30 Rock

By Myles This is “Green Week” on NBC, which means that every show has some sort of environmental sustainability storyline in it. And while the shows did similar episodes a few seasons ago (The Office did its “Survivorman” parody and 30 Rock did the great “Greenzo”), it’s a well that has quite a bit of...

By Myles When there’s no real central premise to hold an episode like this one together, you’re left feeling like something was missing even as you gush over the genius of Brian Williams, which is pretty much where I stand with 30 Rock right now. I laughed, I commented on its cleverness, and yet still...

By Myles Where the episode started to fall off the rails somewhat, if we’re being honest, is in the duelling storylines between the two ex-Panthers that remain within our ranks. The problem with the storylines offered Tim Riggins and (especially) Matt Saracen is that they are simultaneously too...

By Myles And that’s how four sitcoms did Halloween episodes without once attempting to be legitimately scary (which would be dangerous, should an aging celebrity less strong-willed than Betty White were watching – Rule of Threes and all).

By Myles It isn’t that “Into the Crevasse” is worse than “Season 4″ that’s the problem: yes, this is a far less successful episode that feels more like a string of Saturday Night Live skits strung together than it does an actual hour hour of comedy, but the real problem is that it manages to achieve th...

By Myles In my relatively short time as a TV critic, I’ve spent more of my comedy analyzing time with The Office, a show which features far more nuance than 30 Rock in terms of its characters. On that show, the actions of Michael Scott need to be finely tuned to (in my view) connect with the right level of...

By Myles When 30 Rock returns and the NBC comedy block returns to “normal,” it’s going to be a really weird setup. Tonally, The Office and Parks and Recreation are very similar, while Community established itself pretty firmly in the 30 Rock style of comedy with “Spanish 101.” And yet, 30 Rock will be...

By Myles While The Office might be more consistent, and 30 Rock might be more uproarious, I think that I find myself most honestly excited about How I Met Your Mother, a show that just a few years ago I didn’t even watch on a regular basis. I think it’s because while The Office thrives on awkward comedy,...

By Myles This is, of course, not to say that the actual winners of the Emmys didn’t have their problems this year. There’s no universe where I feel that Neil Patrick Harris and Rainn Wilson should have lost to Jon Cryer for his work on Two and a Half Men, a victory which provided some comedy for Harris bu...

By Myles 8:49pm: You know him as Charles Elderberry, it’s Rob Lowe. He’s here representing Brothers & Sisters, I guess, but he’s presenting Lead Actor in a Comedy due to his representin’ in Dr. Vegas. He chose that over Grey’s Anatomy (Really? Huh!), and now time to see if we have another upset. Bal...

By Myles Lead Actress in a Drama Series Glenn Close (Damages) Lead Actor in a Drama Series Hugh Laurie (House) Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Steve Carell (The Office) Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Toni Colette (United States of Tara) Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) Su...

Related articles from the TV addict, moveitmoveit (WordPress).

By Myles Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Predicting the 2009 Emmys And the nominees are… Predictions for the intense three-way race between Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) and Steve Carell (The Office) for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2009 Emmy Awards.

By Myles Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Predicting the 2009 Emmys And the nominees are… White Horse: Tina Fey (30 Rock) Predictions for the Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category at the 2009 Emmy Awards, a duel between Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Toni Colette (United States of Tara).

By Myles Changes Wreak Havoc on Comedy Guest Acting Of the changes made to the Emmys this year, the one that sort of slipped under the radar (and didn’t face a lot of pressure from any particular group) is the elimination of the individual performance in a variety/comedy/music special/series. Thi...

By Myles Three seasons makes it a trend, so I can officially say that Jack Donaghy is always going to be the central part of an end of season storyline that stretches over a number of episodes leading into the finale. In Season One, it was his relationship with Phoebe, the girl with bird bones, who was c...

By Myles Having already written my posts on Parks and Recreation and The Office tonight, I’ll admit to be at a bit of a loss at what to say about tonight’s episode of 30 Rock. It isn’t that the episode was bad, but 30 Rock just seems to be in a total holding pattern right now, while Parks and Recreation has...

By Myles While its Thursday night comedy counterpart The Office has been delving into a long-term storyline over my hiatus, which has made not blogging about it a little bit more problematic, 30 Rock has been in a very different sort of place. This isn’t to say that the show isn’t achieving its goals...

