And I love Tina Fey.
There were some good jokes (there always are) and it’s always great to see Alec Baldwin in any comedy. Maybe if the show had been a half hour I would have come away satisfied.
As it was, an hour-long relentless bombardment of NBC product sapped away the playful mirth, and by the end I felt I had been had.
A little meta is fun. A lot of meta becomes exclusionary. When the general audience gets the sense that the show is geared primarily to industry insiders they stop caring. And Thursday night was a meta-fest.
My other problem was the promos themselves. Quick-cut trailers that were frenetic and exhausting. And here’s the thing: Yes, NBC has new shows and comedies, and classics, and movies, and documentaries, and news shows, and animation, and vintage shows, and sports, and family fare, and concerts, and reality shows – but so does EVERYBODY ELSE.
HBO Max could make the same trailers. So could DISNEY +, and Netflix, and Hulu. In fact, they DO make those trailers.
So there’s nothing eye-popping about the NBC presentation. We get it. I’m sure there are some wonderful shows in there. I have no idea what they are. Or, in some cases, where in the NBC universe they reside.
And so by the end of the hour, for all the promos and all the shows on all the platforms, the only one that landed was the new Ted Danson sitcom. It looked fun and we were treated to 30 seconds of it, not 1.6. I think it’s on the big network. It is, isn’t it?
Which platform runs 30 ROCK because I would rather watch the old shows than anymore “reunions.”
As Liz Lemon said,"Can we have our money now?"
ReplyDeleteI shut it off at the halfway point.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the sort of thing 30 ROCK would have parodied.
I tried to watch it on YouTube, post broadcast,
ReplyDeletebut, oddly enough, for what was essentially an
hour long ad, it can only be viewed on YouTube
if you pay for it
Well said, Michael Hagerty! I hadn't read much about it beforehand and so was expecting an actual 30 Rock reunion rather than a Peacock infomercial.
ReplyDeletePeacock has yet to make arrangements to stream on two rather important platforms - Roku, and Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI caught the last 15 minutes of it and I was glad that I missed the rest
ReplyDeleteWe have been rewatching 30Rock from the beginning and it is so great and so subversive. That show could not be made today on any network.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is painful to see Jack Donaghy praise all the awful Republican ideas and awful people that led to us to the shit storm that is Dumb Donald and fascist America.
But yeah, it was funny.
Which platform runs 30 ROCK because I would rather watch the old shows than anymore “reunions.”
ReplyDeleteHulu!
And Peacock!
*ducks*
I guess I should count myself lucky as my NBC affiliate pre-empted it for a water erosion special they produced themselves. A friend called the station and the person answering said the 30 Rock special would be rerun on CNBC this weekend.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same affiliate who, several ownerships ago, didn't allow the local cable company to run the Super Bowl during a carriage dispute.
I'm not exactly sure if I'm angry, feel like a dodged a bullet or what, but 30 Rock was a gem, and it would have been nice to see what Ms. Fey and the crew created.
I've started rewatching 30 Rock on Amazon Prime.
ReplyDeleteDid the special have anything about NBC's microwave programming?
I really enjoyed the 30 Rock Reunion, and laughed out loud numerous times throughout, and reran some scenes because they were still making me laugh, or because I'd missed toppers while still laughing at set ups.
ReplyDeleteSince then I've read blistering reviews, like this one. Why did I have such a different experience of it than Ken did, when his opening paragraph spoke perfectly for me as well?
And I've figured it out. I had brains enough not to watch it live. I watched my DVR's recording of it, and every time it dove into promos, ads and commercials, I hit "Fast-Forward." The only promo in it I actually watched was the one for the Ted Danson series, and yes, that looks good.
The result was that it lasted just half an hour, as it ought to, and having not watched the "exhausting" promos, I was not exhausted.
Why watch anything but emergency newscasts live?
We had to watch it because these people and their careers are what REALLY matter. Not the public.
ReplyDelete"No need to bother making it entertaining for them. They wouldn't be allowed into the upfronts if we could have them, anyway. But they can watch what we get to do that they don't."
The Canadian government has just announced that Major League Baseball will not be played in Canada for the 2020 season. Although they have indicated that IF the Blue Jays make the playoffs and IF the US has the coronavirus controlled by that time -- pretty longshot bets on both fronts, I'd say -- then they will consider allowing playoff baseball to be held in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteI'm a reasonably avid baseball fan myself -- I usually listen to 100+ games a year on radio, and attend a game about once a month. But I have zero interest in following this upcoming season.
And actually, I haven't noticed many baseball posts from you recently, Ken! I'm guessing that you're also not especially enthusiastic about this season for a number of reasons? (Including, of course, the very real possibility that continuing to operate MLB could lead to serious illness or death for a player, coach, or member of the support staff -- or a member of their families.)
Supposedly, a number of NBC affiliates boycotted the show because they consider "Peacock" competition.
ReplyDeleteI generally agree with you, Ken. I felt I'd been handed a "bait and switch." I looked forward to seeing Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and Jane Krakowsky. The only thread that kept me entertained was Jack McBrayer as the lowly page Kenneth Parcell rising to the head of the network. I think McBrayer did a terrific job. Aside from that, I, too, felt bombarded by the multitude of promos and can honestly say I don't remember a single show they advertised.
ReplyDeleteMy local affiliate in Louisville pre-empted the 30 Rock show for a coronavirus special, which at least was a legitimate public service. I was steamed that they didn't show the special, but when I caught up with it the next day on the NBC app I understood completely why they blew it off. Why should they promote a competitor?
ReplyDeleteKen, during a YouTube rabbit hole odyssey, I stumbled upon a truly hilarious PSA from what looks like the 60s or early 70s. I won't spoil it by revealing the subject.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/0WxYvvcb0BE
Why does 30 ROCK need a reunion special already when it just ended a few years ago?
ReplyDeleteSadly, this concept is nothing new under the sun. I seem to remember several times in the 1970's when the networks would use stars from their current hit series to promote the upcoming TV season. I know at least one of them starred the young actors from "Good Times."
ReplyDeleteAnd the networks wonder why they're losing viewers. Promote a "show" as a "reunion special" when it reality it just turns out to be an infomercial for something they're trying to sell.
ReplyDeleteI missed it. Missed the show, missed the promos. Which says more about network tv than the show. Can a network jump the shark?
ReplyDeleteThat special really made me lose respect for Tina Fey. I thought she was above such a blatant money grab. Barely funny coupled with shameless plugging - and I watched it recorded and zipped through all the promos. Still gringe-worthy.
ReplyDeleteIs there a trend? Will the major networks moving online free the broadcast affiliates to promote their own local programming, build local advertising and compete with the networks on Youtube?
ReplyDeleteCompletely unrelated: Gilbert GoTtfried's most recent podcast is a roundtable of comedy writers, including Bill Persky and Dave Hackel. It was fun! A lot of great stories.
ReplyDeleteI was disappointed. Felt like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" -- nothing but a crummy commercial.
ReplyDelete