A new 30 Rock thread because I can't find the old one

I really need to rewatch the series all the way through to see if the drop in quality is really as precipitous as it feels. Because it feels pretty precipitous, especially for a show I considered the best comedy on TV until not too terribly long ago. I can't quite put my finger on what the problem is. I think there's a weird Family Guy-ification going on, and whatever tenuous connection the show ever had to reality (and being a show about real-ish people with real-ish motivations) is slipping quickly away. And, worst of all, it is in large part just not that funny anymore. Watching Parks and Rec immediately afterwards does it no favors whatsoever.

I'm guessing, since no one else has posted about this episode in over an hour after it aired, that I'm probably not alone here?

addressing tracy morgan's homophobic breakdown isn't all that effective when the shit his character said on the show is so so so so much less awful than the shit he actually said. also cheap denise richards lol is zzzzzz

they dropped the ball in that an episode about this wasn't worth doing unless it was really inspired and hilarious, and it wasn't. but it's still a funny show, i'll give them a couple more episodes to get in the groove before i chicken little about the show's overall trajectory.

One troubling thing I've noticed in particular since maybe the middle of last season: they'd really gotten into the groove with Jenna, who ultimately and surprisingly became one of the funniest characters on the show...but now I'm exhausted with almost every line that comes out of her mouth.

think the show just needs to end, most shows can't keep going and going. i'd rather see all the people involved do other things, but that is not how american tv seems to work. i laughed at the kelsey grammar bits, though, and still like 30 rock more than parks and rec.

thinking parks and rec is a good show disbars you from claiming to know what is or is not funny

i have like a huge amount of tolerance for even mediocre paul rudd but parks and rec, which i watched for maybe the 3rd time tonight, is terrible

Wrong, wrong, and also wrong.

On the whole, it's hard to say, but Parks and Rec is absolutely a better and funnier show than 30 Rock. The me of 3 or 4 years ago is stunned by my saying so, but there you go.

Better at this particular point in time, I meant to say.

you didn't like the parks + rec ep tnite? how???

aziz ansari and amy poehler together are a comedy black hole. i like the sarcastic chick in the hoodie.

anyway jack making fun of cyclops should have been hilarious but no

<3 adam and lamp

Guys it's okay, you don't actually have to choose one over the other

but if you don't, how can we have nerd war?

DJP = black nerd
Deric W. Haircare = Jetblue passenger who's fallen asleep

My opinion in this nerd war is that the show has always had rough patches, even in the so-called golden era (seasons 1-2), and that it isn't so much a matter of whether or not the show has become more cartoonish in its characterization, what you're reacting to is whether you find it funny or not, full stop.

even in the so-called golden era (seasons 1-2)

the onion a/v clubbing of america

aziz ansari ... is a comedy black hole.

both parks and rec and 30 rock sucked tonight.

was EVERY jenna line a generic jenna cutback to sexual disaster situation w/ sportstars or phil spector or etc.? it seems like she used to have like 1 of those lines every 3 episodes but here they just couldnt be bothered to write her as an actual character and just decided they'd use up that-type-of-jenna-jokes that weren't good enough the first time around.

Jenna in bad light was great, I thought

also the catalog of the different types of idiots

Thought "Remember when I had to apologize to stubborn people? That took forever to sort out!" was quality.

haha yeah

I can't say was particularly impressed by either 30 rock or p&r last night, but I think it's still too early in the season to write 30 rock off.

it has yet to dip below the Pizza And Sex "even when it's bad it's still pretty good" differential

dunno dude bad pizza is horrible

that said, one bad episode isn't enough to turn me off.

i liked the manic jenna stuff in this episode

i feel like this period 30 rock is kinda like all periods of 30 rock in that once the unsatisfying nature of the actual storylines in each episode start to fade from memory lots of these episodes will get remembered as stone classics on account of all the killer non sequiturs and gags. like im still lol'n every now and again at reverend gary's pained 'i was the one who had to baptize all those nude teens' at the end of the first episode and not the fact that the kenneth storyline was p trite and badly served his 'character'

really don't see any decline in 30 rock's quality - it's changed since the first season or two, becoming more gag-focused and less character-focused, but it seems really consistent to me

i started rewatching season 1 the other day and it is weird to see how tracy was first scary crazy outsider as opposed to lovable retard

Also season 1 especially is like 75% slower paced.

ha I keep thinking James Marsden is not my age

this was probably the most shameful 30 Rock ever, playing down what Morgan/Jordan actually said. More like self protection than satire. Also, fuck GOP Frasier.

Are they shooting with new cameras this season? It just looks wrong. Don't know if that would account for the feeling that people are mugging a little more.

It does look...off somehow. I don't know if it is the cameras or lighting or what.

baldwin probably demanded some slimming cameras, cause he is looking very slim.

Trying to get back into the bubble?

He would have to wear his Beetlejuice glasses in order for that to happen.

gf & i recently re-watched season 5 and it's way stronger than i remembered. tons of great stuff. kinda think all 30 rock is better the second time through.

The "misremembered movie quotes" gag and "all intensive purposes" line was totally stolen from an old episode of The Best Show.

so this is pretty dire

I laughed at people chanting "Turtle"

teenagers huffing other teenagers

Philly Fanstic is an undersea king

Madame Ovary

"PEEN"
"What's that an acronym for?"
"Acronym?"

2nd ep tonight was LIGHT YEARS better than the first.

Also, Steve Earle doing a song about Kenneth in the epilogue...wha?!!

They were both pretty good I thought. Anyone else catch that one of the microphones in the press conference from the first episode was for Yahoo! Answers?

Two episodes = 8 posts. Guess 30 Rock is kinda over.

h8 posts like that