Rockefeller Plaza

Who better to make a show,comedy or no,about the backstage goings-on with a live,sketch comedy show,than Tina Fey,the former head writer and anchor for "Saturday Night Live"? After pitching the idea a few times to the network,Fey finally got her chance here and it is very strong!

Fey is Liz Lemon,a put-upon,single,thirty-something who heads up the writing and production of "The Girlie Show". It's tottered along just fine to this point,but when the network's hired mucky muck,an arrogant ass whose entertainment experience is almost nil and whose previous departmental supervision dealt with hardware appliances named JAck Donaghy(Alec Baldwin,relishing his ubiquity as comedic ace and character actor everyman)is hired to overlook the show's productionthe pot gets stirred. His first move is to shake up the cast of her show by bringing aboard Tracy Jordan(Tracy Morgan,who REDEFINES acting with abandon),a talented comic with alarming tendencies to emotional meltdowns and irrational behavior.

To make life just a little harder for Liz,she has to deal with:a sexually insecure blonde starlet with aging problems(Jane Krackowski)who considers Liz a friend;an oily,selfish boyfriend;writers who aren't very supportive(Judah Friedlander,Scott Adsit among them)and an unnaturally perky network page(Jack McBrayer).

I understand why NBC was more apt to put the PR rush for Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip",but this is EASILY the better show between the two of them,not the least of which because Miss Fey's work on SNL and the decision to make this show more than bitingly ironic and preachy(as Studio 60 seems to be),comedic and yet not gimmicky. I'm rooting for this show to succeed,and for once,I feel like the network nursing this show is willing to oblige my(and I know I'm not alone feeling this)wishes.

This show has the best writing on TV to date. I know Fey was the original creator of this show. She has reinvented comedy and especially women's place in it. Kudos Tina! You deserve all your success! I've been looking in vein on line to get the full list of staff writers for 30 rock but have yet to find the full list. They all deserve praise. The wit and repartee apparent in the writing is supreme... and the direction isn't too shabby either.

They also include a lot of parody of the genre as well as self deprecating humor. And the way they weave cross product plugs either in extreme obvious ways or so subtly the viewers don't know what hit them. This is true genius. An Emmy is not enough. OK... maybe not a Nobel Prize... but close?

I wasn't sure to expect from 30 Rock, having watched the steady decline of SNL over the last seven years or so. I felt, however, that this was not really a result of the writing as much as it was of the underutilization and/or departure of the most talented players (Ferrell, Oteri, and now Maya Rudolph, for example) and the periodic overexposure of less talented players (I'm looking at you, Jimmy Fallon). I was also encouraged by the fact that the many of the bright spots in SNL's history during that period were provided by host Alec Baldwin. So I was not 100% surprised to find that I love 30 Rock. Baldwin is, as usual, brilliant, and Tina Fey is a fantastic writer who also is humble enough to recognize her strengths and limitations as an actor. Tracy Morgan is constantly off his chain and, along with Baldwin and Jack McBrayer, provides most of the "God, I had to rewind because it was so damned ridiculous" moments ("Imagine Christmas wishes shooting out of your eyes.") The supporting cast is also talented and well utilized; I was very glad to see that "Toofer" and "Cerie," among others, were upgraded to regulars for Season Two. From political satire to slapstick, it's all here. And as an African-American, I was impressed by the way racial issues were handled, from the use of the "N word" to the "white guilt" issues to the country club episode; they were skillfully handled, as some of these are hot button topics and could have gone very, very wrong. This show is just plain good.

I'm rewatching the series in 2020 after having discovered it in a library almost a decade ago and WOW! Has it aged well! Or maybe it's just that the world has aged badly in intervening years.

Step into 30 Rock and inhabit a world where female wit is a force to be reckoned with; where every actor gets their 2.5 minutes of fame per episode, and every character brilliantly subverts their own stereotypes in a way that's deep but not at all serious. From the mid life crisis man in Adsit, to the self sabotaging female boss in Fey, to the rags to riches star in Morgan, the aging fame addicted starlet in Krakowski... you never get tired of seeing the layers fall away from these people. It's light, but still riveting. And it is all tied together by plot arcs that are as insane as the best SNL skits (and funnier, in many cases).

By far, though, the best thing about watching this after several years is that it is so packed with one liners and sharp, snide social commentary that you can watch it again and again and still see new angles and perspectives. There's almost too much to take in in one single viewing in any of these episodes - and that's a great thing if you're a fan of the series, which I am.

I have a feeling you will be, too.

There's an ever-so-faint "Woody Allen" tinge to this inspired behind the scenes look at a live network TV comedy show. But Tina Fey and the other writers can ALWAYS be counted on to take everything just a step or two farther. The performances are uniformly brilliant. Jane Krakowski is delicious as the slightly passé actress who blissfully pounces on the feeblest opportunity to perform. Tracy Morgan is unrestrainedly larger than life in a role that only he could play. Alec Baldwin has such a rich insight into his convoluted, unpredictable character and plays him with such abandon -- it just makes you gasp! And the rest of the cast plays with a level of virtuosity that has only been seen a few times in the history of network television. The comedy is so dense and so polished that it's hard to believe you are watching a weekly program. I come by way of Monty Python, SNL, SCTV, Kids In The Hall, Frasier, Seinfeld, Larry Sanders, Jackie Thomas, Newsradio, Just Shoot Me, and Everybody Loves Raymond. I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but, even after all these GREAT comedies, I think this is the smartest and the funniest TV show I've ever seen!