Watching 30 Rock

Maybe not as edgy as the Vanity Fair shoot (it is Reader’s Digest after all) but still interesting:

Tina Fey: Funny Girl
Tina Fey talks about Laverne and Shirley, her favorite Stooge, and the fine line between mean and mellow.
By Jancee Dunn
From Reader’s Digest
April 2008

Getting a Good Laugh
As a shy, nerdy student in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Tina Fey wrote a satirical column for The Acorn, her school newspaper, taking aim at the usual subjects — rigid teachers and even more rigid school policies. Her writing didn’t propel her to cool-kid status, but it did make people laugh. Fey was hooked.

Now 37, she’s still getting laughs as the creator, executive producer and Emmy-winning star of 30 Rock. The show is not so loosely based on Fey’s experiences as the first female head writer on Saturday Night Live and acerbic host of its “Weekend Update” segment. She made the jump to a bigger screen when, in 2004, she wrote, produced and appeared in Mean Girls, a pitch-perfect high school comedy.

While Fey can be pointed, she’s also thoughtful, self-effacing and almost absurdly well-adjusted. She’s close to her parents, likes to sew and bake cookies rather than hit the town, and lives quietly in New York City with her husband, composer and producer Jeff Richmond, and their two-year-old daughter, Alice.

This month, Fey returns to theaters in Baby Mama, a comedy about a single executive who hires a surrogate to have her baby. After a day of filming in Manhattan, she sat down with RD to talk about funniness, family and Febreze.

RD: Do you see your humor as a gift?
Fey: I always think of everything from a mother’s point of view now. Every kid has something they’re good at, that you hope they find and gravitate toward. This is my thing. I don’t think I was supposed to be a gymnast and accidentally landed on this.

RD: Do you still get that hit when you get a good laugh?
Fey: Absolutely. My favorite day at 30 Rock is Thursday, when the show airs. At lunch we screen the episodes. For everyone to watch together, to see the stuff we all worked on, to hear the crew laugh — it’s great fun.

RD: What pleases you more, applause or laughter?
Fey: Laughter. You can prompt applause with a sign. My friend, SNL writer Seth Meyers, coined the term clapter, which is when you do a political joke and people go, “Woo-hoo.” It means they sort of approve but didn’t really like it that much. You hear a lot of that on [whispers] The Daily Show.

RD: Your humor has been described as biting. Are you a mean girl?
Fey: I’m not a mean person, but I have a capacity for it. I have the biting comment formed somewhere in the back of my head — like it’s in captivity. Sometimes people expect that I’m going to be tough. It’s not a bad situation. People treat you better. People are on time.

RD: What’s the difference between male and female comics?
Fey: Every comic way of writing is unique, but I think male comedy is more boisterous. Usually it involves robots and sharks and bears. Female comedy is more likely to be about the minutiae of human behavior and relationships.

RD: Your mom was one of your comedy inspirations. Did you play to her at the dinner table?
Fey: My whole family played to each other. My mom’s a dry wit. Philadelphians have a smart-alecky humor. A college roommate from the South said, “How come when I ask someone in your family a question, they give a smart-aleck answer before the real one?” I think it’s the difference between the North and the South.

RD: What did your dad bring to the proverbial table?
Fey: My dad has a good sense of silliness. He was the one to let me and my brother stay up to watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He introduced us to the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy and even the Three Stooges.

RD: What TV shows influenced you?
Fey: There was a great night of TV that was Mary Tyler Moore into Bob Newhart into Carol Burnett. There was SNL. I know I saw those early shows somehow, but they must have been repeats because I was only five in ‘75. Second City Television, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and The Love Boat. Laverne & Shirley might be the direct influence for Baby Mama.

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Yay! The Writer’s Strike is finally over and we all can get back to sitting on the couch watch our favorite shows as opposed to sitting on the couch watching crappy, hastily thrown together reality shows and weird stuff on cable. Hey, what was I supposed to do? Read? (Just kidding, in case any of my literature professors happen to be reading this.)

The New York Times is reporting that the first new show back on the air is likely to be Saturday Night Live which will return February 23rd, with our girl Tina Fey as host. Following on March 1st as host will be Juno star and Academy Award nominee, Ellen Page.

30 Rock will return on April 10th, with five additional episodes. Only five? I don’ want to be complainy, because I am happy to get anything at this point, but really, only five? Entertainment Weekly has some hints to spill about possible plots, apparently straight from an email from one Tina Fey: “Liz has a pregnancy scare” (Go Liz! Get some already!) and “Jack may be called to serve his country.”

