30 Rock: Season 2

I was introduced to "30 Rock" last year, and I was pleasantly surprised that it is extremely funny! The only other time I had seen Tina Fey act was in "Mean Girls" (another very funny movie). This is a cleverly written show; I wish the 2nd season was longer, but I believe this was the season of the Writers' Strike, and it ended at an odd point. However, the characters are very entertaining, and the important thing is that you care about a lot of them, even though they are drawn very superficially sometimes. The show pokes fun at everything under the sun, and is a great one to pop into the DVD player on a day when you could really use some laughter and some hot chocolate.

Every episode of this series is a comedic gem, I've decided to revisit the series and have now watched Season 1 and now Season 2, and can tell you there is not a weak episode to be seen. Tina Fey is BRILLIANT, she's created the perfect laugh machine series, the writing is perfect, the casting impossible to improve on, and Alec Baldwin, an already brilliant actor, has been gifted the best role of his life. Am I gushing too much? I'm just thankful for the laughs.

If you enjoy the show it’s a real kick to be able to just slip it in anytime desired. This is a great season

Despite the momentum-threatening writers strike that gave us a 3-month break between the 10th and 15th episodes, "30 Rock" suffered no sophomore slump. Many of the S2 episodes were instant classics, including "Rosemary's Baby" with Carrie Fisher as Liz Lemon's one-time comedy idol -- a once-edgy but now just whacked-out writer; the "Somebody to Love", "Secrets and Lies," "Coffee and TV" trilogy featuring Jack's doomed but oh-so-hot romance with congresswoman C.C. Cunningham (Edie Falco); and a finale that hilariously nails the attitudes of Bush-era D.C. ("Cooter"). Marvelous turns by guest-stars abound, including a reprise of Jack's mother by the astonishing Elaine Stritch; the return of Will Arnett as Jack's G.E. nemesis, Devin Banks, and of Dean Winters and Jason Sudeikis as Liz's former boyfriends, Dennis "the Beeper King" Duffy and Floyd, former G.E. attorney now relocated to "the Cleve"; Fred Armisen as a suspicious neighbor in Liz's apartment building; and Buck Henry, Anita Gillette, and Andy Richter as Liz's parents and brother. To make up for the shorted season, the producers are augmenting the strike-shortened season with many more extras than the S1 DVD set had. Check out the listings here: [...] TEN of the fifteen episodes will have commentary tracks (compared to only six of S1's 22 episodes). Then there's a table-read, Tina hosting SNL, an ATAS evening, and the item I'm really dying to see: "30 Rock Live" at the UCB theater (an on-stage sneak-preview performance of Ep. 8, "Secrets and Lies" that occurred during the strike). Can't wait for this set's release on Oct. 7!

Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are one of the great comedy teams ever. Thats enough to love this show. But watch the "30 Rock Live" special feature and that appreciation will turn into affection for this cast. The cast of 30 Rock does a live show to benefit the PA's put out of work during the writer's strike. So not only are they incredibly talented, smart and funny, but they are terrific human beings, putting their concern for their fellow humans into tangible action. I love this ensemble, not in a creepy keeping-their-used-kleenex way, but in a over-the-top annoying telling-everyone-I-know-how-great-they-are way. 30 Rock Forever!

Brilliant. The first four season of 30 Rock are comedy gold. Lots of hilarious sight gags, parodies and clever word play that fans of Seinfeld, Arrested Development and Curb You Enthusiasm will eat up. If you like Big Bang Theory and Two Broke Girls, then you may feel a bit overwhelmed as the jokes sail past your head.

Why haven’t you watched this yet?

Great show and it made my laugh a lot. After a long day why not end it with a tv show that makes fun of all the crazy things we go through everyday. It have it on DVD I can play it again and again.

They removed 30 Rock from Netflix, so I've been buying used physical copies instead. This was a great find.

Ayant découvert cette série sur le tard, je me régale en enfilant les saisons les unes à la suite des autres! Les personnages, l'humour, ...une belle évolution! Hâte de voir la suite!

