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30 Rock: Season Two DVD Set

30 Rock – Season 2
Created by Tina Fey
Starring: Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Scott Adsitt, Jack McBrayer, Judah Friedlander

The hijinks continue at “The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan” as Liz Lemon (Fey) navigates the obstacles of being head writer while crazy people are all around her. In its second season, 30 Rock gets going quickly. Having already found its stride in its first season, this comes as no surprise. The writing remains intelligent, the acting remains nuanced and endearing, and most importantly, everything remains very, very funny.

This season, Liz returns apparently satisfied with her breakup with Lloyd, Jack wants his heart attack to remain a secret, Jenna is overweight after eating pizza on stage for her play “Mystic Pizza: The Musical” and Tracy was kicked out of his house by his wife and is still very much crazy. It also kicks off the cameos with a bang, starting off with Jerry Seinfeld in the season premiere, “Seinfeld Vision.” Besides Seinfeld, other cameos include Will Arnett, Steve Buscemi, Carrie Fischer, and David Schwimmer, to name a few.

30 Rock reminds me of the quality found in Arrested Development. That show was possibly one of the funniest shows ever made and was obviously too clever for its own good, having been canceled in its third season. Both shows share some of the smartest writing to ever grace the small screen and while Arrested Development did not have the steam nor the ratings to keep it around, 30 Rock not only has the support of its fans and critics, but the pedigree to keep this show running for quite a few seasons more.

This show revolves around Fey. As the show’s creator, lead and head writer, it could depend completely on her, and from what she has shown this season, it would be totally possible. She is funny, cute and charming. Yet, the support around her is impeccable. Alec Baldwin, one of the greatest actors of his generation, is pure class as Jack Donaghy, the executive in charge of NBC. He pulls off cool suave easier than most, making scenes when he is desperate all the more jarring—and hilarious.

Yet, the funniest character on 30 Rock is Tracy Morgan as his wackier facsimile Tracy Jordan. He is absolutely insane, barely ever makes sense, and I can’t stop laughing at him. He gives the show some of its fantastic flair, since he imagines a lot of very strange things and most are pretty delightful.

This season gladly does not fall into the Sex and the City pitfalls covering Liz Lemon’s love life found at times in season one. Quite frankly, this season’s only weakness is that it’s so short. Due to the writers’ strike, season two was limited to 15 episodes, even holding off on some of the writing for a few of the episodes, namely “Episode 210,” which was produced so close to the strike, they could not even name it.

Extras:
Compared to last season’s set, this season comes with quality content. The audio commentary is on par with the first season set, with highs by Fred Armisen and Jack McBrayer and Jane Krakowski, and lows by (surprisingly) Will Arnett. Yet, specials like “30 Rock Live at the UCB Theater” and “The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Presents: An Evening with 30 Rock” are not only informative but really good. “30 Rock Live” is a script reading performed by the actors at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York to benefit the production assistants during the writers’ strike. It is even funnier than the actual episode, which is helped by an actual live laugh track. “An Evening with 30 Rock” is an interview with the cast, writers and producers in honor of the show. It is hosted by Brian Williams and pretty well executed. It also offers even more information about how they approach producing the show, so fans will be grateful for its inclusion. “Tina Hosts SNL” is a short piece covering when Tina Fey hosted SNL, covering the behind-the-scene process from the pitch reading to the table read and ends right before Fey begins her monologue. This was very interesting and shows the process behind variety show Saturday Night Live. “‘Cooter’ Table Read” is a table reading of episode “Cooter.” Frankly, it’s not as funny as the actual episode nor “30 Rock Live.” It’s not exactly entertaining watching Tracy Morgan mispronounce words and have Tina Fey correct him. The bonus features also include deleted scenes. Take them or leave them, if you’re a fan of the show and are in need of an overdose, you’ll enjoy these, but there’s no great insight into the show or its process in these scenes.

Honestly, my only real complaint about this DVD set is that episodes are only divided by episode and not divided by section, which would make tracking places where you left off during a marathon viewing much easier. Then again, each episode is only a little more than 20 minutes long, so this may be nitpicking. Aside from that, this show is too entertaining to pass on. It also kicks it up a notch in the extras department, which is welcome.

Written by: Manny Carrasco

Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 9.00
Reader's Votes: 1

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