Page Against the Machine

Last night saw the return of 30 Rock, completing NBC’s comedy Thursday lineup and restoring one of the sole gleaming, award-winning bright spots to the entire NBC primetime schedule. In typical 30 Rock form, much of the focus was on topical issues, ranging from the main plot with Kenneth striking to get overtime for the page program, to Tracy roaming the streets in his attempt to reconnect with the common man. (And of course, to Cheesy Blasters. Thanks, Meat Cat!) The recession is still in the air at Rockefeller Plaza, and Jack Donaghy hoarding his annual bonus has a wryly familiar sense of greed, especially in New York City. At the same time, Jenna’s Tennis Night song managed to be silly and forehead-slappingly pointed.

This page ain't turnin'!

The show’s persistent topicality, and its associated meta layer of reference and inference, is one of the main ways 30 Rock distinguishes itself from the standard sitcom. Unlike The Office, which plays with the conventions and form of the old sitcom, 30 Rock assumes the shell premise of a half-hour workplace comedy and just blasts the whole thing to shreds. Sure, it’s a show about the relatable everywoman and her incompetent co-workers, but because 30 Rock constantly refers back to a real building and a real television network, at times it feels much closer to a news satire show like The Daily Show than it does The Office (or, even farther away down the sitcom spectrum, something like Two and a Half Men).

You've got Cheesy Blasters!

For me, the other main distinguishing factor is the language. The hour-long comedies that have sprung up recently on cable networks are better known for a distinctive linguistic character, but half-hour network comedies are more synonymous with the blandest, slowest, most canned-laughter-ridden dialogue around. 30 Rock, for all its inconsistency and sheer ridiculousness, has an instantly recognizable verbal flair, full of fast dialogue and understated laugh lines punctuated by the wit and wisdom of Liz Lemon. (Aside from the brilliance of Cheesy Blasters this episode, we also got her efforts to lie with Pete: “I’m picking up my new…tritionist…and his elderly…son.”) It may rely frequently on stupid, silly, or crude humor, but 30 Rock expects you to be able to catch your scatological Star Wars joke on the fly. And I totally respect that.