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TV Review: 30 Rock: The Light Side of NBC's Narcissism
By Logan Scherer: 2006-10-11 00:00:00
After watching the pilot episode of ‘Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,’ the other NBC series that pokes fun at the increasingly waning live sketch comedy genre, viewers should have been relieved to discover that no former ‘SNL’ stars are members of its cast and that the show uses an invented network, NBS, as its headquarters. Creator and ‘SNL’-vet Tina Fey’s '30 Rock,' in a brazen move away from any hint of self-consciousness, makes no such tasteful attempt to mask its blatant influences, making NBC the home network of its fictitious show-within-a-show and employing numerous ‘SNL’ alums on its cast. The show’s unabashed attitude results in heavy-handed efforts at hilarity that occasionally work, but ultimately could use some self-control.
Liz Lemon (Fey) is the perpetually cranky head writer of ‘The Girlie Show,’ an ‘SNL’-type sketch show featuring comic Jenna DeCarlo (Jane Krakowski), who must now deal with the demands of first-day-on-the-job NBC Vice President Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Donaghy effortlessly reads into Lemon’s K-Mart-ish aura, nailing her angst-thriving feminist personality upon first sight in one of the pilot’s crispest moments. Donaghy seems to be accurate with this quick evaluation of Lemon, but Fey’s frenzied performance makes it all wrong. The wry and natural Fey of ‘SNL’ and “Mean Girls,” loved by audiences, is clouded by her overwrought attempt at novelty, which, in this case, is not a good thing. Baldwin’s Donaghy, with his self-deprecating swagger, is the gem of '30 Rock.’ Baldwin’s graceful comic delivery shines amidst a generally lackluster cast (disregarding Rachel Dratch’s ingenious cameo) dealing with arrhythmic writing – the jokes come at awkward intervals that seem arbitrary. Interludes involving Tracy Morgan’s Tracy Jordan (the character is much more annoying than the rhyming pun) are merely unfunny attempts to mimic those delicious ‘Arrested Development’ segues. '30 Rock’ avoids the clichéd formula of the sitcom in a commendable attempt at originality, but falls extremely short of any resemblance to success. The show tries too hard to capture the shamelessness of 'The Office,' while neglecting to take the sardonic stabs at television so glibly incorporated into ‘Studio 60.’ Perhaps what '30 Rock' needs is some intelligent restraint. NBC ought to request a restraining order.
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