Liz Lemon (Tina Fey): What are you doing down here?
Jack (Alec Baldwin): I was known for being hands-on
Liz Lemon: Clearly...
Jack: That's how you should dress by the way.
Liz Lemon: Yeah, If I was President of the Philippines.
TV.Com info: Liz Lemon, played by Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey, is the head writer of the fictional TV show, 'The Girlie Show.' When her old boss dies and a new boss comes in, Liz must try to run a successful TV show without losing her mind.
The Girlie Show is something similar to SNL aka Saturday Night Live, from where Tina Fey came from (she was SNL's headwriter/lead star for over a decade). In other words... this, 30Rock, is a spoof of what she really does in real life. It is named aptly so because 30 Rock stands for 30 Rockefeller St., location of NBC studios, where SNL (or this fictional SNL --- The Girlie Show) airs.
So how was it?
Lemme put it this way....those lines I quoted from the show (above ^)? Not funny! (I quoted it only for the Pinoy mention. Heh!) And apparently, the rest of the show is deficient of some humor, except for Alec Baldwin --- whose character here reminds me of his character on Friends, Phoebe's date, who annoyed everybody because he was very enthusiastic about everything --- "Take a mental picture". Yep, he's a little bit like that guy here (only, less enthusiastic but more annoying).
Anyway, moving a long...
The show just did not capture me. I was fairly disappointed with the pilot since I expected to be laughing out loud (didn't!). And also because I would've liked for Tina Fey to succeed with this show since I like how smart she is.
However, it's still the first episode. Obviously some more tweaking should take place after the reviews and ratings are out. Plus the previews of upcoming episodes seem insteresting. And then there's Rachel Dratch too. So, we'll see....
Incidentally, this show is being compared to Studio 60, because they are similar in many ways:
1. airs on NBC
2. is about an SNL type of show
3. the lead characters are writers
4. has a number on its title (divisible by 2 or 5 or 10!)
... but the similarities end there.
Studio 60 is a drama, it's the West Wing of the Television World. 30 Rock is clearly a comedy. I'm actually getting a Curb Your Enthusiasm & Extras vibe watching the pilot episode and that should say something to me since these two shows I compare it with are outstanding, but 30 Rock just falls short and I can't figure out why that is so...for now.
Promising, yes.
Spectacular, as I expected it would be (because of all the buzz!) --- so far, nope.
30 Rock
Season 1 Episode 1 - The Pilot
Original Airing: Oct 11, 2006
Network: NBC
