Episode 1 - Seinfeld Vision
6 January 2009
Review
Synopsis: Jack has spent the summer pitching new shows. Having discovered the success of Seinfeld, he decides to digitally insert Jerry Seinfeld into episodes of current NBC shows. When Jerry finds out he comes to NBC and he is not happy. Liz broke up with Floyd over the summer and is clearly not over it yet. Tracy’s wife kicks him out and so Liz appoints Kenneth to be his “office wife.”
The Good: Like any television show, 30 Rock needs to draw attention to itself and try and win new viewers. So why not bring Jerry Seinfeld on board for an episode with the offer of some shameless plugs for his new project Bee Movie?
Jack’s character fits this plot really well. As he knows more about microwaves than television, it fits that having discovered how popular Seinfeld was he would try and use that to his advantage. Seeing Jerry in clips of Deal or No Deal, Law and Order and Heroes is quite fun. As is Liz’ conversation with him where she gets upset and starts imitating his voice. As I’m sure many viewers have done their own impressions over the years, it feels an appropriate way to mock him.
We get an iota of character development from Jack’s busy secretary Jonathan when he gives away that he tried to hold Jack’s hand once.
The Bad: There is a reason Jerry Seinfeld went back to stand up comedy rather that pursue a movie career. Of course those who watched Seinfeld know that his acting is passable when he is playing himself in a laid back mood. But here when he attempts anything more he sounds pretty bad “I still think you shot a dolphin!” I don’t have a huge problem with him plugging Bee Movie but when he looks right at the camera and says it you undermine any semblance of reality the show might have. I know that many will enjoy 30 Rock for its surreal nature, but I firmly believe that a sliver of reality is needed for jokes to be funny (see Comic Highlight).
Jack for example is meant to be a smooth operator. In order to believe the crazy things he achieves we have always had to buy into the idea that he is a maverick genius. When he starts acting like a buffoon it totally undermines that image and so makes him seem like a fake character, you know, so he no longer has the sliver of reality. So here the maverick genius makes such a cock up that he begins listing “Kill Seinfeld” and “Kill Seinfeld and then kill myself” as possible ideas to solve the problem. The “kill myself” line is an old sit com joke saved for hopeless characters. Add that to Jack trying to brain Jerry with one of his awards and it is pretty clear that Jack has no constitution as a character. He may be a genius some weeks and a gentleman on others. But today for a joke we will have him make huge mistakes and contemplate assault and murder. That kind of writing makes the show look bad.
Liz Lemon is more consistent. Unfortunately that is not a good thing. The single female growing old and dealing with life is such a staple of television (Ally McBeal, Carrie Bradshaw, Monica Bing, Elliot Reid and so on) that Liz should be an easy character to write. As she is the main character we need to sympathise with her struggles and generally see her behaving in the right way. However throughout season one and continuing here she constantly makes the wrong choices and lies to everyone about how she is feeling. She constantly says she is over Floyd and yet no one believes her. She tells Jenna that no one notices she is fat when everyone does. She tells the shop assistant that she won’t buy a wedding dress and then does. She constantly gives us reasons to think of her as a stupid person. She is cast as the voice of reason and yet she is nothing of the sort. As a result she isn’t funny or useful to the story.
Finally the marriage story for Kenneth and Tracy is about the lamest version of this very old sit com plot I have ever seen. Seasons one and two of Friends used the juxtaposition joke in every conceivable variation and so in order to make it fresh a show needs serious attention to details. Instead Kenneth just behaves like he is Tracy’s wife immediately without justification and they don’t make any jokes beyond the most basic ones imaginable.
The idea of country’s which only rich people know about it is a passable comic idea. But when you start creating more than one and talking about them openly then that sliver of reality is gone. An odd line is Jack’s question of whether Jerry has four million dollars lying around when he threatens to buy NBC. I don’t think even fourty million dollars could buy NBC and Jack should know that.
Comic Highlight: Tracy and Jerry Seinfeld are reunited.
T: “JS!”
J: “Tracy!”
T: “What’s up? Liz Lemon, me and this dude used to do stand-up together. Remember that night that we had the three-way with Elayne Boosler?”
J: “I don’t think that was me.”
T: “Oh yeah, you know what. I think that was a mirror.”
That sliver of plausibility I referred to is that Tracy has a well established history of drinking, drug abuse, memory loss and exaggeration. So a statement like that is funny, because far from being simply surreal, it is also just about believable.
The Bottom Line: Welcome back 30 Rock, I see nothing has changed. The show still mixes its strange blend of modern surreal jokes with some really tired old lines. The show still expects us to get involved with stories featuring unbelievable characters. But I suspect the shows fans will be happy because there is plenty of action and lots of silly things going on. I just happen to believe that it is not very good.
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