There is some hope that more than five episodes may be shot, but Alec Baldwin is scheduled to begin work on a new movie at the beginning of March. The film is called My Sisters Keeper and costars Abigail Breslin and Cameron Freakin Diaz. Jeez, Alec Baldwin, isn’t NBC paying you enough? Why you doing a movie with Cameron “I Used to Do it With Justin Timberlake” Diaz? You know you’re going to have to put up with Drew Barrymore on the set every day and the fact that she and Cameron will constantly be raiding the craft services table with their daily attack of the munchies. Better hide some donuts in your trailer.

Sorry, got off track there. What I meant to say is that the strike is over, 30 Rock will be back on your TV soon, Tina Fey will be there even sooner, and Alec Baldwin is making a probably crappy movie. Back to business as usual!

30 Rock, Saturday Night Live, SNL, Tina Fey, Ellen Page, Alec Baldwin

Thanks to someone on You tube, here’s the entire season of the fictional 10-second sitcom mentioned by Alec Baldwin in “Fireworks.”

I have a really short attention span especially when it comes to working. But this could be my in to network internet television. I could totally come up with a whole series arc for Makin’ it Happen all in the time it takes to order some thai food. But in the time it’s taken to think that I lost interest and decided to go play Wii.

Makin’ it Happen, Thai Food, Nintendo Wii, Alec Baldwin

With the writer’s strike dragging on and on and on (Come on, producers! Come on AMPTP! Get back to the table and give the writers what they deserve! There is only so much Deal or No Deal I can watch!) there hasn’t been much new 30 Rock news to report. But as I was cruising around on the webs, I found and old, very brief interview with Tina Fey on E! online that I hadn’t seen yet before with information regarding season two. This interview came from an earlier, more naive time before writers strikes, insulting offers from the AMPTP and abbreviated seasons of our favorite TV shows. Some of the information, we already know, like about the story arc with Jenna gaining weight from eating pizza every day during her stint in Mystic Pizza: The Musical and the brief mention of Tracy and his ankle bracelet. But this is the most interesting part of the interview, and the subject that I haven’t heard addressed before: will Liz and Jack ever hook up?

The Lemon-Donaghy Romance Begins Five Minutes After Never: Despite their intense chemistry, Tina says there’s no romance—nor any sex—in store for Liz Lemon and her boss, Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin. “No, never gonna happen. They have great chemistry, I think, but in the writers’ room we always talk about it as Lou Grant and Mary Tyler Moore, or Han Solo and Princess Leia. Lot of chemistry, never happened.”

And thank goodness for that! The Lemon-Donaghy relationship is one of the funniest, sharpest, and most interesting on television right now and I am glad there are no plans, ever, to ruin it with romance or sex. That’s just not funny. This is not Cheers or Who’s the Boss? or Moonlighting. Personally, I enjoy the hints that are sometimes discussed on the Television Without Pity boards suggesting that Grizz is in love with Liz Lemon. (He calls her “Beth.”) That is an interesting storyline!

But the most heartbreaking part of the above interview is the following quote from Fey:

Begin at the Beginning: It’s early yet, but the writing staff is hard at work. There are no complete scripts, but according to Tina, “We’ve broken a lot of stories, and then I get in there with the writers next week.”

We all know what happened next — those writers were forced to shut down their computers and pick up picket signs. And it makes me sad to think of all the funny ideas (and non-romantic Lemon-Donaghy interactions) that we won’t get to witness this season.

30 Rock, Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy

Or maybe Entertainment Weekly is just thinking back fondly to those innocent times when we were all to naive to think such a thing as a writer’s strike could happen. Ahh, mid September how we miss you so.

Anyway, EW has named 30 Rock the very best show of 2007, can’t say we disagree with ya there but we do love slumin’ with A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (don’t tell our moms). Here’s what they say:

Tina Fey’s Emmy-winning sitcom earns every guffaw with its left-brain/right-brain zigzags. It’s incisive but squirrelly, satiric but joyfully goofy. In this second season, Fey feels genuine, bright, and occasionally nutty, but with enough sense to remark on her own madness. Tracy Morgan continues to perfect his blank-eyed craziness as an overindulged, posse-pampered comedian. And as purry, synergy-obsessed executive Jack Donaghy, Alec Baldwin is flawless, combining bone-deep insecurity with sky-high megalomania. Smart, playful, weird, and occasionally quite sweet, 30 Rock isn’t just the best comedy on TV this year, it’s simply the best TV.

There is a bit more to their love-fest but to read it we’d have to actually purchase Entertainment Weekly and we’re feeling a bit tight after blowing a bunch of cash on holiday essentials like more games where we can fake-murder stuff and Ugg boots for our pets.

So you may be thinking “wow that’s a whole lot of love that one mind-candy of a mag could be spraying on our little show”, but no, it doesn’t end there. They’ve also named Alec Baldwin in their 25 Greatest Performances of the Year article.

