There Goes the Funcooker: Saying Goodbye to 30 Rock

In 2006, two shows premiered on NBC. One was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the other 30 Rock. Both shows dealt with the behind-the-scenes happenings on sketch comedy shows. Studio 60 was Aaron Sorkin's return to television, while 30 Rock was Tina Fey's first big project since leaving Saturday Night Live. Sorkin's show was riding a lot of buzz generated by its excellent pilot that brought to mind Network. The pilot for 30 Rock, on the other hand, was roundly panned as being rather mediocre bordering on bad. I hadn't seen the 30 Rock pilot, but I loved the Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip pilot. I thought for sure that Sorkin had hit gold again, and a deserving successor to The West Wing had been found. If I even thought about 30 Rock, it was how it was likely to run through 13 episodes, maybe even a full season because of Lorne Michaels sway, and get cancelled.

Blergh, was I wrong.

Studio 60 ended up being far more "Bad Sorkin" than "Good Sorkin", and ignominiously bowed out after one season. These days it is rarely brought up, other than as evidence along with The Newsroom to show how "Bad Sorkin" has taken over his TV projects. The only time I think about the show is when Jeff Daniels is bitching about those young folks and their technology, when I remember how stupid it was Nate Corddry's parents didn't recognize Abbott and Costello, and when I listen to the admittedly great version of "O Holy Night" from the Christmas episode*.

Meanwhile, 30 Rock became one of my favorite shows, with Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy becoming two of my favorite characters of all time. Yeah, the pilot was not great, but it very quickly gathered its momentum, and was firing on all cylinders within a few episodes in the first season. The unhinged craziness of Tracey Morgan and Jane Krakowski worked wonders in contrast to the grounded craziness of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin and the weird cheerfulness of Jack McBrayer. Beyond the big five characters, the rest of the group, including Scott Adsit and Judah Friedlander, helped flesh out the show. If those still weren't enough, the show had many great guest stars, ,such as Dean Winters, Jon Hamm, Will Arnett, and many others. Oftentimes it was the funniest show on television.

The core of the show was the relationship between Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon. It was a special relationship, and fairly unique in that it was a friendship between a man and a woman character that didn't descend into "will they or won't they" nonsense. This seems to be a pretty rare thing, although more frequent in recent years with others like Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson, or Don Draper and Peggy Olson. I'm glad they never tried to force that situation, because it worked so much better as a platonic friendship.

And now, after seven seasons, it's time to say farewell to the show. Although I am sad to see it go, I am happy to say it is leaving strong. Unlike many shows, such as The Office, it is going out on its own terms, before it gets too stale. Although the show did get a bit weak (at times) in the middle of its run, it has rebounded to be consistently great the past couple of seasons. Of course, they have yet to stick the landing, so perhaps you'll see me on here tomorrow decrying the awfulness of Seinfeldesque proportions of the finale. Given the show's track record, I'm confident that won't happen.


*As annoying as the show could be, this was still a pretty great moment. Oh, the episode Allison Janney guest starred in was pretty good as well, if I recall.

The Newsroom

SPOILER ALERT: There will be spoilers for The Newsroom in this post.

I was going to wait until after the season finale to discuss the latest show from Aaron Sorkin. However, I changed my mind after watching the penultimate episode of the first season tonight, and reading Scott Tobias' latest review of the show. Frankly, I felt like I couldn't wait, and the last episode of the season is quite unlikely to change my opinion.

The West Wing is one of my favorite shows of all time, and Sports Night isn't too far behind. I've enjoyed all of the movies Sorkin has written that I've watched, and I still think the pilot of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was one of the best pilots I've ever seen. In short, I'm most certainly a fan of the guys work.

I enjoyed The Social Network and Moneyball, so it was natural I'd be excited for The Newsroom. It being on HBO added to the excitement, as after all "It's not TV, it's HBO". On top of that, it was about a news show trying to stand up and restore the integrity and power of the fourth estate, a cause that I believe in strongly. In short, I was looking very much forward to its debut after Game of Thrones wrapped up for another season. Obviously, expectations were running very high.

So I watched the first episode and it was...OK. Unlike many critics throughout the internet world, I wasn't instantly hateful of the show, but I could clearly see it was not living up to its potential. I dearly hoped it would get better. And it did...eventually.

By the later half of the season, I was liking a lot of what they were doing. Sure, the relationship triangle quadrangle between Don, Maggie, Jim, and Lisa was still insufferable, as was the whole Will/MacKenzie troubled past crap. And the shows tendency to play second guessing on real stories* made me so glad The West Wing and Sportsnight existed in mostly fictional timelines. But the whole plot between Charlie and Corporate has been well executed, and when they actually do, y'know, news the show works well. Episode eight had been a fine episode, further fleshing out the TMI/Lansing/Newsnight storyline and setting up a typical Sorkin abandonment of ideals, then regrouping scenario. Sure, the idea that Newsnight 2.0 would lose 50% of its voters to an awful howler monkey screeching about Casey Anthony**, and Neal came off as a bit awful in his quest to be a master troll. But it was fine, even given the "miracle blackout".

