February 1, 2013

30 Rock is Over (DON’T WORRY – NO SPOILERS)

The final episode of 30 Rock aired last night. Don't worry, no spoilers.

You see, I can't spoil the show. Because in its seven year history, 30 Rock never gave us a single story line TO spoil - nor one to root for.

In fact, 30 Rock was far and away the funniest show on television I didn't really care about watching.

Because intentionally a-sexual and disinterested Liz Lemon never gave us a coming of age or love story to root for. And her supporting cast of self-consumed exaggerations created big laughs, but no empathy either.

Perhaps this was an intentional attempt to recreate a single-serving, episode at a time Seinfeldian "show about nothing" - or a direct snub at more formulaic television - a "we don't need a Sam & Diane to make people laugh".

And they didn't. But they didn't make us care either.

Instead, they would serve up multiple jokes in a single episode that would make no sense to those not intimately familiar with the Food Network show, Barefoot Contessa.

They would alienate the 95% in order to make the 5% feel incredibly IN on something.

And they packed more smart and clever jokes in a 21-minute show than anyone else did - so chances were, no matter what 5% you were in, you'd at least have a handful of magical moments each episode.

But then you would forget about it.
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