The episode that particularly caught their eye is from October 25th in the Rosemary’s Baby episode. As you may recall, this episode featured Carrie Fisher as a Liz Lemon’s strung out idol but what was a highlight was Jack reenacting Tracy’s childhood for a therapist in hopes of ridding him of his dog fighting dreams (and who doesn’t have those?)

Channeling Tracy’s dad via Redd Foxx, Jack explains why he left Tracy: ”I was young and confused, and your moms didn’t want me around no more. Now, pass me them damn collard greens!” Classic! The little act also featured a bit of Good Times, with a hint of Chico and the Man maybe? Something like that.

Anyway, we agree with all your 30 Rock praise EW. Maybe with a little love and a lot of other crappy shows on TV we can get people to tune in.

Chico and the Man, Alec Baldwin, Carrie Fisher, 30 Rock. Entertainment Weekly

Anticipational Disorder - Kenneth introduces himself to the camera and announces that he has a rare disorder called Holiday Anticipational Disorder. He puts a Santa hat on Lutz and muses that some people only wear their Halloween costumes once a year. Josh appears with an old pumpkin that Kenneth has put in his dressing room. “Happy Halloween,” he announces as Josh throws out the pumpkin. Frank comes up to Kenneth with an Easter basket and tells him the holiday junk is driving people nuts. Kenneth instructs him to take it up with the Easter Bunny. Kenneth has a crazy happy look on his face through this whole sketch but I think he usually looks like that. He announces that March 28th is holiday anticipational disorder awareness day and Happy President’s Day.

Kenneth’s Gifts - Kenneth gives Cerie a gift certificate for unlimited hugs. Josh is pissed he didn’t think of that. For Jenna he has a Native American complaint catcher so next time she has a problem she can say it into the catcher instead of telling it to him. That’s about it for that one. Not too exciting. I think the few they give to non-card members are a bit shorter and this must be one of those. Don’t you wish you were me?

Winter Fun - Pete catches Kenneth wearing a Santa hat and playing with a train set as jingle bell sort of sounds are heard in the background. He warns Kenneth about the no Christmas decoration rule. Kenneth insists they’re not Christmas decorations but winter fun decorations since the snowman behind him is an atheist and there’s a golf ball (where baby Jesus should be) in the manger. Pete says all the stuff can stay but only for generic winter fun. After Pete leaves Kenneth turns on a sign behind him that says Christmas is #1.

30 Rock, American Express, Winter Fun Time, Holiday Fun Times, holiday anticipational disorder

So in lieu of no more 30 Rock episodes being produced, the folks who make lists have made more lists. In fact, nothing says end of the year like lists. VH-1’s entire December programing schedule is, what? Yes, lists!

30 Rock has graced the tres place on TV Guide writer Matt Roush’s Top Ten Shows of 2007. Says Roush:

30 Rock
The funniest show too few are watching, and easily the most inspired comedy airing anywhere on TV, NBC’s gloriously wacky and sharply written satire goes behind the scenes of a dysfunctional comedy series where corporate lunacy reigns. Tina Fey is terrific as the frazzled and forlorn showrunner/den mother, and there’s true genius in Alec Baldwin’s career-high craftiness as her hilariously inscrutable boss.

Rock on sister, or er, brother. We agree. C’mon smart people it’s ok to watch TV. Really, there’s lots of good stuff on. Don’t be afraid, come towards the light, get tivo, grow an extra ass. Seriously, TV is the new film. Or maybe we just haven’t seen very many good films this year. But we do love us some Dexter and I did watch most of the Ken Burn’s seven-part documentary about World War II called, The War (despite Lori calling me a nerd whenever I put it on).
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Do you like lists? I like lists. I’m not sure why, maybe I just enjoy organization. And I do like “best of” lists, especially when I know, watch, eat, listen to, read, drive, wear, or own whatever is on that list. Maybe that is insecurity or the desire for a sense of superiority or whatever. (I am cool! I am all about what is current and hot and must-have!)

And here’s a list I can feel some of that smugness about: Time magazine has published a series of lists, aptly called the “50 Top 10 Lists of 2007.” This includes lists in general categories News, Arts & Entertainment, Science, Business, Tech & Sports, and Pop Culture.

Why am I telling you all this, my dear and lovely Watching 30 Rock readers? You all are so smart (not to mention hot, rich, and famous) that I’m sure you already know: because 30 Rock is listed as #3 on Time’s list of the Top Ten Returning TV Series. Yeah! We’ve all known it for a while and I’m glad that the show is getting a little more mainstream attention and kudos. Here is what Time has to say about the show:
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