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

Good point. The only loose end, really, is Avery being in N. Korea.

I hope they never EVER explain Kenneth's immortality.

Our new slogan 'NBC: We Have a Magical Horse?' is testing... okay.

^^ loved the delivery on that one

"They say people who kill themselves...never regret it"

i thought the second of thursday's episodes was fantastic but its obv v 'madcap' and broad. i guess i already sd this upthread but that wont stop me from a being a tedious bore but i dont care abt the characters on 30 rock, really, just the jokes. fucka tv blog critic u can have yr parks and rec garbage

All I look for from 30 Rock is 5 or more hearty laughs loud enough to scare my neighbors and it is still delivering that for me.

people be needing to remember that we seem to have this conversation every time a comedy season starts back up. most just start slow. give them a while, dammit!

that said, foley was really badly used! terribly used! it could have gone so so so so much better.

tbh I don't really get excited about 30 Rock anymore. It's like mashed potatoes. Delicious, but what's there to talk about?

― Johnny Fever, Friday, January 27, 2012 9:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Its so meh! I could give a shit about it lately.

― Janet Snakehole (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, January 27, 2012 9:52 PM (Yesterday)

fuck. you.

Chill out. I didn't say OMG THIS SHOW IS SO SHITTY NOW. I just said that I've kind of settled into a place where it delivers what I expect it to deliver and nothing more. I watched shows like ER and CSI long after they stopped being exciting just because watching them made me happy (until I just couldn't take them anymore in both cases). I didn't have a lot to say about them past a certain point, but I was still watching.

So keep your fuck yous to yourself, chief.

These eps were great, plus Jack is doing his Zoolander kissyface more than ever which is lol

I feel like they're in Season 9 of the Simpsons territory. Still reliably funny, but slipping. Still funnier than most shit on TV by a long shot.

well the nice thing is there is zero chance of them going on as long past season 9 as the simpsons have

I trace the mashed-potatoing to the departure of Donald Glover from the writing staff.

30 Rock (TV series)
– The Funcooker (2009) (written by)
– Episode 210 (2008) (writer)

dude donald glover only wrote two episodes. he wasn't exactly the shows aaron sorkin or john schwartwelder.

man if you didn't laugh at Kelsey Grammer as Abe Lincoln, idk what to say....

Episodes are credited to the writer who came up with the idea for the episode, and written by the whole staff. iirc from the DVD commentaries, Glover's jokes pop up throughout all of the episodes he was on staff for.

ok sure he got jokes here and there but it seems odd to cast him as the big chief super amazing one.

tv.com doesn't even list him in their list of 30 rock writers, he has contributed so much!

that isn't to say he didn't contribute a lot - tbh i dont think any of us know and those 2 episodes are good. but 2 episodes in a 100+ man - this isn't whedon dividing his time between too many shows and forgetting buffy. it is just because he is a famous rapper.

more likely it is to do with tina getting pregnant in the last year, or nbc being iffy about keeping it on and making them mess about with the formula (remember the year - post glover - of celebrity cameos?) or etc.

ok sure he got jokes here and there but it seems odd to cast him as the big chief super amazing one.

That's not what I meant to imply. But after he left, the dynamic of the show changed, and not for the better. Maybe it was a coincidence. But even if he didn't write the majority of the episodes or come up with most of the jokes, the dynamic in the writers' room was altered when he wasn't there (to contribute or to have contributions bounced off of).

"they say ppl who kill themselves never regret it"

fwiw I noticed DG having a very tracy morgan delivery in the early community episodes so it wouldn't surprise me to find out that he had a major role in our favorite early TJ zaniness i.e. "You shouldn't end a sentence with a proposition at"

Criss: “Wesleyan is the Harvard of central Connecticut.”
Liz: “Yale is the Harvard of central Connecticut.”
Criss: “You had that locked and loaded, didn’t you?”

MAN
HOG

i laughed at both of these episodes tbh

just watched the season premiere wthe kids singing, thought it was really good!

