If The Office, Then 30 Rock

A year ago, my girlfriend had never heard of 30 Rock. Today, she’s watching the series through for the third time and it has officially dethroned The Office as her favorite TV comedy. 30 Rock is quirky, absurd and chock-full of one-liners, like The Office, but it’s much snappier and a little more cerebral. Each scene is riddled with punchlines and character insights that will have you rolling on the floor, gasping for breath as tears of laughter stream down your cheeks. I love The Office, but 30 Rock is—straight up and down—simply a better show. That may sound like sacrilege to some of you, but the writing and acting in 30 Rock are both unparalleled as far as comedy television is concerned. If you don’t want to take my word at face value, I completely understand. Perhaps the 16 Emmy wins and 103 nominations that 30 Rock received—including three consecutive wins for ‘outstanding comedy series’—will convince you that you’re in good hands.

I would compare The Office to a heavyweight cage fighter, while 30 Rock is more of a lightweight. The former takes place in one of the most boring settings imaginable: a paper supply office in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It lumbers along in its mundane setting and builds tension into situations that unfurl in the latter stages of each episode and crash into you like a Francis Ngannou uppercut of slapstick hilarity. 30 Rock is more agile. Its workplace setting is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the NBC studios in New York City. The respective setting of each show dictates its pace. I've included a number of short videos in this article. I highly recommend you watch them because, passionate as I am about the show, there is a limit to how much of its excellence can be expressed with words alone.

30 Rock is lead by Tina Fey, a friend and collaborator of The Office's Steve Carrell on movies such as “Date Night” and “Anchorman 2”. In 30 Rock, she plays Liz Lemon, a (slightly) more crazed and neurotic version of herself. Liz is the head writer for “The Girlie Show”, a live comedy event that is similar to “Saturday Night Live”. She’s obsessed with what she calls ‘having it all’. Liz wants the head writing gig, the swanky New York City apartment, an astronaut boyfriend named Mike Dexter and, some day, kids of her own. She’s focused on her dream life. The only problem is that she’s a huge dork whose show is on the verge of getting cancelled. Her ambitions clash with her mercurial nature, food fixation, and the fact that her struggling show is comprised mostly of sketches about fart machines and dancing robots.

Opposite Liz is her boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Their first meeting is depicted in all it's glory in the video above. He is Liz Lemon’s antithesis. He’s a suave, Republican businessman who has spent his life climbing the General Electric corporate ladder, glad-handing politicians and amassing a fortune. He’s a brilliant man who, through his cunning, toughness, and sheer determination “won the Avery Blaine handsomeness scholarship to Princeton, and then attended Harvard Business School, where I (Jack) was voted ‘Most’”. Jack is a shark. He excels at everything. He’s who you want to be when you grow up (if you want to be a ruthless businessman who values the bottom line above all else).

Long story short, the market research that guides Jack’s career has led him to believe that he can fix Liz Lemon’s show and make it more profitable by re-tooling it.

“Re-tool what now?” says Liz.

“I’m the new vice president of East Coast television and microwave oven programming.”

“That sounds like you program microwave ovens” says Liz, chuckling.

“I like you” says Jack, lifting his chin in Liz’s direction. “You have the boldness of a much younger woman.” Liz squints at him confusedly while the sounds of construction echo in the background. Jack suggests they add famous comedian and movie star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to the show.

“Isn’t he ummm…crazy?” asks Liz.

“Tracy’s had his problems in the last few years” agrees Jack.

“I just don’t know where we’re going to find room in the budget for a guy like Tracy Jordan” says Pete.

“I think I do” says Jack, looking at the pair across from him appraisingly.

Jack eventually convinces Liz to have lunch with Tracy, and if she doesn’t think Tracy is a good fit, he’ll drop the whole thing.

“Alfredo’s, 2pm” he tells her.

“I’m not dressed for that.”

“You’re dressed for Burger King, should we make it Burger King?”

Liz sighs and stomps out of the office. A piece of drywall from the ceiling collapses onto her head as she exits.

Thus begins the relationship of John Francis Donaghy and Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon. Their friendship is at turns riotous, heartfelt and antagonistic. Jack becomes a mentor to Liz. He gives her a copy of his business book ‘Jack Attack’, and teaches her how to become a more efficient and ruthless manager and succeed in business. Liz in turn teaches Jack how to be more human. She shows him that some things are more important than money and helps him solve problems in his own life that require more of an artistic bend.

