30 Rock

NBC’s 30 Rock has established itself as one of the best true comedies on television, and Season 1 starts the show off admirably. 30 Rock combines absurd situations with subtle humor to create a show that never takes itself too seriously. It gives the audience plenty of laugh-out-loud moments set up by the hilarious cast of the show. Liz Lemon (played by Fey) is the head writer of a fictional show on NBC who works with an interesting mix of characters, ranging from her quirky but intelligent boss, Jack Donaghy (Baldwin), to the happy-go-lucky office page, Kenneth (McBrayer).

Season 1 begins when Jack Donaghy becomes the Vice President of Development for NBC, where he takes a hands-on approach to his new job. He immediately brings in an eccentric, obnoxious movie star in Tracy Jordan (played by Tracy Morgan) and puts him in the lead role of Lemon’s show, The Girlie Show, which becomes known as TGS with Tracy Jordan. This comes much to the chagrin of the star of The Girlie Show, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). Most of the season deals with Lemon frantically trying to keep TGS with Tracy Jordan from falling apart by managing the wacky band of characters that keeps TGS running.

As Lemon is the clog that keeps TGS from failing, Tina Fey is the clog that keeps 30 Rock together. She isn’t the funniest character on the show, or the smartest, but she is the constant that all the others play off of. Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy is a terrific character. He is a Princeton-educated executive and is both funny and witty. Baldwin’s chemistry with Fey is phenomenal, and it really keeps the show running smoothly. Kenneth the page is hilarious in his own right. He is extremely naïve, and a bit dim-witted, but he is always cheerful and almost always has a funny line that is completely unintentional. Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney are the stars of TGS with Tracy Jordan, and they both can be hilarious at times. Both of them rarely expand out of their stereotypes, however, which can make their subplots predictable and too slapstick. Jordan is the loud-mouthed and dim-witted actor who often rolls with his entourage. Maroney is a neurotic, dim-witted actress who suffers from an extreme lack of self-confidence. She can be hilarious at times, such as when she goes on the show “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and confuses Barack Obama with Osama Bin Laden, and states that the United States should go after Obama and that she will vote for Osama in the election. Other characters can be very funny , such as Frank (Friedlander), who is a writer on the show who still lives in his mother’s house. Frank is a funny supporting character, but he is not a strong enough character to carry many subplots. The same can be said for Pete (Adsit), a producer of TGS, who is a bit underdeveloped as a character, but he still has his moments.

Season 1 of 30 Rock comes across as more polished than most debut seasons of shows, and perhaps that’s because the experienced actors that the show boasts. It never loses sight of the fact that it is a comedy by getting too emotional, which keeps the show’s identity clear and intact. The plots can be good, but I find that I don’t care about Liz Lemon’s or Jack Donaghy’s troubles, I just want them to make me laugh. Perfect comedies (with the exception of Seinfeld) make the audience care about the characters, rather than just have them as joke-spewing entities. And while 30 Rock accomplishes this better than many shows, it still does not succeed at this, and thus, it isn’t a perfect comedy. However, it is still one of the best comedies on television, and anyone looking for some certain laughs should check out Season 1 of 30 Rock.