Like A Rock

As excited as I am to get new Community this Thursday at 8, it also means the run of 30 Rock is over. The show went out like a champ.  The final season, especially the last few episodes, were great.  They knew they were exiting--after seven seasons, just like The Mary Tyler Moore Show which they're sometimes compared to--so got to explore all the relationships and give us closure.

More important, the show was funny all the way through, with its high joke density and quality. It was somewhat sentimental, but never maudlin. Liz and Jack got to understand how much they meant to each other.  Liz got a husband and some kids (who are suspiciously like Jenna and Tracy).  Jack got to be CEO, then quit, then came back.  Tracy got to say goodbye to everyone properly, while Jenna got to sing the theme to The Rural Juror. Lutz got revenge on the writing staff.  Pete faked his death to get away from his family (for a year).  And Kenneth became the ageless head of NBC.

30 Rock was never a huge hit, and they knew it, so they decided to go in odd directions, figuring their smaller fan base (with excellent demographics) would follow.  Partly because they were critically admired--three Emmys for best comedy and a ton of nominations--and partly because NBC was doing so poorly in general, the show got to stay on the air for as long as it did, and we should be grateful.  I don't know if I'd place it at the top of the list of great sitcoms, but it's not far from it.

Meanwhile, The Office continues its final season with the idiotic plot introducing the crew that shoots the "documentary." It looks like the dreamy sound man will have some sort of relationship with Pam.  The whole concept of a documentary crew filming the show is an embarrassment that makes no sense. Concentrating on them makes the show worse than the already tired shell of itself it's become.