Refreshingly, 30 Rock doesn’t traffic in the tiresome will-they-or-won’t-they trope that far too many series have put their male/female co-protagonists through. Liz and Jack are friends and co-workers who share an mentor-mentee relationship. Instead of resorting to cheap tricks that lure audiences into a contrived, romantic web, 30 Rock explores all the humorous and heartfelt range of a true friendship and workplace relationship.

Besides, both Liz and Jack have plenty of romance outside the workplace. Liz Lemon’s recurring boyfriends include characters played by Matt Damon, Jon Hamm, James Franco, Steve Martin, Peter Dinklage, Jason Sudeikis, James Marsden and Michael Sheen. Sheen is my favorite of the lot. He plays a weaselly Englishman who doesn’t see anything strange or comic about the fact that his name is Wesley Snipes and thinks that him and Liz repeatedly bumping into each other is a sign that they should become one another's "settling soulmates", even though they can't stand one another. Meanwhile, Jack’s romantic interests are played by the likes of Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Salma Hayek and Condoleezza Rice. This show is truly star-studded. It provided Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), the multi-hyphenate Atlanta superstar, with his first writing job out of drama school, and even served as a launch-pad for a young Chloe Grace Moretz.

Back in episode one, we've cut to Tracy Jordan. He's sitting in Alfredo’s, wearing a red leather jacket and surrounded by his entourage. A waiter approaches.

“I’ll have an apple juice” says Tracy.

“Oh, we don’t have apple juice, sir” the waiter responds.

“Then I’ll have a vodka tonic” says Tracy, closing the large menu and placing it on the table. The waiter nods and heads to the bar as Liz Lemon enters the restaurant.

Eventually, she and Tracy get down to business. Tracy starts off strong, saying he wants the show to be raw, HBO-style content.

“Well,” says Liz “it’s not HBO. It’s TV. And I don’t think that it’s a good fit.”

“No, ‘cause I wanna drop truth bombs!” Tracy interjects. “You know how pissed off I was when US weekly said that I was on crack? That’s racist.”

Liz nods. Tracy continues.

“I’m not on crack. I’m straight up mentally ill!!” he yells, gesticulating.

“Sure” says Liz, nodding in agreement.

“I got mental health iss-ues” he continues.

“Who doesn’t, really?” asks Liz, taking a swig of the beer she ordered. “I don’t think you’d like it” she says. “You know, we work a lot of hours and it’s live television, which is risky.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah I like risky” says Tracy. “See, me and you, we play the game. We know how to be acceptable” Tracy sits mockingly upright and speaks sarcastically. “Hello, great meeting, I drink coffee please.” He slumps back down. “This show is our chance to break the shackles."

Tracy does eventually join the show, much to the chagrin of both Liz and her best friend, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski). Jenna is an aging actress and the star of “The Girlie Show”. She casts the shadow under which Liz Lemon resides. She’s the blonde bombshell A-lister whose narcissism also clashes with Liz’s more down-to-earth, self-deprecating modus operandi. Jenna plays the superficial movie star trope. She condescends everyone she works with, referring to them as ‘normals’, and throws fits whenever she doesn’t get her way. She hogs the spotlight, sings every chance she gets and does whatever it takes to be the center of attention. She also gets a taste of her own medicine when Tracy shows up, saves the show, and pushes Jenna into his shadow (he’s a much bigger movie star than she is). A power struggle ensues because, with Tracy Jordan providing The Girlie Show with a surplus of star power, Jenna's job is now in jeopardy. She's clinging to every scrap of youth and fame she can get her hands on. The only thing that Jenna and Tracy can really agree on is that actors are special and “deserve gifts” because, “without us, who would present awards to actors?”

I fear I've only begun to scratch the surface of this wonderful piece of television. But hopefully this article has piqued your interest and convinced you that 30 Rock will be compatible with your viewing tastes if you're a lover of The Office. Describing this show in article format is tough. It really is must-watch TV in every sense of the word. Plus, I've only discussed the main characters and 30 Rock really does a great job of utilizing everyone and everything at its disposal. There's Kenneth the page (Jack McBrayer), full name Kenneth Ellen Parcel, a loveable and strictly religious young page who works harder than anyone you've ever known but lacks any personal ambition. Every line of his is pure gold. The show also features a recurring Human Resources manager named Jeffrey Weinerslav ("pronounced Weiner-Slave") and a crackpot doctor named Leo Spaceman (pronounced (Spa-Chem-In).

30 Rock is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. It also has a YouTube page, from which I have drawn most of the videos in this article. I'll share a Jack and Liz compilation down below for good measure. Hopefully it will rouse you to seek out and watch this TV masterpiece for yourself.