A.V. Club is giving 30 Rock the episode-by-episode interview treatment. Today, showrunner Robert Carlock walks through pivotal episodes "Pilot", "Jack The Writer", "Tracy Does Conan", and "Sandwich Day".
I decided to forgo charting and graphing this week because with a finale there should be some big picture discussion, not some big pictures. But I really just want to talk about one very short scene in particular, which I think can be used as a barometer on where you stand on 30 Rock Season 6.
About a third of the way through last night's episode, Liz walks onto the TGS set, where a crewmember is prepping a bunch of plants, for a sketch about plants, I guess. Said crewmember proceeds to place one of these plants, a baby plant, into a stroller. In of itself the symbolism of [...]
Last night, it was announced that longtime 30 Rock executive producer John Riggi signed a very lucrative deal with Warner Brothers TV. Riggi has been with the show since its first season and before that he worked on Will & Grace, The Bernie Mac Show, The Comeback and The Larry Sanders Show. He is the latest in a series of 30 Rock staffers who have signed similar deals. Earlier this week Josh Siegal and Dylan Morgan, who've been with the show for three seasons, signed a big deal with Sony Pictures TV. Two weeks ago, Matt Hubbard, who's been a 30 Rock writer for all six seasons, signed a [...]
This post is brought to you by Milk. Who needs imitations when you can have the real thing? Check out gotmilk.com. Workplace-centric sitcoms have been a TV fixture since the days of Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, when it was discovered that basing a show around a group of oddballs who are forced to work together can be a successful formula for scoring laughs. As with most shows and movies, entertainment is the top priority, not realism, and that’s very much the case with the workplace comedy, where accurately depicting a job environment takes a backseat to amusing audiences.
With that [...]
This is the last NBC Thursday night of the season. Hopefully, that's as sad for you to read as it is for me to write. In a time of non-stop media intake, it's nice to know each week there is a collection of shows, aired in succession, that will be worth dedicating a night to. Cherish these clips and these shows and these Thursday nights, before they pave paradise and put up a Dane Cook show. Clips from the 30 Rock and the other Community episodes below:
It has been speculated for a week or so but it still feels nice to get an official word. As we reported, 30 Rock will be given an abbreviated final season. It's sad news for a show arguably still at the height of its powers but it’s a hell of a lot better than it just getting taken off without a finale. In a time rife with cancellation speculation (band name?), it’s nice for a show like 30 Rock to be able to write itself a proper ending; it's what Tina Fey always wanted. No word on Community and Parks & Recreation but things still look solid, [...]
Unpopular Opinions is a bi-weekly column in which a writer takes a stand against popular opinion, whether it's asserting the true merit of a supposedly guilty pleasure or dissenting against the universally lauded.
“Cheers is filmed before a live studio audience.” Those are welcoming words to people of a certain age. They make you think about a home cooked meal after soccer practice. Or a sack of McDonald’s you happily shoved down your throat while waiting for your mom and dad to come home from their weekly night out. Or the can of still beer you guzzled by yourself after stealing it from the front yard of a frat [...]
The wonderful Kay Cannon, a writer at 30 Rock who we interviewed a while back, has just signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television that'll point her in the direction of launching her own show. She'll be leaving 30 Rock after this season to go over to write for New Girl, and while there she'll simultaneously develop a new show of her own. Cannon also wrote Pitch Perfect, a comedy about college a capella groups starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Christopher Mintz-Plasse due to come out later this year. So, you know, keep an eye on this one.
Poorly! 30 Rock and all of the Communitys brought in a 1.3 18-49 rating (at least they're consistent?). In comparison, last week The Office did a 2.3 and Parks & Recreation a 1.7. This matched a series low for the Greendale 7. In real numbers, less than 3 million people watched all of it. Just a reminder of how many people can watch a TV program, American Idol topped off at almost 16 million last night. However, now that both shows have been renewed, this news is less depressing and more something that should brushed off one's shoulders. Brush away everybody, we're almost at our goal of #twelveseasonsandathemepark.
Yesterday was officially Mother's Day but, when NBC announced its projected fall lineup, it felt more like Christmas. How about another analogy? Sure. Upfronts are like the NFL Draft, they mark the end of one season and the start of the next, but its still be months before anything plays out. So what does NBC's draft class look like? If comedies were offensive lineman, than NBC drafted like a lot of right guards. We had reported that they picked up a zillion (or seven) new sitcoms but it's still interesting to look at. If you include SNL, NBC has comedic programming five nights a week, which [...]
While being one of the most, if not the most, revered emerging standups, Hannibal doesn't have tons of acting experience. Yet, as last week's 30 Rock proved, that hasn't hindered his ability to play one hell of a bum. However, maybe he's a bit too good at it, as the clip above suggests. Last week's 30 Rock was just another part of May 2012 being the month of Hannibal Buress, adding to his Comedy Award and the premiere of his role as co-host of The Eric Andre Show and debut of his hour special Hannibal Buress: Animal Furnace (you can see preview of both, kind of, below) [...]
We reported earlier in the evening that Anne Heche's Save Me and Ryan Murphy's The New Normal were joining Matthew Perry's Go On in NBC's fall schedule. Even later last night, NBC picked two more single-camera sitcom pilots, 1600 Penn and Animal Practice. 1600 Penn is a White House-set family sitcom, co-created and starring Josh Gad. Animal Practice is a comedy set in the office of a curmudgeonly veterinarian (Justin Kirk). Also announced was that Greg Daniels's Friday Night Dinner, Sarah Silverman, Hilary Winston, and Roseanne's Downwardly Mobile no longer have a shot to be picked up.
Will these new comedies affect our old favorites? Yes, pretty significantly. To make [...]
