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

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

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.

Hannibal Burress got screen time last season.

ok seriously i love donald glover as a performer and i'm not trying to be all whiney but given his rap and (to a lesser degree) standup career, i'm confident in assuming his loss wasn't devastating for the 30 rock crew

just catching up and i hate to say it but this thread was way better in the first 2 or 3 seasons. it's so forced and repetitive now. the characters are unconvincing and some of the opinions are extremely poorly formed.

tbf weve lost some of our best writers

looool

I trace the mashed-potatoing to the departure of and what from the ilx.

dom, chaki, and jw, all dead near clear lake iowa

Suze Orman: How old are you?
Kenneth: Don't worry about it.

I don't care that this show is essentially recycling plot kernels (Liz negotiates with Jack! Tracy and Jenna are humbled! Kenneth is lower than dirt!) because it is still funny.

though I am sad that Cerie and Jonathan seem to be gone.

Kristen Schaal never unwelcome.

Jonathon left to be in the main cast of...Whitney.

talk about a significant downgrade.

(in quality of projects, obv upgrade in his screen time)

I don't care that this show is essentially recycling plot kernels ... because it is still funny.

As I argued forever ago with respect to the show maintaining a surprisingly-consistent level of quality for as long as it did(/has, arguably), the secret is that they don't tamper with the formula much. I mean, the status quo has remained largely unchanged (with respect to the core characters, anyway) since the end of the first episode! The problem now is that the voice or tone or something of the show (specifically the writing, because the cast remains top notch) started wavering at some point last season.

For what it's worth, the last couple of episodes have felt more on-track to me. So I may have been a little hasty in my judgments a couple weeks back (although I do maintain that much of the back half of last season was the weakest stretch the show has had). I want my formerly-favorite sitcom to be and to stay good! So I'm happy when it is and does!

Back half of last season included Queen of Jordan.

Queen Of Jordan was kind of a blip and, y'know, in many ways not even really as much an episode of 30 Rock as it was a dead-on reality show parody (to the extent that I was almost awed and repulsed by it in equal measure, if that makes sense?) existing in the 30 Rock-iverse.

WTF, it was a new episode tonight? Thanks for nothin' DVR.

30 Rock should be break-free till the end of the season iirc because it's a full season starting late.

my dvr didn't record this either! conspiracy!

Heh, yeah a couple friends on Facebook said the same thing, NBC really wants low ratings for this show apparently.

DVR FAIL !

my dvr didn't record this either! conspiracy!

I noticed a lot of people online complaining that this happened with Parks & Rec as well, but I didn't have any problems. Maybe it depends on the cable provider?

"Hello?"
"It's me. Nice try."

"Have you not read the poetry of Jewel?"

...your nine dependents are vibrators

^^^ worthy of OKC's "most private thing you're willing to admit" profile question.

Did this episode end with Tracy and Jenna doing "who's on first?"... maybe I missed it as well

"Who's on first! That's the line I couldn't remember"

"Have you not read the poetry of Jewel?"

― s.clover, Friday, February 3, 2012 9:38 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was one of the times when i thought they were setting up some great line and what came out was kind of a clunker. great episode otherwise though.

"I'ma tell you the same thing I tell my son: put money in the girl's mouth also my friend Darrell is your real father."

For what it's worth, the last couple of episodes have felt more on-track to me. So I may have been a little hasty in my judgments a couple weeks back (although I do maintain that much of the back half of last season was the weakest stretch the show has had). I want my formerly-favorite sitcom to be and to stay good! So I'm happy when it is and does!

I think that even the hardest <i>30 Rock</i> stans wouldn't necessarily argue against the assertion that the quality of the show dipped by the end of the last season; what some of us were disputing was whether or not any of the "few" good episodes were due to Donald Glover sneaking out of <i>Community</i> to write under the name Tracey Wigfield or something.

In any event, I happen to agree that notwithstanding "Queen of Jordan," last season was clearly weak as <i>30 Rock</i> goes, and while it's rallied the past two/three episodes, a few new things bug: this season alone, they've used the "lol wimmin" joke (e.g. "If you're a woman or a short man..."), which is funny once but when they've used it three times in the past three episodes (give or take) == lazy and problematic.

That said, the resolution of this last episode was unexpectedly sweet!

the "few" good episodes were due to Donald Glover sneaking out of <i>Community</i> to write under the name Tracey Wigfield

I knew it.

ok, late to the party but "jack donaghy playing with himself ... it's a jack-off" was gold.

my dvr didn't record this either! conspiracy!

― ban opinions (reddening), Friday, 3 February 2012 06:26 (3 days ago) Permalink

My (canadian) tv station was advertsing last week's episode for this week, and the description in the guide was for last week's as well, with last week's original air date. I saw folks on this thread discussing a new episode, though, so I knew to watch :)

I loved Tina denouncing Bratz dolls

Aside from the season premiere I haven't personally felt any of the episodes this season have been specifically worse than previous seasons... A show can only stay fresh for so long and I think whats happening is that seriously everything that can be done with the formula of the show has been handled so either they make radical changes or sometimes things feel same-old-same-old.

The Jack-Off bit was great BTW, up there with some of the best moments of the show.

this would be a pretty empty thread if we didn't have a million posts declaring how the show was better in earlier seasons

that said, the "dialogue" where he rattles off names of various maneuvers he's made up was one of baldwin's best moments too

it makes me laugh just thinking about that part

Adagio, then double adagio... or wait?!

"jack donaghy playing with himself ... it's a jack-off" was gold.

otm, this was killing me. he played it beautifully