Sun, June 25, 2006
30 Rock—10:40 AM
NBC has an extended preview on its video page of Tina Fey's new comedy 30 Rock. This is the first footage I've seen from the show – really the first anything I've seen, other than brief blurbs and comparisons to Sorkin's similar fall show with the constantly expanding title.
As reluctant as I am to embrace any new network programming (having been burned so very many times before), there are quite a few fall shows I'm looking forward to this year. And, based on this footage, 30 Rock has a good chance to top that list. Really funny moments, and – more importantly – clever and different moments. It doesn't do the same jokes as other comedies on TV, and it doesn't repeat its own jokes either. (Except for running gags; we all know that's not the same thing.) This is the sort of thing I was clumsily attempting to discuss in my State of TV Comedy column a while back.
I think 30 Rock will be a phenomenal new show for the fall. Unless – unless – the editing is bad. That's the only thing you can't preview in these clips, and we've all seen it torpedo otherwise fresh and innovative comedy before. So, I really hope that won't happen to an otherwise outstanding show with a great cast. (Alec Baldwin... Yum.)
Brandon — Mon, 6/25/07 3:41am
Gotta hand it to you on this one. Four months before its debut. Well done, Mr. Lenny. Well done.
Bee Boy — Mon, 6/25/07 10:23am
Well, they made it pretty easy. That's like saying "Four months from now I'll probably breathe oxygen and enjoy orgasms."