23 January 2008

I love me some 30 Rock


For those of you who don't know who Kenneth Parcell (from my quote of the week) is (and haven't bothered to Google it), he's a character from the TV show 30 Rock. It is not often I like a show so much I'll make sure to watch it every week, but 30 Rock is on that list.

30 Rock is named after a nickname for 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, where NBC's main offices are. The show follows a Tina Fey, who is playing a writer for a fictional sketch comedy show that is on NBC. Essentially it's Saturday Night Live, just by a different name.

It's not the premise that makes me love the show so much, it's the characters and writing. The writing is very well done; it's tight and every line seems hand-crafted. Funny lines like the following occur frequently:

Jenna: If the president is so serious about the war on terror, why doesn't he hunt down and capture Barack Obama before he strikes again?

Dot Com: Yo, Kenneth, we need to talk now.
Kenneth: Oh, I've had this conversation before. You're marrying my mom, aren't you?

Jack: You've been avoiding me, Lemon.
Liz: How do you do that without turning around?
Jack: To be perfectly honest, the first couple of people I did that to were not you, but...here we are.

Jack: Lemon, I want to thank you. For showing me that I could have a pleasant evening with a woman my age.
Liz: I'm 12 years younger than you.
Jack: A woman your age then.

Another thing that makes 30 Rock great is that it picks on everyone, much like The Simpsons. I know Alec Baldwin is a flaming liberal, but when the show makes fun of crazy nutjob environmentalists and then old white conservative men, I laugh the whole time.

Their dedication is noticeable as well. When the producers, writers, etc. take the time to make costumes and write a few lines for a song named Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, all for a five-second cutaway joke, you know they care.

Look, it's just a great show and I'm sad there won't be any new episodes until this durn Writer's Strike is over. And that'll be who knows when. I'll have to console myself by watching old episodes on nbc.com.

2 comments:

Jimmy said...

Best sitcom I've ever seen

Anna said...

I love Jack! His deep intense voice cracks me up. My husband and I were watching a movie with him in it recently and I just kept wishing he were Jack, because Jack is so much funnier than this character was. Oh, good show.