Has '30 Rock' jumped the shark?
The NBC sitcom enters its fourth season with some critics wondering how long it can stay on top
Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin on '30 Rock'
(NBC Photo: Jessica Miglio)
"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling very jump the shark right now," said Linda Stasi in the New York Post. The fourth season of NBC's 30 Rock kicks off Thursday night, and although the first episode contains "some good laughs," the sitcom is in danger of becoming one of those shows that is "too smug, too smart, and too out-of-touch" for its "own good" (watch a preview of the fourth season of 30 Rock).
The three-time Emmy Award winning show has lost some of its "confident swagger," said Todd VanDerWerff in The Onion's A.V. Club, and some viewers are starting to wonder "whether it's plunging off a cliff into oblivion." But "all comedies can experience slumps," and "it's worth noting that even at its worst, 30 Rock is still a very solid show."
Tina Fey's 30 Rock is still "television's funniest series," said Tim Goodman in The Houston Chronicle. Those who think it's too smug or the comedy is too subjective should give it a fresh chance. It will someday be recognized as "one of the all-time greats," and "there's virtually no good excuse left to be, inexplicably, off the 30 Rock bandwagon."
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5 Comments
Posted by jumping the shark, Thursday, October 15, 2009, 4:48 pm I don't know anyone who watches 30 rock and no one I know thinks its funny. My friends consider it eqivalent to obama's winning the NPP. The show receives awards because it is constantly finding ways to insult decent society and moral values. Baldwin is a loud mouth, daughter abusing, liberal who wouldn't honor his promise to leave the country when the dems lost. Fey finally got noticed when she impersonated and insulted Palin. Nothing like using the negative to get attention for these people.
Posted by Bloomsday, Thursday, October 15, 2009, 7:32 pm 30 Rock is the funniest show on TV, and one of the funniest ever, next to Seinfeld and Arrested Development. How can the show be jumping the shark when it hasn't even aired a single episode yet? Even the worst episode of 30 Rock is twice as funny as 2.5 Men or Everybody Loves Raymond.
Posted by SNOWinformer, Thursday, October 15, 2009, 8:43 pm yo, jumping the shark, don't you think you are starting to overreach a little when you compare a tv show you admittedly don't watch to the presidency? is there anything that isn't attributable to obama? sure is cloudy today... liberal clouds making it impossible for the sun, also known as the sky's small business owner or hard working joe six pack, to shine through to its full ability. just another case of potential being stunted by the communist, socialist, fascist clouds
Posted by ted turner, Friday, October 16, 2009, 7:17 pm This show has always been smarmy and annoying, reminds me a lot of Scrubs. Just replace the smug Zach Braff with Tina Fey and voila!
Posted by Justin, Saturday, October 17, 2009, 3:49 pm This show is brilliant! At first I was skeptical, but it's grown on me. The best comedy is able to take our everyday foibles both political and personal and expose them allowing us to laugh at them and with them while laughing at ourselves. They're doing some of the best and most daring comedy on TV right now. Give 'em a chance! Just because some people happened to hear of Tina Fey after her impersonation of Sarah Palin, doesn't mean the rest of the country did, too.
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