Art Streiber/Art Streiber/NBC
Two true 'Rock' stars of comedy: Tina Fey as Liz Lemon and Alec Baldwin as Jack Donaghy
NBC’s “30 Rock†wraps up a seven-year run Thursday night at 8 with a double episode that’s self-referential, self-deprecating, puzzling, appropriate, funny and wholly untroubled by the fact this show’s life story feels odder than many of its loopy plotlines.
Consider:
1. If you listen to critics and the TV industry, “30 Rock†is one of the best sitcoms ever. It won the Emmy for Best Comedy three years in a row. But if you look at its ratings, it never ranked higher than No. 69 in any of its seven seasons. Its finale last season drew 2.8 million viewers, less than a typical episode of “Ax Men.â€
2. “30 Rock†was a glittering beacon of prestige for NBC during years when, as the late Daily News’ Bill Bell used to say, the network “couldn’t get viewers in a prison block if it were waving a fistful of pardons.†“30 Rock†and other modestly rated but critically adored sitcoms kept NBC on the map. Yet now NBC Entertainment President Robert Greenblatt is gently and diplomatically saying NBC needs shows with broader appeal.
3. With an inside-the-industry premise, which narrows any show’s appeal, “30 Rock†succeeded largely because its stars were so entertaining. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won awards as routinely as pizza-delivery trucks double-park. But ask most TV viewers how they remember Fey in recent years and they’ll say, “Sarah Palin.†Ask about Baldwin and they’ll tell you how they love his Capital One commercials. Tracy Morgan? Loose cannon. Jane Krakowski? Love those lite OJ ads.
Thursday’s final episodes take a final round of digs at NBC. Jack McBrayer's Kenneth, now the network president, explains he only wants brainless sitcoms where people joke with their dogs.
Kenneth also sets up the nominal premise for the finale, that the network must make one more episode of “TGS†even though it was canceled.
This sets up the dysfunctional group’s version of goodbyes, whether that involves Lutz (John Lutz) plotting revenge for seven years of humiliation in the writers’ room or Liz (Fey) and Jack (Baldwin) trying to figure out how they really feel about each other.
It’s no spoiler to reveal that things never become mushy, or that only viewers truly obsessed with the show will get all of the inside lines and references.
Brian Williams and a mirror on the bathroom floor? Alec Baldwin’s character joking about the real-life Alec Baldwin?
But hey, the “30 Rock†folks were clearly having a good time. And really, in the end, what else is happiness all about?
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