By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
When it comes to sitcoms, there’s one thing more important than a killer cast and a confident showrunner, and that’s good writing. Seriously: a well-written show is able to define an entire generation’s sense of humor, as evidenced by iconic shows like Seinfeld and The Office. Among those greats, 30 Rock remains the best-written sitcom in TV history, and you can now bask in its goofy glory by streaming the show on Prime Video or for free on the ad-supported Peacock app.
The basic premise of 30 Rock is that Liz Lemon is the head writer for a Saturday Night Live-esque show that NBC decided needs a ratings boost. Therefore, she is forced to hire a slightly unhinged movie star to join the show, but that throws off the mojo of the show’s biggest star. Of course, this premise is just an excuse to showcase the wacky shenanigans of assorted cast members, writers, and executives, all of whom help transform each episode into comic gold.
Speaking of which, 30 Rock has an ensemble cast that has yet to be rivaled by another sitcom. At the top of the list is Tina Fey, who utilizes her keen comedic chops (not to mention her extensive experience with the real Saturday Night Live) to bring this hilariously meta show to life. She is joined by Alec Baldwin, whose movie star status lends his character a gravitas that contrasts perfectly with Fey’s manic sense of TV-honed humor.
Meanwhile, Tracy Morgan plays a quirky, mostly fictionalized version of himself (character name: Tracy Jordan) who often has trouble adjusting to his new life as the star of a weekly variety show. Jane Krakowski, meanwhile, plays the variety show leading lady getting edged out by the new guy, which leads to more than one Pearl-style meltdown (“I’m a star!”). And Jack McBrayer plays a hapless NBC page whose earnestness and enthusiasm help him consistently steal his every scene.
Part of why I love 30 Rock so much is that it weaves its inside baseball humor into scripts that otherwise offer very broad appeal. If you happen to be a big fan of NBC in general or Saturday Night Live in particular, you’ll appreciate this sitcom’s incisively self-referential humor. But if you just want a show with one side-splitting punchline after another, you can always count on 30 Rock to deliver.
Incredibly, the show’s quality never really faltered: across its seven seasons, 30 Rock continued to deliver the finest writing network television had ever seen. Critics agree, which is why the series has an impressive 78 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Incredibly, it has a 92 percent audience score, and this adoration from mainstream audiences helps to explain all those viral social media posts where users swap stories about their favorite gags from the greatest sitcom of all time.
Will you agree that 30 Rock is the gold standard of TV sitcoms, or is this one show you’d never turn on at your next Lemon party? The only way to find out is to pick up your remote. After you binge the whole series, you might share my bittersweet sadness that we will never get another sitcom as perfectly written as this one.
