One Time

I just watched the new 30 Rock special.  Actually, it was a hybrid 30 Rock/NBCUniversal infomercial.  The upfront was written into the plot--easy enough, since the characters always worked for NBC. Apparently, a number of affiliates opted out.  Why should they promote the Peacock streaming service?

It was good to have the gang back.  Yes, it was another one of those shows mostly done on Zoom, but it was well-filmed (even if the filming was done by the actors at home) and had plenty of great jokes.  The plot was about the old TGS crew trying to get back with Kenneth, former page, now-NBC-head busy introducing the new season.

It's still limiting that, with minor exceptions, there's only one actor at a time on any given set.  But the Tina Fey/Robert Carlock formula of (good) jokes, and plenty of 'em, still works. (As it did in the recent pre-pandemic, interactive Kimmy Schmidt episode.)

Yet, ironically, it may be this formula that guaranteed 30 Rock didn't catch on in syndication. Plenty of solid gags from beloved characters is a good thing, but gags whizzing by so fast you can't catch them all coming from quirky (in an off-putting way) characters, apparently not.  Another critically admired show, Arrested Development, had a similar problem. (Compare to The Office, which, like 30 Rock, was never a huge hit in its initial run, but is cleaning up in syndication.)

In general, I find quarantine comedy (such as is done by all the talks shows these days) depressing.  But 30 Rock showed it can still be fun.