{"id":875585,"date":"2026-10-08T21:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875585\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T21:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:42:10","slug":"was-30-rock-the-perfect-tv-comedy-lets-discuss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/875585\/","title":{"rendered":"Was \u201830 Rock\u2019 the perfect TV comedy? Let\u2019s discuss."},"content":{"rendered":"

Style<\/a><\/p>\n

On the 20th anniversary of the NBC sitcom, a look back at how it\u2019s both a time capsule and timeless.<\/p>\n

\"\" (Art Streiber\/NBC\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

October 8, 2026 at 11:30 a.m. EDTToday at 11:30 a.m. EDT<\/p>\n

This month, \u201c30 Rock\u201d \u2014 the NBC cult sitcom that was Tina Fey\u2019s singularly brilliant, satirized send-up of a \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d-esque sketch comedy show \u2014 somehow turns 20.<\/p>\n

We say somehow because even though the show is old enough to vote, it has aged like a fine D\u2019Fwine<\/a>. Revisit its seven stellar seasons, and you\u2019ll be reminded of why it is among the most enduring TV comedies: The incessant, whip-smart jokes delivered with impeccable timing; the oddball, unforgettable characters and their dynamic chemistry; the plotlines that seamlessly stitched together incisive parody, outright lunacy and uncanny prescience; and let us not forget the songs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the occasion of this momentous anniversary, four Washington Post staffers gathered to discuss the abiding cultural significance \u2014 and iconic gags \u2014 of one of the greatest television comedies ever.<\/p>\n

The four of us have a particular fixation with this show. So let\u2019s start there. There\u2019s so much new television out there, but make your elevator pitch on why \u201c30 Rock\u201d deserves to be watched today.<\/p>\n

It contained multitudes. \u201c30 Rock\u201d was a workplace comedy; a send-up of the political eras in which it took place (Bush-era patriotism, Obama-era optimism); a \u201cCan Women Have it All\u201d career-gal feminist chronicle; a parody of its own media environment, in which the scripted network sitcom was being surpassed by reality slop.<\/p>\n

From the very beginning, it consistently offered up impeccable, razor-sharp writing, and the sheer velocity of it was dazzling. I loved that the humor was so unexpected \u2014 \u201c30 Rock\u201d always went one step further or one step weirder than audiences were ever anticipating, which made the jokes unforgettable. (Deep cut, but of my personal favorites of the genre, uttered by the late, great Catherine O\u2019Hara: \u201cRemember the kid who bullied you in high school? Well, I ate that goat.\u201d) Plus, the show had genuinely memorable, standout characters with incredible chemistry. (Liz Lemon and Tracy Jordan! Liz Lemon and Jenna Maroney! Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy!) <\/p>\n

Just by the joke ratio alone, it should be considered one of the funniest comedies of all time. You can rewatch it two, three, four times (but who\u2019s counting?) and still miss lines simply because of the density of absurd\/hilarious comments. And you know a show is top-tier when so many A-listers (Oprah, Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, etc.) agree to a cameo or arc.<\/p>\n

\"\"We never seem to tire of our old friends, Liz Lemon, Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney. (Ali Goldstein\/NBC\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

I also think of it as the apex of a creative relationship between two people \u2014 Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan. Fey really got Morgan, how funny of an actor he really was, in a way that (as I\u2019ve heard him describe in interviews) few others did, and it all manifested in the character of Tracy Jordan. \u201c30 Rock\u201d is a work of creative alchemy among people who really see each other. \u2026 Sorry to get woo-woo so soon, it was bound to happen.<\/p>\n

Considering that the show features a running gag about a mystical, immortal being, I think the woo-woo vibes are entirely fitting!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been off the air for more than a decade now! No such thing as spoilers!<\/p>\n

How often do you all rewatch? <\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to make a confession that will make me sound somehow even more ancient than I already feel: I own the entire series on DVD.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve done several rewatches but not in a while, so I\u2019m overdue. It\u2019s my comfort show.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go back to some of my favorite episodes fairly frequently (when Liz goes to Cleveland, also the one where Tracy tries to stab Conan O\u2019Brien), but I rewatch the entire series once every couple of years.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Ali Goldstein\/NBC\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

I have rewatched it enough times that my husband jokes that I quote it like the Bible. I\u2019ll spout out a joke from the show, and he\u2019ll intone in a deep voice: \u201cBOOK OF THE ROCK, SEASON 3, EPISODE 14: THE FUNCOOKER.\u201d (I have a problem.) But beyond the enduring brilliance of the writing, I think revisiting it always reminds me of the show\u2019s downright eerie foreshadowing?!<\/p>\n

I started a full-fledged, comfort-fueled rewatch last year and something was particularly jarring to me: how well it held up, and at the same time, how much of a time capsule it was for a particular era in politics and entertainment.<\/p>\n

And yet it also seemed to really sense where we were going, both in terms of politics and entertainment!<\/p>\n

What strikes me is how smart the show was about skewering its own industry. Even back then, they knew that the best hope for TV executives was \u201cmake it 1997 again through science or magic\u201d \u2014 we see that happening all the time now with constant reboots. They made fun of reality TV, but \u201cMILF Island\u201d basically became a real show<\/a> on TLC called \u201cMILF Manor.\u201d And \u201cQueen of Jordan,\u201d Tracy\u2019s wife\u2019s reality show, would easily be in its 20th season on Bravo in real life.<\/p>\n

