I just finished watching the 1st season of 30 Rock on DVD. I’d watched the pilot back when it was first aired, and wasn’t very impressed, so stopped watching. But it’s gotten such good buzz that I thought it was worth re-watching, and I’m glad I did, and looking forward to season 2.
A few comments/questions:
-Does anyone know why they have an actor named Tracey Morgan playing a character named Tracey Jordan? Is it some sort of weird meta-joke that I don’t get? I mean, it’s obviously not some thinly-disguised-playing-himself thing, since Tracey Morgan is NOT a big movie star.
-Tina Fey is too hot to play Liz Lemon, who is apparently fairly dateless
-There seemed to be a lot of farily deliberate digs at Studio 60. Perhaps coincidentally, both shows-within-a-show have high-profile stars who we never really seeing be hilariously funny in sketches-in-the-show-within-the-show, but also have a minor cast member who does impressions who is really hilarious. That guy’s impressions of Alec Baldwin and Tracey Morgan are dead-on.
-That was Rachel Dratch as the imaginary blue man, right? She obviously pops up a lot, although I guess not quite in every episode
-I feel like we need more resolution on hollow-bones-lady, who is presumably a con artist of some sort
-I really love some of the supporting characters, particularly Tracey’s Entourage and Dr. Spaceman
The show really found its stride about halfway thru the 2nd season (the episode where Liz and Jack go to the birthday party for Paul Reubens’ Count).
Like any good comedy, the show has it’s over-the-top moments. But the key for me is the subtle character humor. For example, it’s a sly dig when Jack chides Liz “Why so glum, Lemon? Liberty* lose again last night?”, and it depends on knowing how Liz will react to Jack’s dismissive implication. It also requires an actor the calibre of Alec Baldwin to deliver that line with the right hint of master-of-the-universe condescension. The show is filled with dozens of moments like this, which to me make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
That’s why I think it will be interesting to see what they do with Seinfeld as a guest star tonight. I have high hopes based on the promo, where Kenneth “sings” the “Seinfeld” theme in the elevator to an uncomfortable-looking Jerry; his understated reply “Really?” is just the perfect reaction. More of this, please…
At the risk of telling you something you already know, the Liberty are the NY area women’s NBA team, a sports league rumored to be somewhat popular with lesbian fans.
There are just a lot of hilarious things that are tossed in matter of factly.
I love how Jack was just dating Condaleeza Rice in one episode. I can’t remember it exactly, but at one point, Liz walks into his office, and he’s on the phone going, “no, you hang up first. . .no, you hang up first.”
At least one time a show, Tracy Morgan will just say something ludicrous, “that looks like a normal picture of me walking out of Starbucks with my dog, but in reALity, I was walking in backwards, doing the robot, and I stole that dog. . .dat’s right. I steal dogs.”
I loved Liz’s awful boyfriend’s explanation of why he was still in the pager business: “Technology’s cyclical!”
My favorite episode was probably the one where they set off the giant 3 hour fireworks display in midtown Manhattan. What could possibly be wrong with that??
I thought it sucked at first, too, but it became my favorite comedy on network TV by the end of the season. One of my favorite characters was the agent renegotiating the contract with Jack - his shortening of words (“penetraish” for “penetration”, “awes” for “awesome”) was hilarious. And any show that can make me like Tracy Morgan has to be damn good.
Bravo had a mini-marathon on this past Sunday, running 6 shows back to back (to back to…). I missed it during last season but I’m looking forward to the new season.
I love the game show the page made up, with the beautiful models holding suitcases and the contestant had to guess which model’s suitcase held gold bars, which he could tell by the way the model struggled with the gold’s weight. John McEnroe played the show host. That cracked me up.
This is to make up for the fact that she was originally a regular before she was recast by Jane Krakowski. I think it works better that way because when she has showed up, it’s usually pretty funny, too.
I love the show and am very glad it took the Top Emmy.
This show did take a little while to get off the ground. Halfway through the first season, I’d say. Studio 60 started to slide and this one started to go up.
For the OP: I think Liz is hot, yeah, but they show that she is dateless because she is extremely quirky. Alas, some hot people do have to deal with this.
It really is a great show now. It makes me really like NBC (weird!)…not only is NBC’s Thursday lineup completely awesome, they allow themselves and GE to be made fun of on 30 Rock. Great move by them, I say.