As expected as it was, I still love Sorkin's "stumble and redeem" arcs. I loved "Let Bartlet be Bartlet" and "Mary Pat Shelby". I knew this would be one of those types of episodes, and in fact I kind of guessed how he'd do it. The big important debate format would be rejected by the hot-headed GOP official, making their wallow in the filth of Casey Anthony and Anthony Wiener's...um...picture worth very little. Having lost that battle, they decide to recommit, and do real news again. Obviously, this would lose viewers, and give Jane Fonda a reason to fire Will.

For a few glorious moments in the episode, it appeared that I would be wrong, and Sorkin had come up with a brilliant way to redeem the team. They would use the blackout to their advantage, doing a seat of their pants broadcast outside. As MacKenzie and the team got fired up for this, I was really looking forward to a taught, tense hour of TV as they tried to put on a news show outside. Of course, until the buildup clearly showed they were going for a joke on this. A fucking joke.

Granted, I did laugh, but I'm not sure if I felt it was truly funny, or I was just trying to find it funny. I tried to find it entertaining, through the obvious debate format setup (right down to the sensible, older moderate Republican and hard-headed vengeance seeking young radical conservative, the latter of which had the power of refusal)***. I tried to rationalize the romantic entanglements that made up far too much of this episode, which should have focused again on the news and not fluffy shit. I even tried to enjoy Neal's trolling attempt, hoping it was going to lead to him trying to get through into Anonymous (and thus segue into season two with OWS and the likes). Instead, I don't know what the hell he is doing, going deeper into the hole and trying to involve a bodyguard and death threats in his trolling. Both Jim and Will try to play Josh Lyman/Dan Rydell in the episode, and it really doesn't fit well. And the less said about Lisa's digression into a soapbox speech on abortion in the middle of her Casey Anthony related interview the better.

Frankly, I've gotten more down on this episode as I think more about it, especially after the AVClub review brought up the "could have been" of the blackout show. I truly feel there are parts I've enjoyed, but far too much has been stuff I almost feel like I am trying to enjoy it. I do so because I want so badly to like it.

I want so badly to the like the show because I enjoy TV shows, movies, music, and books that make real points about life and our society's institutions, provided they are also entertaining. It's why Parks and Recreation is my favorite show currently running. It's why I love Deep Space Nine (and Star Trek in general). It's why I loved The West Wing and Moral Orel. Sure, I enjoy shows that are entertaining without great meaning, but that meaning is a nice salty, savory, or even bitter counterbalance to the sweet entertainment.

Most of all, I want so badly to like this show, because I want to justify my continuing to watch it. Right now there are far too many great shows on. I only have so much entertainment time in a day, and only a fraction of that is devoted to TV (and current shows at that). I'm sure I'll watch next season, but if it continues to disappoint like this night's episode, I might not be around for long. Basically what keeps me here is the bigger picture part of the show and Sam Waterston's performance as Charlie. Oh, and the hope, however forlorn, that Sorkin can do this again:



* Hey look, Maggie knows an attendant to the prime minister of Austria! Now we can get the scoop on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand! Oh, and Jim knows Clemenceau's great nephew? BULLY! We'll stop this war yet!

** Seriously, the kind of people who would love Newsnight 2.0 are the same kind of people who would HATE shows like Nancy Grace. I could see them moving to Anderson Cooper, or some other not Fox News show talking about Casey Anthony, but not Nancy Grace. Also, the debt ceiling was not being ignored, just badly reported upon.

*** I totally believe the debates should be more about making candidates defend their positions and answer the damn questions, and not use them as pivots to their talking points. After all it is a debate, and not a freaking joint press conference. Still, the "Newsnight Fantastic Super Revolutionary Debate Format", which was merely Will interrupting the candidates and yelling at them, probably is not the optimal format.

A few quick thoughts on Studio 60

I haven't yet posted anything about Studio 60, despite wanting to since the start of the season. Part of this is because I just haven't gotten around to it, thanks in part to my move. Another is that I am not entirely sure what I think of the show. Therefore I am going to hold off until the end of the season (and the series???) before I make my judgment.

In short, I enjoy the show. However, I don't like it nearly as much as Sports Night and nowhere near as much as The West Wing. It just doesn't have "it", that which is hard to describe, but is easy to experience when it shows up. With the other two shows, Sorkin was able to deliver home run after home run. With Studio 60, however, he seems to be able to load the bases, but not drive in all the runs.

Maybe the show will pick up momentum as it goes along.