Remember \u201cMakin\u2019 It Happen,\u201d the 10-second dramas created by Devon Banks (Will Arnett)? Aren\u2019t we \u2026 in the micro-drama era now?<\/p>\n

LOL, yes\/sob. And all the product placement!<\/p>\n

Liz Lemon, looking directly to camera: \u201cCan we have our money now?\u201d <\/p>\n

The merger episodes: Imagine what they\u2019d be doing now, with Skydance\/Warner Bros.! <\/p>\n

I mean, the entire Kabletown storyline \u2026 <\/p>\n

\"\"(Ali Goldstein\/NBC\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the episode where Jack Donaghy digitally inserts old footage of Jerry Seinfeld into whatever NBC program Donaghy wants \u2014 \u201cSeinfeld-Vision\u201d? They saw celebrity deepfakes long before that was a thing! <\/p>\n

I\u2019m just gonna say: that killer Bill Cosby joke. \u201cBill Cosby, you got a lotta nerve getting on the phone with me after what you did to my Aunt Paulette!\u201d \u2014 Tracy Jordan says, crying, at a time when Cosby was still considered America\u2019s dad.<\/p>\n

They also referenced Harvey Weinstein, in the way that only Jenna could: \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of anyone in show business. I turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions \u2014 out of five.\u201d<\/p>\n

And of course there were so many prescient political jokes, too \u2014 I think there is, uh, a lot about our current era that might feel uncomfortably resonant if you go back and watch the off-the-wall episode featuring John Slattery as political candidate \u201cSteve Austin.\u201d<\/p>\n

They did politics really well. I think about Kenneth\u2019s jokes often, because some of them were very predictive \u2014 \u201cScience is my most favorite subject, especially the Old Testament.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dr. Spacemen: \u201cScience is whatever we want it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

My most recent rewatch has been surreal because it plops us in Jack Donaghy\u2019s version of the GOP: the height of George W. Bush, War in Iraq, then it went to the Mitt Romney\/the \u201cbusinesses are people, too\u201d era.<\/p>\n

It pretty deftly skewers the left (Liz, Pete Hornberger, Toofer) and the right (Jack and Kenneth, obviously). <\/p>\n

They ridiculed corporate greed but also the righteous indignation over it. Remember when Liz feels so morally superior because she finds her new favorite pair of jeans at a store she\u2019s convinced is local, artisanal and fair trade?<\/p>\n

Ah yes, who could forget Brooklyn Without Limits \u2014 which turned out to be owned by Halliburton, as Donaghy explains: \u201cIn the mid-\u201990s, they found themselves with a surplus of canvas waterboarding hoods, so they had sweatshops make them into messenger bags to sell to outer-borough idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was kind of a high-wire act of comedy. It\u2019s not the \u201cif both sides are angry at you, you\u2019re doing something right.\u201d It\u2019s just the, \u201cmake the joke wherever there is funny.\u201d Sometimes there were big stumbles \u2014 notably episodes where characters played by Jane Krakowski and Jon Hamm were in blackface. (Fey asked streamers to pull those episodes during the height of the racial reckoning<\/a>, telling them, \u201cI understand now that \u2018intent\u2019 is not a free pass for White people to use these images.\u201d)<\/p>\n

I think Liz Lemon is also one of the most honest portrayals of a career woman on television, ever. Her job seems glamorous but kind of sucks! She can be petty and mean, but also sticks up for her people and cares about work way more than she should. She goes into goblin mode whenever she gets home: horrible T-shirts, night cheese. <\/p>\n

And what are some of your favorite running jokes? I loved the weird obsession with Italians. (\u201cCan I get a hug?\u201d \u201cWhat is this, the Italian Parliament?\u201d) <\/p>\n

My absolute favorite long-burn joke is that Kenneth is immortal.<\/p>\n

Frank Rossitano\u2019s rotating trucker hats, the more random the better: \u201cSmells,\u201d \u201cTeenage Grandpa,\u201d \u201cMom Expert.\u201d <\/p>\n

Looking back, it\u2019s sort of a miracle that this show survived as long as it did. When it premiered, it went head-to-head with a much more prestigious Aaron Sorkin series (\u201cStudio 60 on the Sunset Strip\u201d) with a similar premise and a star-studded cast. Everyone expected \u201c30 Rock\u201d to be the one to fail, but it went on for seven seasons, and Sorkin\u2019s drama lasted one season. I feel like there\u2019s some sweet lesson in there.<\/p>\n

The ratings really weren\u2019t that great for broadcast TV, but it was such a critical hit (nominated for 103 Emmy Awards and won 16 times) and clearly had cultural staying power that propelled it long beyond the finale.<\/p>\n

Maybe the lesson is to make the thing you really want to make and have a blast doing it. You could tell that \u201c30 Rock\u201d was made by people who really knew how to let it rip in the writer\u2019s room and went for whatever was making them laugh hardest, even if it was bizarre or inside-baseball or a little uncomfortable. Mass popularity usually demands conformity, and this show didn\u2019t conform. I think I\u2019m talking myself into my [NUMBER REDACTED] rewatch.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been two decades since the lights went up on Studio 6H, and we still want to go to there<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Style On the 20th anniversary of the NBC sitcom, a look back at how it\u2019s both a time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":["post-875585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}