Tina Fey's "30 Rock" season 1 thread (1 Viewer)

[CherylJ]

I agree with most people that the second episode was an improvement on the first, but not by much. It is not as funny as I expected it to be, or would like it to be.

The flash card bit was funny though. "That's Heidi Klum. That's the guy sleeping with Heidi Klum."

And Alec Baldwin is going to keep me watching for another week or two. But it needs to up the funny quite a bit or I will be canceling my season pass.

 

[David Deeb]

I only caught the 2nd episode, but I really liked it.

It's also great to see a 30:00 minute comedy shot on location in HD w/ 5.1 rather than the studio audience stuff. 30 Rock looks & sounds great in addition to being very funny.

Very few commerical breaks too, a big plus, unlike Lost this year which has commercials every 4 minutes.

I also like the setting / content. But I wonder if the average viewer will be interested in, or even get, half the inside jokes.

 

[John_Lee]

Put me on the trying to feel it, but not quite able to yet, wagon.

My thoughts throughout the episodes are generally;

1. Tina's cute.
2. Alec can make anything funnier than it otherwise would be.
3. Where's the rest of the funny?

I think part of the problem is so many of the characters already have too much of a persona to separate and see their present characters

I see Tina and see the SNL headwriter who wanted to star in a prime time sitcom, not show runner Liz Lemon.

I see Alec and see the movie star who has always been great on SNL and wants to be the anchor of a prime time sitcom, not Jack the exec.

I see Jane and see the kooky secretary from Ally McBeal, not the flighty star of the Girlie Show.

I see Judah and see the wisecracker from 'The Best Week Ever to Love the VH1 Nostalgia from Previous Decades' who also does a great Toby Radloff, not Frank the writer.

I see Tracy and see Brian Fellows pretending to be Eddie Murphy, not tracy Jordan.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I thought the pilot was a lot better than last night's episode.

 

[EricW]

i actually like this show and am surprised by all the negative feedback. maybe it's all the high expectations. the Martin Lawrence joke "i am a jedi! i am a jedi!" made me laugh out loud. i don't especially like Tina Fey, but i thought she was great for the character. she does have a nice-girl quality even though she clearly has a darker side (at least humour-wise). the show has a bit of Larry Sanders in it which i love.

 

[Derek Miner]

That's not a bad observation, which makes sense since I mentioned how 30 Rock makes me want to be nowhere near the TV biz. But whereas something like Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiasm works for me is that they are hyper-realistic shows that play on absurd quirks or situations. 30 Rock has the absurd situations in a (for lack of a better word) surreal format. Actually in the second episode, the cutaways to things like Baldwin offering the focus group pizza reminded me of Scrubs. But Scrubs has more heart.

I'm still trying to figure out what 30 Rock is trying to be, really...

 

[Jason_V]

I got all caught up with this one today. After reading all the negative here, I was quite surprised when I found myself laughing quite a bit during both shows. The scenes between Liz and Tracy in the pilot seemed to drag a bit--frankly, I didn't care about their lunch meeting half as much as I cared about getting back to the studio.

For whatever reason, as overused a device as it is, I found the various microphone miscues by Liz to be extremely funny. Then again, I've always found Tina Fey to be the best part of whatever she was doing. This is definately a TiVO show since Jericho is on opposite it...and I don't have control of the TV at 8 on Wednesdays.

 

[Hanson]

I got the feeling that the original line after Tracey delivers, "Proud as a peaCOCK" was, "You hit the cock a little too hard". It was still funny, just not "milk coming out of your nose" funny. That whole promo shooting scene was hilarious overall.

My reservation with this episode was that I assumed the premise to be Jack comes aboard with no experience in TV and doesn't care about the quality of the show -- to him, it's just another appliance that needs the proper marketing. He makes unneeded and unreasonable changes and demands week after week that require Liz to somehow pull of, which she does. On the surface, this makes Jack look like a genius, but in reality it's Liz who is creatively getting out of precarious situations and Jack is constantly backing her into a corner.

However, Jack is already some sort of all knowing and ominipotent entity that knows exactly how to make a show good. I though he was supposed to be an empty suit, but instead he's the puppet master. At this point, I don't like where this show is heading. Should we be cheering for a character like this? Because that's where things seem to be going. I was trying to justify the blatant and whoreish nature of the Trivection oven placement in the pilot, but coupled with the most recent ep, I starting to think this is all some sort of kow-tow to the GE suits.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I laughed quite a few times during this episode. The 2 main subplots provide enough laughs to tune in next week as well. The scenes with Baldwin and the Kenny character were gold. As far as Liz goes, her scenes with Stephanie March were good for a laugh or two.

 

[Citizen87645]

I loved the shout out to Conan.

 

[ScottH]

Alec Baldwin certainly carried this episode. Tina Fey continues to bring it down though. I was ready to change the channel if she choked one more time.

 

[AnthonyC]

It gets better each week but it's still hasn't reached the "pretty good" level.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I get a weird feeling when I watch this like it was written with the rhythms of a traditional sitcom to be shot before an audience. There is this constant almost mechanical set-up-joke/set-up joke pace to each scene. It almosts needs a live audience or laugh track to make it sound right. If they figure out how to break out of this rhythm and take more advantage of the single camera format in the writing and editing, this show could be much more entertaining. They did some of this in the pilot in the scenes where they cut between the studio and the strip club to fairly comic effect. I like the characters and the cast enough to give it a couple more chances.

Regards,

 

[Jason_V]

FYI, guys: Starting November 30, "30 Rock" is moving to Thursday at 9:30 as the bookend to NBC's new comedy block (Earl, Office, Scrubs, Rock).

 

[EricW]

i thought Conan had a cameo in one of these episodes? did i forget he was already one or did i imagine the clip on Late Nite with Conan Obrien?

 

[Henry C]

He does have a cameo later in the season, they just showed the clip when she was on Late Night promoting 30 Rock.

 

[Sam Favate]

Thought this week's was the best episode yet. Getting funnier all the time.

 

[pitchman]

I caught this for the first time the other night and thought it was pretty good. Overall, the show struck me as a bit uneven, but there were definitely a few genuine, laugh-out-loud moments. I don't think I can say that about any other sitcom currently airing in primetime. I will definitely check it out in the future.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Baldwin killed me this week, and Kenny is approaching lethal status.

Now, they need to institute a weekly Cerie posedown. Yowie!

The crew's reaction to Liz in the Diva outfit: Haha.

 

[Citizen87645]

Figures the one night I don't watch it in HD...