By Myles In our feature discussion, coincidentally only a day after 30 Rock made a joke about the Canadian Grammys, we discuss the biggest music-based awards show in Canada, the Juno Awards. Don’t worry, our international listeners: we contextualize our anger, and try to make sure that you don’t...

By Myles The less said about Jenna’s one-note, pointless and silly storyline the better - the show is back to the point where they have no idea what to do with Jenna, and while I enjoyed her interaction with the writers, and then her entourage, and eventually with Meredith Viera, it was wasting time...

By Myles It’s kind of funny that, after an episode of The Office where Michael struggled with the idea of responsibility and blame, that 30 Rock would be so occupied with exactly the same ideas. The episode is all about authority figures who are trying to maintain something approaching order, and t...

By Myles Yes, Tracy and Jenna’s storyline felt more like filler, and I thought that Jenna’s side of the exchange was fairly uninteresting outside of her constantly delayed entrance to her own party being quite the nice piece of work from Jane Krakowski, but irrational and sad Tracy Jordan is perh...

By Myles As a result, the situation is really just an excuse to force Liz Lemon out into the dangerous streets with Kenneth at her side, to place Tracy Jordan on Larry King and spouting nonsensical advice to the people of New York City, and to put Jack and Elisa’s relationship up against a crisis it mi...

By Myles As for the C-Plot, Kenneth’s nervous interactions with a blind girl that become even more awkward when Tracy becomes Kenneth’s voice, it’s a total mixed bag. On the one hand, the plot never really had a punchline when it was clear what was about to happen the entire time, and the end moment (w...

By Myles And with comedies like these, especially ones like 30 Rock which here errs on the side of being a little zany and off the wall, connectivity is their greatest asset: this isn’t the episode where Liz Lemon got a new love interested played by Jon Hamm, or the episode where Jack Donaghy bought a...

By Myles This isn’t to say that it’s bad, or to say that 30 Rock’s fate is dependent on this one outing: in fact, NBC announced today that the show is getting an unsurprising but still very welcome fourth season renewal. This show was on life support as early as this past October, so to see it thriving in...

By Myles As for 30 Rock, Tina Fey won this year based mostly on her hype (Baby Mama, Palin, etc.), but let’s remember that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gave her the award last year as well, so it’s not as if they are only jumping on the bandwagon now…they’re just clinging onto it really prou...

By Myles For 30 Rock, the comedy is often to be found in the details: it isn’t that the broader plots themselves are that comically complex, but rather that the way they are executed offers enough individual quirks to elevate the series above most other comedies on television.

By Myles Related Posts at Cultural Learnings Review: “Episode 210″Cultural Learnings’ Coverage of 30 Rock For more details on the Cultural Learnings 2008 Television Time Capsule, click here!] “Episode 210″ Season Two, Episode Ten Airdate: January 10th, 2008 I love 30 Rock: it

By Myles As far as episodes of 30 Rock go, it was par for the course: Jack is in full of neuroses move over his Mother’s arrival in town (and, worst of all, confined to bedrest with a bell at her side), Liz tries to do something good but lets her own neuroses lead her to doubt the spirit of Christmas and rui...

By Myles I do not know where to start with tonight’s episode of 30 Rock. “Reunion” was one of those situations where it was everything we should want it to be: no big name guest stars (although Janel Moloney counts for West Wing fanatics), numerous hilarious throwaway jokes, a situation bound to cre...

By Myles Of my three favourite comedies on television at the moment (The Office, How I Met Your Mother are the other two), 30 Rock is there primarily based on its quick wit. There is no other show that throws our rapid fire dialogue at this pace, and the show is at its best when that dialogue meets up with...

By Myles Perhaps it is as simple as saying that it was trying to be too many other things: while aping Friends’ title format and one of its stars, and by attempting to recreate NBC’s hit series Night Court, they did more than potentially break copyright laws: they forgot to be 30 Rock at the same time. C...

By Myles This episode didn’t have much of one: Tracy and Jenna’s legal battles was the closest we got to something resembling a continuing storyline, and it was perhaps the most ridiculous with Jenna’s black face and Tracy’s transformation into co-ed Becky (which gave me serious White Chicks fl...

By Myles Do-Over" is not the best episode of 30 Rock, nor is it necessarily an entry into the show's catalogue of fantastic ones. Rather, it is familiarity that makes this episode so memorable: it offers plenty of showcase opportunities for Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin (albeit leaning towards the for...

