30 Rock season 1 episode 6 review

You know that thing when everyone else starts to love something you really love, and then you can’t love it so much, because it’s not really ‘yours’, and these Johnny-come-latelys don’t get it in the same way that you do?

That was the big plan with 30 Rock. But something didn’t quite happen. The buzz is missing. So are the viewers. So is anyone even caring. Or being care-adjacent.

Sure is echoey in here, isn’t it?

At first I was determined it would be the fault of the public and their faulty tastes. But, no, I’m slowly coming to accept that it isn’t actually that good, and people may be onto something, which isn’t something I ever wanted to admit.

This week was, well, not great. The cast all ended up incapable of being filmed thanks to botox, full-face tattoos and the brutal right hook of Liz Taylor. Good set-up; shoddy practice. First off, giving Jenna lots to do is never a good starting point, especially if that’s at the expense of Tracy.

In fairness Tracy, did get to wield the best scene of the episode, outraged that a magazine described him as normal: “That’s not normal! It only looks like I’m walking out of a Starbucks when actually I’m doing the robot going backwards into a Starbucks! And I don’t even know who dog that is. Yes, I steal dogs!” before he and his posse reverse out the boardroom. (This is getting reminiscent of last week’s failure to transmit visual jokes into a review. Oh, just go and look it up on YouTube.)

Meanwhile, Liz was deciding whether her self-appointed mentor Jack is right about the shortcomings of her on-off boyfriend Dennis, the Beeper King of New York. Liz is spiky, defensive, and often gets to kill a scene dead by virtue of always being right. Wonderfully, Dennis upstages, embarrasses and confronts her all the time, so this gets amputated from Tina Fey whenever he’s around. He’s damned funny in this episode, and it’s a relief that he comes back throughout the series – see the episode in a fortnight to see how he turns the relationship around.

So that’s Liz semi-dealt with for a while – what else can be sticking-plastered in the show? A little more Kenneth wouldn’t go amiss, seeing as he’s near enough fallen off the show for the past two episodes. And some more of Toofer, the black writer who’s scared of black people, as his downtrodden face always makes me laugh. Plus proper endings to episodes would be quite nice. Now they have used up the excuse they don’t need to do a TV show because New York’s having a black out, they can’t really get away with it doing it again. Hopefully.

Anyway, back to ME: I think my 30 Rock ennui may be the curse of reviewing; I really quite liked Doctor Who until I reviewed series three. I’m spotting the same ‘Arc of Slow But Definitely Increasing Dislike’ happening with 30 Rock.

Oh well. I’m off to steal dogs from Starbucks til I’m cheered up.