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on the title to order - huge discounts and free shipping through Amazon.com! 30 Rock - Season ThreeOne of network television's funniest and game changing comedies, 30 Rock, begins to lose a little of it's luster and fall into a predictable pattern with season 3. Year three delivers plenty of laughs, that's for sure, but it's hit and miss. An excellent episode of 30 Rock is a delicate mix, too much of any character seems to upset the formula. That's unfortunate because standard operating procedure for maturing sitcoms is to develop storylines around the supporting characters. As a light-hearted soap opera the show works wonderfully, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are a winning combination, Tracy Morgan zips and zings, the show's pace doesn't allow for inertia. But how long can Kenneth continue to be an empty headed prat after all those years in New York City? Are any of the writers or Tracy's posse really that interesting and why not? Maybe it's time for a supporting cast shakeup. TV shows do that you know, maybe even TV shows based on TV shows. Where The Office has created an ever expanding roster of wonderful personalities to draw on - thanks in part to clever casting like bringing in The Wire's Idris Elba ('Stringer' Bell) as Michael's corporate tormentor - 30 Rock suffers from the very thing what made the show work in the first place, the intersection of absurd and surreal is a hard tangent to hold. On the bright side, John Hamm joins the cast as Liz Lemon's love interest and he's as dreamily innocent in this as he is churlishly brittle in Mad Men. Another strong episode casts Alan Alda as Jack's potential father. Overbearing mothers are all the rage on TV today, always have been. 30 Rock has the incomparable Broadway Baby Elaine Stritch as Jack's prickly mom and she pops up in two episodes including the Christmas show. Her second appearance comes late in the season and co-stars Steve Buscemi in one of the funniest episodes of the series' run, not to be missed. Bring Elaine Stritch in every week ala Holland Taylor on Two and a Half Men or Sharon Gless on Burn Notice and I'll take back every bad thing I said. Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Bilge and Cyndi Lauper all turn up in some laughable cameos, one of the best features of this series are the guest stars that stroll in and out of the TGS studio to have a laugh at their own expense. All in all season three of 30 Rock is a winner, especially when you consider the slate of extras on this DVD including deleted scenes, commentaries in which John Hamm and Alan Alda take part, a table read of the season finale and more. If you were to buy only one season 30 Rock which should it be? I'd go with Season 1 when the production was fresh and the writers hadn't yet settled into a comfortable rhythm. As every successful show begats watered down imitations from former writer and producers, I shudder to think how cloying those knock-offs will be. TV on DVD Reviews:  |
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