I must confess that I came very late to 30 Rock. Call me stereotypical, patronising or judgemental if you may, but I have an in-built suspicion of 'female-penned or female orientated' television. I hate the very idea that all women must love a TV series because it is aimed squarely at them (I'm thinking of the horrid hyperbole that surrounds Sex And The City or the early days of Desperate Housewifes), I have no particular problem with either program (I just choose to ignore them) but I find the marketing ploy to treat all women as braindead sheep who will always follow the trend to be exasperating and yes, patronising. It also does'nt help my mood when I see superb drama such as The Wire or Deadwood pushed to the sidelines (in certain areas of the media) in favour of more women-friendly programs such as Ugly Betty. Once again, I have no problem with these programs exsisting, just that I find the media overdrive that follows their creaion depressing. So you can imagine how sceptical I was of the Tina Fey created 30 Rock. Here was a program which featured a female protaganist, was originally penned by a female and has an over-riding feeling of female relationship troubles running throughout (also note that my other favourite comedies include Curb, Peep Show and The Office). No wonder I took so long to discover it, but discover it I certainly did. And coming from my previous point-of-view, I now consider this to be the finest American network sitcom since the all conquering Seinfeld. Tina Fey plays the extremely likeable (& fallable) Liz Lemon, the head writer on NBC show TGS (originally The Girlie Show). Lemon is a superb creation, much like any great comedy creation we always see her faults (of which there are many) as endearing & loveable. She spends most her screen time desperatly trying to keep her show running smoothly by in turns stroking the inflated ego of her two main stars and keeping a hard stance with her writing team (most noteably the wonderful Frank). All the while she is looking for a man to share her (at times) heart-breakingly lonely life with. The episode where she befriends a lesbian is both warm & devastating heartbreaking, her fear of choking alone in her apartment and going days without discovery & her determined stance that lonliness is her 'lifestyle choice' give the show a depth missing from most television programming. The friendships she does strike up are all incredibly varied, the flirty stance she shares with Jack Donaghy (the monumental Alec Baldwin), the reliable work relationship with TGS's producer Pete, the long-time-always-depend-upon-me best friend Jenna and her bossy relationship with her writing team. Any moment that Fey is on screen is TV gold and her likeability is only equalled by her immense talent. But this isn't only about Fey, this show has so much depth it is impossible to do it justice on here (but I'll give it a shot). First of all is Alec Baldwin who has a long & varied film career with encompasses everything from Tim Burton's cult classic Beetlejuice to the Michael Bay special effect laden Pearl Harbor (and every genre in between). He is truly monumental in his portrayal of Jack Donagy being extremely elegant & suave throughout whilst always holding a commanding air. He is a marvel. The supporting cast also shines right through with the 2 stars of TGS Jenna Marony (the beautiful Jane Krakowski) and Tracy Jordan (the Eddie Murphy-esque Tracy Morgan) always bringing warmth and humour to any scene. I espeically like the story thread in season 4 where Tracy decides to go for the EGOT (by which he aims to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award while actually not possessing any talent of particular note). The writing team (most notably the aforementioned Frank, the black Harvard graduate Twofer and the very secretive Lutz) offer many moments of much needed lad humour with their idiotic schemes & childish ramblings. And last but certainly not least, the incredeible page Kenneth (played by Jack McBayer). Kenneth is possibly the true star of the show, coming across as Woody's (from Cheers) simple brother (yes, he truly is that simple). He is completely naive about his role at NBC beleiving that he is living the high life even whilst he cleans pizza from the ceiling!!. The entire cast bring a real warmth to the show and the writing is always sharp, witty and well informed. In an age where old fashioned comedy seems to be at death's door and when it is now considered comedy to mislead the public with varios inane antics, it is nice to see a show which offers the basic art of humour within the context of great writing and superb comedic performance. If you find yourself enjoying comedies such as Seinfeld, Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm or Eastbound & Down then you should give this superb creation your full attention.

"30 Rock" Staffel 2 ist eine brillante Fortsetzung der ersten Staffel und erzählt die Geschichte um Liz Lemon und ihre Fernsehshow wunderbar weiter. Viele alt bekannte Charaktere tauchen wieder auf und eine unglaubliche Fülle von Gaststars gibt sich hier die Ehre, z.B. David Schwimmer (bekannt als Ross aus Friends) oder Jerry Seinfeld. Der Fokus wird in dieser Staffel weniger auf die eigentiche Produktion der "TGS", also der Show, für die Liz und ihre Crew Gags schreiben, gelegt, sondern schildert die persönlichen Geschehnisse der einzelnen Darsteller. Seien es Liz Lemons Ex-Freunde, die plötzlich wieder vor der Tür stehen oder die "wahre" Liebe, die Jack Donaghy endlich erleben darf. Natürlich wäre es nicht "30 ROCK", wenn bei diesen ganzen Erlebnisse nicht eine Menge schief gehen würde und alles am Ende im Chaos versinkt. Insbesondere Alec Baldwin alias Jack Donaghy spielt seine Rolle als egomanischer und kapitalistischer Vizechef von NBC so witzig und gekonnt, dass es nicht verwundert, dass er bereits mit dem Emmy und dem Golden Globe ausgezeichnet wurde. Das Bewunderns- und Sehenswerte an "30 ROCK" ist aber die Gag-Dichte. Es vergehen keine 2 Minuten, in denen kein guter bis genialer Witz gemacht wird. Ich musste beim Schauen zwischen den einzelnen Episoden Pausen machen, weil ich vor lauter Lachen keine Luft mehr bekommen habe. Leider besteht die Staffel, aufgrund des Autorenstreiks in den USA nur aus 15 Folgen, aber die sind so gut, dass es darüber hinwegtröstet. Eigentlich hatte ich mir vorgenommen pro Tag nur eine Folge, maximal zwei Folgen zu sehen, damit ich länger gut von der Serie hatte. Das habe ich aber leider nur 2 Tage durchgehalten und die restlichen 12 Folgen an zwei weiteren Tagen durchgeguckt. Es ist wirklich schade, dass diese tolle, lustige und gut inszenierte Comedy-Serie nur auf Spartenkanälen zu sehen ist und ihren Weg ins private Fernsehen noch nicht geschafft hat, so dass sie einem breiterem Publikum präsentiert werden kann - verdient hätte sie's!

Cette seconde saison ne chance pas la formule magique de la première, humour absurde et corrosif de SEINFELD mais ici au féminin.