30 Rock

By Media Maven Right now, 30 Rock is straddling the line between two comedy camps.  On one side, you've got absurdist, self-contained, character-driven comedy.  This is where characters like Kenneth, Tracy and Jenna get to shine; where Tina drinks wine on a treadmill; where Jack collects cookie jars, etc.  On the other side, you've got more traditional, realistic situational comedy.  Stuff like Liz buying a wedding dress, going before the co-op board, Jack juggling his secret romance with Cece, Jack bring Tracy to the golf weekend with Don Guise-- these are believable, motivated situations. So what can 30 Rock do?  Here are my 3 suggestions:   [read the full post]

By Media Maven I'm nervous we've got a reverse The Office situation on our hands.  In the first 2 seasons of The Office, the show was about 75% Michael, 20% Pam/Jim/Dwight, 5% everyone else.  But the past few years, they've found a better balance and have incorporated all the terrific supporting characters like Andy, Angela, Kevin, etc.  On 30 Rock, we started in season 1 with a great balance between Jack/Liz and the hilarious support of Kenneth/Jenna/Tracy, but the past few episodes, carrying over from season 2 in to last night, have seen these players relegated to a much more diminished role.  I know that Tina Fey is the face of this show and that she and Baldwin are both Emmy winners for their roles, but with screentime already devoted to the big name gue...   [read the full post]

By Media Maven 8:05 – The UCB announcer introduces each member of the 30 Rock cast, as the live music plays. Every major player is here except for Alec Baldwin’s assistant Jonathan (a.k.a. Sanjay from Weeds) and guest star Edie Falco, whose role is played by SNL scribe Paula Pell. Baldwin and Morgan get the most cheers by far. Grade: A Following the lead of Saturday Night Live’s live performance at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York last Saturday, the Emmy-winning cast of 30 Rock performed a live staged reading of an upcoming episode to a standing room only crowd at UCB tonight. And guess who was lucky enough to score a seat? [...]   [read the full post]