There are too many highlights to 30 Rock Season 2 to list them all, and the 15 episodes in this set (the season was shortened due to the writers' strike) are more engaging and in many cases, funnier than Season 1. The show won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series for its second year, and Tina Fey won the well-deserved Emmy for best actress in a comedy. It's not often that the award winners are really the best in their fields, but in this case, it is so.Season 2 begins with a guest appearance by Jerry Seinfeld and any struggling comedy show would love the endorsement of the man behind one of television's most enduring and respected shows. But the truth is that 30 Rock is not Seinfeld; its characters may be as wacky and the show may put Liz Lemon in similarly uncomfortable predicaments, but Seinfeld was about four people, and it didn't matter much what their professions were. 30 Rock is about life on a television show and its corporate bosses. Audiences need a sense of what the business roles of the characters are to understand the dynamics of the show.
While it may be slightly more complicated than Seinfeld, 30 Rock may be funnier. Tracy Morgan's character is played as both a self-absorbed celebrity and a deranged lunatic. Both are divorced from reality. When Morgan does a 12-second bit from a music video
called "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah," you can see the depth of the writing, putting thought and hilarious detail into the corners of the characters' backstories.The second season had a lot of guest stars, none of whom dominated the show in the way the guests on a show like Will & Grace did. When Carrie Fisher guested as a former comedy show writer and Liz' hero, her real-life celebrity wasn't the basis for the show; instead, her character was a way for the show to examine the depth of social commentary in television comedy today and 30 years ago. It was about the character, not the star. The same goes for David Schwimmer's guest turn as "Greenzo" (an episode that featured an appearance by Al Gore as well), and Buck Henry and Andy Ritcher as Liz' father and brother. (It helps that the show doesn't have a laugh track, or audience applause when a new guest star emerges.)
Edie Falco's arc as a love interest for Jack (Alec Baldwin) provided some of the highlights of the season. After so many years of seeing Falco as Tony Soprano's long-suffering wife, it was a pleasure to see her as a confident, powerful and funny Congresswoman. Baldwin continues to be the show's steady straight man, providing wonderful delivery of lines like "'Businesswoman? I'm not sure that's even a real word."
With the exception of Jack McBrayer and Jane Krakowski, most of the supporting cast seemed absent in the second season. A show's focus should be on its stars, and 30 Rock does a lot with Fey, Baldwin and Morgan, but with talented supporting players (used to greater effect in season 1) like Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, and more, it's hard not to want to see more of them and their eccentric characters. Of course, maybe the shortened season also shortened what we saw of the cast. But it's Fey's show and she commands your attention as Liz Lemon, who seems a sensible character with her own weird traits (she's more in love with food than anything). Fey clearly has a good time writing and playing a comedic version of a comedy show's head writer, and her enjoyment is infectious. Watching 30 Rock, you can't help but love Lemon and Fey.Three moments to seek out in this group of episodes: Kenneth's party, which is only seen in brief flashbacks ("Greenzo") but is presented as the most insane gathering on screen yet; the cast singing "Midnight Train To Georgia" ("Episode 210")
with Gladys Knight looking on; and Dean Winters' reappearance ("Subway Hero") as Liz' old boyfriend Dennis Duffy, who always provides some of the best moments of the season.The DVD extras are pretty good and include one particularly special item: Video of the cast performing live in New York (during the writers' strike to raise money for their laid off staff workers). This was a very cool undertaking on its own, and for fans to be able to see this stuff demonstrates the dedication to the show's audience. Also, linger on the menu for the bonus material and you will hear the full audio for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah."
30 Rock is the best and smartest comedy show in many years. If you're not watching it, you're really missing something. Tune in to the show in its third season and play catch up with these season two discs.
