Quicklet on 30 Rock Season 1

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This Hyperink Quicklet includes an overall summary, chapter commentary, key characters, literary themes, fun trivia, and recommended related readings.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When Tina Fey left Saturday Night Live at the end of the 2005–2006 season to concentrate on developing, writing, and starring in a new program for NBC, reaction among comedy fans was mixed. On the one hand, SNL had lost yet another of the talented cast member who made it a resurgent hit in the late 1990s. On the other hand, anticipation of Fey’s new show was high.

Fey had originally pitched the series to NBC as a sitcom about a cable news network during early in her tenure as a writer for SNL. According to Time, when the pitch was rejected, she reworked the idea into a show revolving around a sketch comedy series and variety show not unlike SNL. NBC ordered a pilot for the show, which was well-reviewed upon its October 2006 debut, and went to series as 30 Rock.

Although 30 Rock has rarely been a ratings darling, online reviews and critical establishment barometer, Metacritic, shows that it has been one of the critical establishment’s most consistently well-reviewed television programs of the past ten years. It is also one of the best-reviewed comedies of all time.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Jonathan Nathan is a writer, an editor, and a comedian living in San Francisco. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, California Northern, The Rumpus, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, BeyondChron, the Hutchinson News, and other publications.

EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

There are two main storylines in the first season: Liz Lemon’s struggle to find a compatible romantic partner while balancing her work and personal life, and the adjustment of the cast and crew of TGS to the new additions of Jack Donaghy and Tracy Jordan.

Lemon’s personal life is the meatiest and most constant plotline in the season, as she is the protagonist of the series and her work/life conflicts are largely the narrative hook of the show. In the first few episodes, her love life is barely mentioned, reflective of a new series still struggling to find its voice. The third episode of the series, “Blind Date,” is the first to venture in this direction, and although it’s primarily a one-and-done, short-term story played for awkward laughs when Jack sets Liz up on a blind date with a friend of his who turns out to be a woman (because, in his words, her shoes “are definitely bi-curious”). The episode met universal acclaim and was greeted by many critics as a hopeful sign of things to come.

The plotline was more earnestly engaged a few episodes later in “Jack Meets Dennis,” when Liz takes back her ne’er-do-well ex-boyfriend, Dennis Duffy, to whom a few allusions had been made earlier in the season. Duffy is an obnoxious lout who epitomizes the stereotypes of the boorish South Bostonian, but Liz finds it hard to leave him permanently because he’s easy and low-maintenance. Jack strongly disapproves, and warns Liz that she faces a mediocre life with Dennis in her future…

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