alt title(s): Thirty Rock
"It's not HBO, it's TV."
—Liz Lemon, "Pilot"
30 Rock is an
NBC Work Com starring
Tina Fey (also a writer and executive producer for the series), Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan. Due to its lackluster
ratings, adoring critics feared it would be
Too Good To Last. Nevertheless, the show has thus far managed to last three seasons and has made out like a bandit at two consecutive Emmy Award ceremonies. (It's still struggling in the ratings department, though.)
The series follows the life of the
supposedly homely Hollywood Nerd Liz Lemon (Tina Fey
more-or-less playing herself), who is head writer of a fictional
Show Within A Show based on
Saturday Night Live. "30 Rock"
refers to a nickname of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the address of NBC's New York headquarters where
SNL is filmed,
which is where the series takes place.
Liz Lemon
frequently wears glasses, making her a
Hot Librarian, but, of course, people in the real world
like her better with glasses since
Nerds Are Sexy. Character-wise, Liz is a
Straight Woman who often crosses over into
Deadpan Snarker territory and sometimes becomes an
Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist. This is pretty understandable considering that her job
mainly involves dealing with:
- Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) - This guy may have started off as a Pointy Haired Umbridge fond of Executive Meddling, but he's become a true Magnificent Bastard. Don't cross him.
- Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) - Ted Baxter of the fictional show, Tracy seems to live in his own world of stabbing robots and vampire golfers. He has Ultimate Job Security due to his celebrity status.
- Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) - Liz's best friend, Jenna is an actress/singer, living on the verge of White Dwarf Starletdom, who craves attention. She's not too bright, but she gets through life using her "sexuality".
- Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit) - The Only Sane Man and/or The Freddy, he's implied to be an Al Bundy with his mostly unseen family.
- Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) - Dim-witted Pollyanna from the Deep South, he's quickly become The Fonzie and often acts as a Morality Pet for the other characters. Jack believes he is Obfuscating Stupidity and says "In five years we'll all either be working for him... or be dead by his hand."
- Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden) - Airheaded Valley Girl type, Cerie is occasionally insensitive, but she's too naïve to notice. She occasionally shows flashes of intellect like having an argument with her fiance about the Greek Orthodox Church's stand on the Armenian Genocide. Her last name is known through Word Of God.
Some
Fan Fic writers have a tendency to
put Jack in leather pants and
ship him with Liz. Tina Fey
has said this will
never happen in the
canon.
This show provides examples of:
- Adult Child (Kathy Geiss)
- Almost Kiss ("Black Tie" and "Do-Over")
- Aside Glance ("I love America")
- Big Applesauce (actually filmed there, though)
- The Brainless Beauty (Cerie and Jenna)
- The Cameo (Ghostface Killah, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, many others)
- Catch Phrase ("Blurgh", "By the hammer of Thor!")
- Cutting The Electronic Leash
- The Danza (Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan; last names rhyme)
- Did A Korean Person Die (Trope Namer)
- Dueling Shows (Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip)
- Embarrassing Cover Up
- Engineered Public Confession
- Farewell My Friend ("The Rural Juror")
- Flashback Cut
- Friends Rent Control: Averted- Liz's apartment is pretty nice, but quite modestly sized by the standards of anywhere in America but Manhattan. It is in Manhattan, and she is a network TV executive.
- George Jetson Job Security (pretty much everyone but Tracy)
- Half Hour Comedy
- Hollywood Homely (Liz Lemon)
- Hollywood Nerd (Liz Lemon)
- Hot Librarian (Liz Lemon)
- Hypocrisy Nod (frequent, especially in the vicinity of Product Placement)
- Lampshade Hanging
- Liz Lemon Job (Trope Namer, obviously)
- Lost Wedding Ring (Pete loses his wedding ring in a game of poker in "Blind Date")
- Married To The Job (Liz Lemon)
- Medal Of Dishonor (Liz's "Followship Award")
- Nerd Glasses (Liz Lemon)
- Modern Major General: Jack, early on. He was promoted to TV programming executive from oven engineer, So Yeah.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot (Tracy's "Porn Video Game")
- No Hugging No Kissing (Fey on Liz and Jack getting together)
- Not Listening To Me Are You ("I think we need to change this Donald Trump joke")
- Not So Different (Jack about himself and Liz in "Hiatus")
- Obsolete Mentor (Rosemary Howard)
- The Other Marty (Rachel Dratch as Jenna)
- The Paolo ("Other Liz")
- Playing Against Type (Jennifer Aniston as a Stalker With A Crush)
- Pointy Haired Boss (Jack Donaghy in earlier episodes)
- Product Placement: started in the pilot—that is a Real Life GE three-mode oven Jack claimed to have created—and still going.
- The Rashomon ("The Rural Juror")
- Rich Bitch (Bianca)
- Sexist In Leather Pants (Dennis Duffy)
- She Is Not My Girlfriend (Jack in "Black Tie")
- Show Within A Show
- Special Guest (Jerry Seinfeld and others; lampshaded in "SeinfeldVision", but usually played straight)
- Spotlight Stealing Title (the Show Within A Show The Girlie Show becomes TGS with Tracy Jordan thanks to Jack's Executive Meddling)
- Story Arc
- Ted Baxter (Tracy Jordan)
- Ultimate Job Security (Tracy Jordan)
- Unlucky Everydude(tte) (Liz Lemon)
- The Vamp (Phoebe)
- Wont Take Yes For An Answer (Pete: "I said you could do it.", Jenna: "Why not?! Oh... I mean, thank you.")
- Will They Or Wont They (Jack and Liz, naturally)
- Word Of God (Cerie's last name from executive producer Robert Carlock, Liz and Jack's lack of a romantic future from Tina Fey)
- Work Com
- You Look Familiar (Rachel Dratch in the first season)
And subverts/parodies/lampshades or otherwise plays with:
