01:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/21 "2014-09-18T02:06:04Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > One thing you should know about the run of 30 Rock. The first season is quite different than the rest. It’s much more low-key, it doesn’t have the sitcom-y incidental music, and Tracy Morgan’s character is not nearly as much of an idiot as he later becomes. Even the cadence of his speech is more normal and hadn’t become the shouting affect-less monotone he would later always use. He’s a cagier character. And in the first season Tracy is more obviously modeled on other people - his jogging along the highway thing is similar to something Martin Lawrence did, for example. After that, even when he takes a Dave Chappelle-esque hiatus, he’s always Tracy Morgan with small dashes of other people. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/22 "2014-09-18T02:46:40Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > This is my favorite sitcom since Seinfeld went off the air. But if you’re looking for it to make a whole lot of sense, don’t bother. Kenneth is immortal and Jack only farts once a year, for 20 minutes, on top of a mountain in the Alps. And Buzz Aldrin didn’t understand why the moon was out during the day. (“I walked on your face! Go back to the night!” – Buzz yelling at the moon crazy hobo style is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life.) Don’t forget about Leap Day William. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/23 "2014-09-18T15:43:17Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > The show-within-the-show, _TGS with Tracy Jordan_, was not just a sketch comedy show, it was a terrible sketch comedy show. > > _30 Rock_ came on the air at the same time as the short-lived _Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip_. The latter was a drama about the behind-the-scenes of a sketch comedy show that was _supposed_ to be good, but what little the audience saw of it was not at all funny. Yet the characters kept treating it like it was brilliant and important satire. _30 Rock_ mocked _Studio 60_ by having a scene where Liz delivers an impassioned speech about how art is important and satire can help change social mores. This was all intercut with a sketch from _TGS_ where Tracy’s fart machine goes haywire: “Oh, no! The fart machine is overloaded!” “The farts are escaping!” “It smells so bad!”. Ah the revisionist idea that Studio 60 and 30 Rock were competitors and 30 Rock in some way won the battle, and was often mocking the other… They overlapped in just the fact that they covered a Sketch show on television, but largely they were no way related in subject, content or indeed any sort of competition. The critics at the time made the mistake and seemed to think they were, and that was their story they went with, but they weren’t. I don’t even think of them as being the same genre and enjoy both of them on their own merits, I was with Studio 60 for the snappy dialogue and issues, and 30 rock for the fart machine and especially Doctor Spaceman: “You just described my morning. Now, Mrs. Jordan, I’ve already administered the epidural, so… would you like one as well?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/24 "2014-09-18T16:06:39Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Ah the revisionist idea that Studio 60 and 30 Rock were competitors and 30 Rock in some way won the battle, and was often mocking the other… > > They overlapped in just the fact that they covered a Sketch show on television, but largely they were no way related in subject, content or indeed any sort of competition. I don’t remember if that particular scene was a _Studio 60_ parody, but he didn’t really say any of that. A couple of seasons later they did parody Aaron Sorkin’s style by bringing on the man himself for a spoof walk-and-talk with Liz. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/25 "2014-09-18T16:41:50Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t remember if that particular scene was a _Studio 60_ parody, but he didn’t really say any of that. A couple of seasons later they did parody Aaron Sorkin’s style by bringing on the man himself for a spoof walk-and-talk with Liz. Where they ended up at the same spot they started from, with Liz looking around in confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/26 "2014-09-18T18:02:30Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, related, the 4077th had only four surgeon characters as regulars, though the historical equivalent of such a facility had at least twice that. There would rarely be another doctor or dentist, lasting a few episodes at most. Then there’s “House” where MDs have to go to a persons house and sift through their cat litter, and apparently there are about 6 people working in the entire hospital. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617/27 "2014-09-18T20:54:41Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Where they ended up at the same spot they started from, with Liz looking around in confusion. “Did we just go in a circle?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-rock-question-what-kind-of-show-are-they-making/698617.md?page=1)