I loved how they were giving uber-pretentious pop arrangements to traditional standards like Turkey in the Straw

the "dynamic of the show" did not change from the 3rd season to the 4th season, i'm sure the writing staff has had tons of turnover over the years and just because ONE person that left went on to become famous on another show is some pretty sketchy 'detective work' on tracing the show's supposed decline

btw DG has said many times that he wrote more for kenneth than for tracy

i could see that

imo writing for Tracy = watching his standup/reading about shit he does IRL and building it into the script

some dude otm.

Both eps classy, but imo the first one (or second part of two-parter) was lolzier. Though: Knob Kardashian omg.

i guess 'glover leaving 30 rock' will become part of the show's fan meta narrative like 'conan leaving the simpsons'

the "dynamic of the show" did not change from the 3rd season to the 4th season, i'm sure the writing staff has had tons of turnover over the years and just because ONE person that left went on to become famous on another show is some pretty sketchy 'detective work' on tracing the show's supposed decline

The jokes were more forced, and the rhythm/timing of them became clunky. If Donald was just a meager few pounds of writer turnover tonnage, it seems unlikely that he would have been given screen time ("Who told?"), something none of the other writers (cast members excluded) got.

I do still enjoy the show, bit it's entered its late-80s Letterman/Simpsons season 9 phase: it's still highly and reliably entertaining, but its best days are behind it. Now excuse me while I sulk for a week and close my detective agency.

The jokes were more forced, and the rhythm/timing of them became clunky.

iyo.

If Donald was just a meager few pounds of writer turnover tonnage, it seems unlikely that he would have been given screen time ("Who told?"), something none of the other writers (cast members excluded) got.

So what does this make Tina Fey?

the grasping at straws in this thread is bizarre

The creator, head writer, and cast member. Hence, excluded.

xp

I just think you understanding that one dude getting one line and writing two episodes in 60 makes him the voice that help up the quality may not be quite as true as you think it is.

That's why I wrote That's not what I meant to imply. But after he left, the dynamic of the show changed, and not for the better. Maybe it was a coincidence.

i think you're right ahoy hoy that it doesn't make the difference. but you keep repeating that he wrote two episodes when it's been established that he didn't, that he's credited for 2 episodes because he came up with the idea for those episodes, but wrote on all the episodes.

the main problem with 30 rock, imo, is not that the writing has gotten that much worse, it's that they've ran out of things to do with the scenario, which is why they have to come out with things like kelsey grammar playing abe lincoln.

yes i and my point was yes it was a coincedence and the dynamic of the show changes all the damn time and sometimes it is for the better.

Umm, a writers room doesn't have them tapped out a script right there with all of them. Hell, I just listened to the Glover WTF and I know that isn't true. You come up with an idea, you pitch it, people may throw some jokes in, you then write it, it goes to a table read, you personally then go and change it and then hand it in.

From what I've heard, the person whose name goes on the script writes a draft, then the other writers add and delete jokes, and the final product may have 20% material written by the credited writer. If he's a genius it might be 40%.

The draft generally isn't written until the whole episode is mapped out on the whiteboard or etc. in the writer's room.

Glover wrote the back door brag joke about the water bug on the channel changer.

the main problem with 30 rock, imo, is not that the writing has gotten that much worse, it's that they've ran out of things to do with the scenario, which is why they have to come out with things like kelsey grammar playing abe lincoln.

― zverotic discourse (jim in glasgow), Saturday, January 28, 2012 1:05 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol yes it's so sad that they've resorted to such wacky hijinks! a real artistic decline!

yeah, they've been doing things wackier than that even as far back as Season 2.

i would like to open by saying you are all idiots and who cares and then move into my main point which is an appreciation of the character jenna maroney, feel like at the beginning she was definitively a 2nd tier cast member, then as the show moved along she worked her way into the elite, now to my eyes she is far and away the best thing abt the show, kudos jenna!

Yeah, she's definitely a B-lister now.

guys the Philly Phanatic I mean come on

i lold so hard at what he had to say and then the cut to liz enjoying his presence