Remember Must See TV? Back in the 90’s when NBC was runnin’ shit? Prior to the awful Reality TV phenomenon that now owns the airwaves, sit-coms were every station’s bread and butter and no one did it better than NBC’s Thursday night line-up.
ABC was pretty successful in turning the normal Friday night death slot, into “TGIF,” but those programs were mainly for moms, dads, and kids who had not yet developed the taste for blacking out and making bad decisions. Urkel was funny for the kids, but a Costanza he was not.
Seinfeld ran for 9 years (89-98) and has been hailed by almost anyone with a sense of humor as the greatest sit-com of all time. In the final seasons, Jerry and crew were pulling something close to $1 million per episode.
Friends ran from 1994 to 2004 and saw similar success. While I’ll admit the show certainly had it’s funny moments and hot ladies, having two sisters meant I saw a few more episodes of this show than I care to admit. Regardless of what I thought, the rest of the world seemed to love it, as the final episode was seen by an estimated US audience of 51.1 million. Making it one of the most viewed finales ever, behind Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, and Cheers…not bad company.
Well, friend, the point of this little trip down memory lane is to inform you that NBC is back on top of its game. We went through a little dry spell, or ‘years’ as some people call them, but 30 Rock and The Office have come to the rescue.
These two shows bring in all that is great from the sit-com genre. Great writing, great acting, and team chemistry. Both shows have an ensemble cast, making it easier to shift story lines occasionally while still allowing the main characters to carry the show. Various characters in The Office can go a few weeks without being seen, then pop up as an MVP of any given episode (Creed!). The writers for “The Girly Show” are often used as merely vehicles for one liners or reasons for Liz Lemon to live on the brink of crazy.
The Baldwin/Fey dynamic on 30 Rock is perfect. Having worked together for years on SNL (Baldwin and C. Walken are the only two celebs with standing, annual invitations to host), Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin play off of each other brilliantly. Tracy Morgan is out of his fucking mind, so his character on the show, Tracy Jordan, is basically just him being himself. The rest of the supporting cast play small, but important roles in keeping the story’s momentum, but it’s Fey and Baldwin that carry the lion’s share of the load. And they nail it. Baldwin brings gravitas, Fey brings self-deprication and both bring their effin’ A games every week.
The Office, originally created by Ricky Gervais for those yokels across the pond, began as a copy of the British version (the pilot was nearly verbatim), but has certainly come into its own. From a quirky “don’t you just hate work?!” premise, the show has grown into a 30 minute test of endurance. How long can you watch Michael Scott do anything before you start to squirm in your seat or cover your eyes? From the Pam/Jim relationship to the newly created Dwight/Andy/Angela triangle, to Jan going bat shit crazy and falling for (and dominating) Michael, there is as much relationship humor as there are office high jinks.
The show’s success has even spawned an official Dunder Mifflin website and, as you’ve no doubt seen on this blahg, even advertisements for America’s favorite paper company.
What I’m getting at here is that both shows have bounced back from that pain-in-the-ass writer’s strike and premiered new episodes last night. Both were hysterical.
If you were not yet hip to the new Thursday Night Power Hour on NBC, then consider yourself informed. It’s like “Thirsty Thursday” in college without the annoying sorority girls, bar tabs, and hangovers. So it’s really nothing at all like “Thirsty Thursdays” in college…but it’s still good for an hour’s worth of laughs.
“Welcome to ‘MILF Island.’ 20 hittable moms, 50 8th grade boys!”
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still can’t believe deborah won. bullshit.
you should run a weekly series called WWJDD where readers demonstrate their knowledge of all things Baldwin by answering situational quandries.