Friday, January 26, 2007

TVCHAT: 30 Reasons to Love '30 Rock' covers all the bases on why '30 Rock' is the best new sitcom this year. Where Studio 60 stumbles, 30 Rock has made sure footed strides. I had no real expectations of this show, but I'll be damned if it didn't sneak up on me and get quite brilliant. A good sign is when a show gets quotable: "This untowards! This is not towards!"

Jack: (to Liz) I like you. You have the boldness of a much younger woman
I am surprised how much this show has turned up the laughs and the pacing's improved ever since a shaky pilot. It's doing what a new show should: gotten better, gotten zanier, gotten bolder. It's improved whereas "The Class" has just floundered about after all the hype.



Jokes are crafted and can be subtle, weird, or the results of a set-up several scenes before. The characters have developed nicely, and Tina Fey has gotten a bit more comfortable with appearing in front of camera, developing Liz Lemon into a charming neurotic mess in a position of power. And that Golden Globe win for Alec Baldwin? So very much deserved. His portrayal of Jack Donaghy is just killer on this show, with lines like: "My mother tried to send me to Vietnam to make a man out of me. I was 12."

Jack: The Italians have a saying: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." They've never won a war or mass-produced a decent car, but in this, they are correct.
Another reason to watch: Whoopi Goldberg had a cameo the other week and I laughed. At Whoopi Goldberg. On purpose.

This show fits so nicely in that NBC Thursday comedy block with my favourites The Office and Scrubs, my Thursdays are now a write-off. I know many of you have missed out, as it is up against CSI and Grey's Anatomy. Do yourself a favour: tape or PVR and save it for a night that sucks. Like Wednesday.

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