THE PHENOMENON OF 30 ROCK: How combining reality and fiction made the show irreplaceable

Back in 2006, when 30 Rock, a TV show created by Tina Fey, was about a TV show based on SNL, which was a TV show that Fey used to work for, television was different. Now, the first sentence can be confusing, but if you watched the show you’ll understand that it makes sense. This acclaimed show won many Emmys and Golden Globes, however, it was missing an audience, which for a network TV is a necessity. Television is still a business and its ratings do matter. Yet, let’s talk about 30 Rock and the way it survived huge competition for 7 amazing years.

The show is about a single woman in her mid-30s who tries to have it all and runs her NBC sketch show when a new executive in charge suddenly changes everything.

Ironically, it does sound like the majority of comedy shows that are cancelled after 1 season, but

30 Rock managed to stay on the air for much longer.

Each episode revolved around crazy TV stars and lazy writers that all worked on TGS with Tracy Jordan, who was played by Tracy Morgan; this is one of the jokes that was mentioned on the show itself. The fact that the show created this “medium” between reality and fiction by constantly mentioning reality, proves that no other show would be capable of doing it. Just like no other show would break the fourth wall the way they did it in 30 Rock. Yet, nothing, no matter how unique and original the show was, nothing would bring the audience.

NBC is known for hit comedies like Seinfeld or Friends from the good old days, and later on for gems like The Office, Parks and Recreation or Community.

Seinfeld, a hit TV show about “nothing”, came out in ’89 and was recently released on Netflix. The show run for 9 incredible seasons and ended when Friends only finished its fourth season. So 1997 was truly an amazing year for NBC. And the fact that the show about nothing could be this popular means something right?

Make it 1997 again through science or magic. - Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

Similarly to 30 Rock, Seinfeld also has a plot about Jerry Seinfeld and his friend George Costanza pitching a show to NBC about nothing, which reflects what Seinfeld is about. Once again, that “medium” between fiction and reality proves comedy at its finest.

Another smart connection between the shows that 30 Rock did was in the premiere episode of season 2 when Jerry Seinfeld guest-starred on the show as himself after Jack Donaghy used old footage of Jerry Seinfeld on different NBC shows without his permission. The episode promoted the Bee Movie that was created by Jerry Seinfeld in such an original way and seeing Jerry Seinfeld playing himself is always a joy. (because 9 seasons of Seinfeld was not enough).

Another very memorable episode was MILF Island, which iconically reflected the game of this reality show everyone was obsessed about when everyone got in trouble for talking about Jack Donaghy to the press. The episode showed the struggles, making alliances and other things you would see in shows like that or Survivor.

The list can go on and on...

30 Rock is an example of how creativity is not always appreciatedin the way it should be. Did the show deserve a bigger audience? Yes. Did it manage to survive for 7 incredible and fresh seasons with many won awards? Also yes.

I don’t think another show can get on that level with so many hidden jokes or references. The way the show promoted Verizon phones or Snapple, showed Jack Donaghy’s crazy ideas that included producing the benefit for his father that needed a kidney or a pre-taped disaster, not

forgetting about Tracy Jordan and his wild career that let him win EGOT or how Kenneth Parcell, the (immortal) beloved NBC Page managed to become President of NBC. Jenna Maroney also deserves a clap, because once again she was the one who almost chose the president of the United States. (and let’s not forget about that Weird Al Yankovic parody)

Additionally, with the incredible guest stars like Robert DeNiro, Matt Damon, Elaine Stritch, Salma Hayek and Jon Hamm to name a few, the show proved to be one and only; 7 incredible seasons that reflected on reality and made the few Americans laugh cannot be replaced or compared to. The two live episodes are once again proof of that, and so is Queen of Jordan, the reality show based on Tracy’s wife Angie saying “ham” like no other. So no, no matter how incredible other shows are, nothing will ever compare to 30 Rock.