By Myles And the impact it will have is yet unknown: the show, following Don Draper and the life of advertising executives and their lives outside of the office, debuted to little fanfare on AMC before downright exploding onto the critical scene. I've yet to see a critic who is ambivalent about Mad M...

By Myles Last year’s Lead Acting Comedy win for Ricky Gervais, so brilliantly lampooned here in a great bit as Carell is forced to return the Emmy he accepted on his behalf last year, was a shocker but more importantly it seemed false: after Alec Baldwin’s stunning debut on 30 Rock and Steve Carell’...

By Myles 30 Rock was the best comedy on television last season. It has the most critical buzz, the most high profile guest stars, the most clout amongst Television Elite, and after their surprise win last year have won almost everything under the sun (Except for the SAG, which The Office took home). W...

By Myles Saturday Night Live: Great news for Amy Poehler, who manages to break into Supporting Actress Comedy in her first year of eligibility. The show also grabbed a Writing nomination for Variety Series, and Tina Fey picked up a nod for individual performance in a Variety series. And yes, that me...

Related articles from Tapeworthy, Remote Access and more.

By Myles Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Michael Emerson (Lost)Ted Danson (Damages)William Shatner (Boston Legal)Zeljko Ivanek (Damages)John Slattery (Mad Men) Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Dianne Wiest (In Treatment)Candice Bergen (Boston Legal)Rachel Griffiths (Brothers...

By Myles My Suggestion: "Secrets and Lies" Tina Fey Submission: "Episode 210" Alec Baldwin Tracy Morgan Submission: "Secrets and Lies" Jack McBrayer Submission: "Episode 210" Jane Krakowski My Suggestion: "Jack Gets in the Game" Contenders: "Greenzo," "Cooter," "Rosemary's Baby"

By Myles Cooter" Last year, the season finale of 30 Rock was a disappointment: it was a slow half hour that dealt more with two outlandish storylines (Jack's fiance Pheobe and Kenneth's crazy cousin kidnapping Tracy) which never clicked outside of moments between Jack and Liz, and the fabulous a...

By Myles It's a great ending for the episode, indulging in Fey's ability to eat on camera and the importance of food to the episode as a whole. Between this and her slow-walk/Sundae eating on the treadmill, Fey had a great episode when it comes to physical comedy - she says she's not an actor, but this a...

By Myles Those episodes had something about them where you really felt Jack wanted it, but right after he broke down crying (A great scene from Baldwin) things fell flat as things got crazy. Liz went insane with power, Tracy went insane with a "Uhh, so, we need a storyline for Tracy" plot right off the...

By Myles I think that, compared to last week, things just felt normal again: and while it might not be a classic episode, it felt like one enough that I'm more than satisfied. Cultural Observations It was slight, but there was comic gold in the Tracy/Jack plot - particularly, Tracy's love for State'...

By Myles I wasn’t exactly desperate for a new show - I had gone most of the strike-forced hiatuses for my favourite shows without getting hooked on much new material, so surely I could last a weekend. However, perhaps it was the return of The Office and 30 Rock that sparked it; they were a high from whic...

By Myles It doesn’t appear to be for NBC, because now comes word that starting in February The Office will be paired with a spinoff, a series built from the existing stable of characters and a host of new ones. This is being sold as a good thing, a chance for the unsung heroes of the large ensemble cast to...

By Myles There are some occasions where the Golden Globes’ focus on newness cannot possibly overcome the power of a sophomore series just getting its due. Considering that 30 Rock was left out last year in favor of Ugly Betty, now is the time for the Globes to honour its growing success and hilarity. O...

By Myles Disbelief - FOX Pre-Show Uses Britney to Push Ratings Nostalgia - Emmy Rewards People for the Past Disappointment - Ricky Gervais defeats Steve Carell and Alec Baldwin Ambivalent - Sally Field's Emmy Speech Disgust - James Spader Steals an Emmy Glee - 30 Rock wins Outstanding Comedy

By Myles “Greenzo” This episode of 30 Rock has officially proven that Tina Fey’s series is perhaps the most versatile on television at this moment. Between the character of Jack Donaghy, the television network construct and a smart use of self-referential humour, the show effortlessly takes a t...

By Myles Even Kenneth got some great moments here, with the idea of his pointed of view with everyone as muppets resulting in the two great jokes (singing Jack and the real Liz Lemon walking like the muppet Liz Lemon) as well as the inspiration for Jack’s POV (everyone as value, Kenneth being worth $...