30 Rocks

It takes a while to get into 30 Rock. In my opinion, almost all the best comedies on television right now lack a laugh track. It's an outdated tool, and unnecessary. I don't need to be told when to laugh.

30 Rock, like its star and creator Tina Fey, is very intelligent. This isn't to say every character speaks as an intellectual or that the humor is always sophisticated, but it often takes me a minute to register some of the jokes. They have a slow burn, and even the most outlandish cast members keep a straight face and speak with such sincerity, I don't always catch on to a line until after the fact. It's never been high on my list of priority shows, but this season especially, there have been moments I find myself laughing literally out loud. Once or twice I've spoken aloud, prefacing a laugh with a “Wait, what?” that would make my parents think I was insane were they in earshot. (Okay, more insane.)

Fey is great, and there's a large ensemble, but while each person gets a turn to shine, three in particular stand out for me:

1) Kenneth Parcell: In his role as Kenneth the page, Jack McBrayer seems like he should be a background character, someone to deliver messages in the hall to stars and provide exposition to keep the story moving along. I spoke of sincerity, and McBrayer speaks with an innocent Southern religious innocence at all times, completely gleeful. He's a great example of a “Wait, what?” character, and it takes a moment to realize the insanity of his lines. It's rare to see him angry or upset, and a real treat when he is. A few weeks ago when Jane Krakowski's character accidentally burns his treasured page jacket, he just keeps holding it in stunned silence while she keeps talking. The second time he interrupts her with “You burned my jacket”, his delivery was hilarious.

2) Jack Donaghy: I'm developing new respect for Alec Baldwin. Speaking in a powerful whisper at all times, his Vice President of East Coast Television is wise, slick, crafty, and successful. I say wise, because as crazy has his advice seems, the show is set in a crazy reality in which he's often proven right, to the chagrin of Fey's Liz Lemon. His best moment this season was a few weeks ago, while trying to help his show's star in a therapy session. In role playing the family of Tracy Morgan's character, Baldwin demonstrates his range as he fires off a series of borderline politically incorrect impressions of stereotypical ‘70s black sitcom stars, with a sprinkle of Wallace Shawn thrown in. The first time I saw the scene, I was sure they were dubbing the voices of Redd Foxx and others, but apparently not. You can judge for yourself here.

3) Tracy Jordan: Tina Fey figured out the right dosage of Tracy Morgan to make him hilarious. He was good on SNL, but somehow his own 2003 sitcom didn't work for me. On 30 Rock, he's the star of the show Donaghy and Lemon produce, with a slew of movies under his belt, but he's completely childlike and insane. In the episode I mentioned with Baldwin's impressions, Tracy wanted to get into dog fighting when Jack forbade him to do so, only because it was the one thing he was told not to do. When his entourage (of 2) bring him a dog, it's clear from the way Tracy is dressed that he thinks he's the one to fight the dog, and not that dog fighting means pitting dogs against other dogs. This past week, while discussing Jack's dilemma over romantic interest in a woman with differing political views, Tracy had this bit of insight: "Oh, I get it. Romeo and Juliet. Capulets and Romulans…I'm Black, she's White. I'm Black, she's light-skinned Black. I'm Black, she's seventeen..." He might not get Jack's problem exactly, but that doesn't stop him from trying to help and coach him in what to say, like "Tell her that you want your privates and her privates to do a high-five.” or “Tell her you want her to donate her body to science and you science!" Jack does just fine not using the suggested lines, and this leaves Tracy alone on the street advising a pigeon not to eat french fries out of the garbage because it can fly and should have some self-respect. The man is talking earnestly to a bird, and it’s killing me.

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In a show about a fictitious show that focuses on writers, and stars several writers including Fey, it's going to be affected by this strike as much as if not more than other shows. I hope we haven't seen the last of it, because it's really been on top of its game lately. After working in some clunky dialogue about how great Verizon is, Fey breaks the fourth wall and asks the camera, “Can we have our money now?”

Seriously, someone pay the woman so we can keep watching.