Watching 30 Rock

With the writer’s strike in full swing, I’m sure many fans of all television are wondering what they will do when the networks run out of new episodes of their favorite shows. What will we do without our daily or weekly hits of our favorite shows? Will we lay awake at night wondering about plotlines and characters? Will our days at work become less productive because we can’t help but wonder “what would have happened next, if the writers could have kept working?” Will those writers have ideas while on the picket line that will never end up coming to fruition? Are they sneaking notepads in their pockets or jotting notes on the back of picket signs? OH GOD WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH LIZ LEMON AND TRACY AND JACK AND JENNA AND KENNETH THE PAGE? What about Pete? He hasn’t had a decent storyline AT ALL this season and now there is this strike? What happens next?

But there is somewhere you can go if you just have to have some way to find out about new adventures of your favorite television characters. But I have to tell you, it’s a cheap high, a empty shell, a sad substitute. Yes, at the risk of offending many internet writers out there, I am talking about fan fiction, also known as fanfic.

Here’s a definition of fan fiction, from Wikipedia:

Fan fiction (also commonly spelled as fanfiction and frequently abbreviated to fanfic or occasionally just FF or fic) is a broadly-defined term for fiction about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creators. Fan fiction usually describes works that are uncommissioned and unauthorized by the owner/creators and publishers of the original and usually (but not always) works which are not professionally published.

Fan fiction is defined outside of original fiction, which exists within its own discrete, professionally-published universe, and therefore outside of canon works within that universe. Most fan fiction writers assume that their readers have knowledge of the canon universe — created by a professional writer — in which their works are based.

So, yeah, there are lots of folks out there on the internet writing about your favorite television characters, even your favorite 30 Rock characters. In fact, if you do a Google search on “30 rock” fanfic, you get over 94,000 hits. That will keep you busy on Thursday nights for a long time to come!

In addition to general information and news about the show, the livejournal community 30 Rock has fan fiction (although if you are looking for something a little spicier, look elsewhere, as no “porno” or “slash” is allowed here.) There is also a whole community dedicated to “Jack and Liz” fanfic. And those are just the first few hits that came up!

So if the strike goes on and on and you just have to have some 30 Rock then maybe fanfic can get you through. But I have to say, it will sort of be like ordering a filet mignon and a nice pinot at a nice restaurant and being served a hot dog on a stale bun with a flat diet pepsi.

30 Rock, Writer’s Strike, Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, fan fiction, 30 Rock fan fiction