Much has been made of the fact that NBC launched two series last year that dealt with fictitious Saturday Night Live-type programs, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, and Tina Fey's 30 Rock. Both were excellent programs that deserved to survive. Sorkin's didn't, but fortunately for audiences, Fey's did and went on to win the Emmy for Best Comedy Series last month.The first season of 30 Rock recalls the great HBO series The Larry Sanders Show in the way it presents a behind-the-scenes view of a variety program, as well as NBC's sitcom classic Seinfeld in the way it presents a variety of eccentric characters who may work in television but act like normal folks going to work everyday. You'd never know Fey's Liz Lemon was running a live comedy show every week by the way she dresses, the food she eats, the movies she enjoys and the men she dates. Fey is hilariously uncomfortable in her own skin, and her conflict between the creative and corporate aspects of her life are at the heart of the show.
Alec Baldwin, long an SNL host, won a 
Golden Globe for his portrayal of the corporate executive that has taken a liking to Lemon and her staff but who also wants to mold the show with his corporate vision, which includes GE ovens. Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy is exactly the type to showcase how corporations have seeped into every surface of our lives.
Golden Globe for his portrayal of the corporate executive that has taken a liking to Lemon and her staff but who also wants to mold the show with his corporate vision, which includes GE ovens. Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy is exactly the type to showcase how corporations have seeped into every surface of our lives. Tracy Morgan, another SNL vet who is memorable even from small parts, such as in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, gives his character of Tracy Jordan his raging best. Jordan is certifiably crazy, but Lemon has had him forced onto her show by Jack, in an effort to boost ratings. In one episode, Lemon's white guilt brings her to ask Jordan if he can read. Seeing an opportunity to cut out of work early every day to get "tutoring," Jordan asserts "I can't read, Liz Lemon!" In another episode, he invites his co-workers to a party on board a yacht -- one he doesn't own.
The rest of the cast is outstanding as well. Jane Krakowski's Jenna is vain and clueless. Her attempt to convince her boss she's only 29, and her ploys to get what she wants by using her "sexuality," make for a number of embarrassing - and very funny - moments. Jack McBrayer's Kenneth is an innocent farmboy working in the big city, and through him, we see everyone else's faults. Baldwin's Jack becomes fascinated by Kenneth, someone so pure that it upsets the balance at the top of the corporate ladder. There have been plenty of great guest-stars as well, adding to the show's fun. (The second season opener featured Jerry Seinfeld.) Isabella Rossellini did a couple of great guest spots in season one, much better (and more substantial) than her appearance on Friends all those years ago.
The show's writing has been as consistent and as funny as the best sitcoms - and you could hardly expect less from Fey, one of SNL's best writers in its 30-year history. It's also a very smart show - listen to the references that are thrown in (Jack tells Liz he's busy one night, attending "Ann Coulter's 60th birthday party").
The show's longevity is not assured however, and this second year will establish it or not. But as the Season One DVD collection demonstrates, this is a show as good as anything that has come before it, and which deserves to finish out in style - say, maybe seven or eight years from now.
More info: 30 Rock: Official Network Site
