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The rise of 30 Rock

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pilsner:
I do enjoy it, I was explaining why 30 Rock's reputation may be disproportionate to its objective value (were there such a thing).  I wince at some of the overacting and some of the stereotypes being explored, but on balance, the good episodes justify the bad.  Also, the restraining order limits me to 30 minutes of Coogan time per day maximum.

jhocking:

--- Quote from: pilsner on 30 Jan 2010, 16:50 ---if you don't like comedic overacting

--- End quote ---

When I read that my first thought was "how can you have comedy without overacting?" That's how much the current state of television has infected my sensibilities, and I'm a relatively self-aware person so just imagine how fucked the average viewer is.

a pack of wolves:

--- Quote from: pilsner on 30 Jan 2010, 16:50 ---You've heard of the old saying that in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king? Well in the land of witless shit comedies, the self-referential sporadically clever is king. In a market with a fair number of intelligent witty comedies (say Britain) the show would probably sink like Jeff Zucker's job security.  And yes, if you don't like comedic overacting, 30 Rock is almost as fun as gouging yourself in the arm while ingesting poison.

Incidentally, for all you Steven Coogan fans, Saxondale is apparently getting adapted by NBC.  Heh.

--- End quote ---

Witty comedies like what? Limmy's Show has been hit and miss but with a reasonable amount of hit, but that only gets broadcast on BBC Scotland for some reason. Thank god for iplayer. There's Newswipe I guess, but that's a review show really and also loses huge amounts of points for Tim Key. The Thick Of It was brilliant but it's over now and I can't see it coming back, and the other big revival of recent times was Vic and Bob bringing back the godawful Shooting Stars, basically discarding the return to form they had with Catterick a while back. What else have we got these days, Mock The Week? Argumental? The flogging of a dead horse train wreck that is Have I Got News For You? They're shoddy as hell cheap panel shows, I genuinely can't think of a current UK sitcom I could sit through an episode of without wanting to hurt the TV. A case in point being Adam Buxton's appalling new effort The Persuasionists, that's what the UK has to go up against 30 Rock.

It's a long time since the glory days of The Armando Iannucci Shows, Jam and Big Train. And British comedy was never as good as it might look from the outside. For every Father Ted there were a lot more programmes like My Family and Hippies. The US on the other hand currently has Better Off Ted, Parks And Recreation, Community, 30 Rock, Archer and it's not that long since Eastbound And Down was being shown here and outclassing pretty much everything we had to offer. 30 Rock might get its arse handed to it by a good Parks And Rec or most Community, but it holds its own alright and has much stiffer competition than it does in the UK, where it's up against the US Office basically. Hell, the US Office might have run too long by now but it's still watchable and still better than the UK version. If that example's anything to go by the US Saxondale could well be much better than the UK version, which wasn't one of Coogan's best efforts.

Ptommydski:
For me 30 Rock is a pretty average sitcom which benefits from a couple of decent performances and an embrace of internet-based geek humour. It's just about self-aware and satirical enough to survive being overly reliant on old-fashioned slapstick mugging. It's a lot meaner than the average sitcom and the hugging and learning is kept to a minimum. It doesn't try to be touching or serious, which I think is to its credit. It's ridiculous but in a way that aptly reflects the genuine absurdity of that which it mainly lampoons - television and corporations.

However, it's nowhere near as bright as the enduring Arrested Development (to which it is often compared) and utterly inept compared to the genuinely superb The Larry Sanders Show (which is also about a television show and remains the greatest sitcom of all time alongside Curb Your Enthusiasm).

scarred:
It's certainly no Friends

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