30 Rock Talk

30 Rock is a sitcom currently in its sixth season and airs on NBC, but I caught a rerun of a season five episode titled "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightening," which aired on Comedy Central at 7p.m. last Monday night.  In this episode Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), head writer for the fictional NBC sketch comedy show TGS, is faced with an all too familiar problem... the star the her show ,Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), is not in the mood to rehearse.  Meanwhile, head executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), is coming up with another scheme to achieve what all in the television industry strive for, higher ratings.  30 Rock is known for its witty ways of plugging ads into their show, but in this episode the only ads were through commercials and Comedy Central filling the bottom left corner of the screen with "New Tosh.0 tomorrow at 10," and a pop-up ad for the network premier of "The Goods: Live Hard/Sell Hard."  The commercial ads were pretty basic.  A lot of movie ads such as the DVD release of "Drive," and the new "Ghost Rider" film... both of these ads came up multiple times.  Hotwire.com, Quiznos, and Sleep Number were a few of the others.

30 Rocks comedy targets an educated, young adult to middle age audience.  Its almost impossible to catch all of the political jokes, artistic/literary allusions, and musical references if you aren't well caught up with today's society.  30 Rock also relates to its audience with many guest star cameos... maybe a little bit of a cheesy way to get you to watch the show, but hey, when you have the connections Baldwin, Fey and Morgan have, why not throw a little De Niro, Damon, and Ghostface Killah in the mix?  The show is set inside the GE building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City.  It gives you a behind the scenes look at the making and filming of "TGS."  Scenes are mostly set in the writers room, Mr. Donaghy's executive office, and in the dressing rooms of TGS' stars, Tracy Jordan and Jenna Moroney (Jane Krakowski).  30 Rock is a show within a show.  You see actors acting as actors, and see a show put together for a live audience that's not really a live audience.  This is one way 30 Rock separates itself from other sitcoms.  However, its satirical style comedy is very similar to many sitcoms on TV right now.

This show is ALL about stereotypes.  From top to bottom, done it all, near perfect man Jack Donaghy, to the sultry blonde writers secretary Cerie, every character is perfectly over the top.  The most noticeable and over the top have to be the stars of TGS, Tracy and Jenna.  Both are narcissistic actors who have zero grasp on reality.  Before TGS, Tracy starred in many feature films including, "Fat Bitch", "Who Dat Ninja?" and "Black Cop White Cop," just to name a few.  These films are the stereotypical to black comedian actors.  To get a better idea check out the movie posters here.  Then there's Jenna.  The  stereotypical variety show actress.  She can sing, dance and sleep around with the best of 'em.  Conceited? Her
boyfriend's career is performing as a Jenna Moroney in a drag show.  30 Rock stereotypes their actors as being egotistical loonies.  If I were a foreign visitor I would say in US culture, famous people are dicks.

STRENGTHS:  It would be easy to say the writing is what makes 30 Rock so successful, but it would be unfair to look past the cast.  If you don't feel like analyzing every wisecrack you hear, you can always laugh at anything that comes out of Tracy's mouth, or read Frank's (Judah Friedlander) hat.  The cast makes it possible for anyone to enjoy the show by their solid acting and all around natural funniness.
WEAKNESSES:  Many may find the show to go a little over the top too often.  I could see the older audience being off-put with Tracy's slapstick comedy and constant immaturity.

I'm a big fan of the show for both the cast and the writing.  I find all the jokes and stereotypes funny and even a little crude, but never to the point of being turned off or upset.  I know this is a highly critically acclaimed show, but surprisingly I'm the only one out of all my friends and family who watches on a regular basis.  This review, written in 2008 by Alessandra Stanley for The New York Times, still had not been received well by a large audience even after the show had won "many Emmy's."

What I really learned most about 30 Rock after doing this assignment is that they have a really awesome and interactive fan site.  I would strongly recommend checking the show out when you get a chance.  The new season's on NBC every Thursday night at 8 and you can catch reruns on Comedy Central every week night.  Watch it, its funny!