At the heart of 30 Rock is the unlikely friendship between outspoken liberal Liz Lemon and her conservative, classy businessman boss, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), which Liz describes in one episode as "work husband/uncle" and Jack describes as "coworker/little brother." The ensemble cast also includes unhinged star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), self-centered diva Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), and TV-obsessed hillbilly Kenneth (Jack McBrayer, who won my heart before I ever saw 30 Rock playing an old-school dad with a pipe in an improv show at UCB Theater).
I find 30 Rock incredibly comforting to watch and to marathon. It's a clever, good-hearted workplace show with classic TV roots. Storylines and relationships do build, so it's worth watching the show completely and in order if you're enjoying it. This is not a show where some episodes are wildly better than others. Within seasons, I think they're fairly even in quality. My favorite seasons are 1-3, 4-6 are fine, and 7 is a little weak.
Key Episodes
1.7 “Tracy Does Conan” - Tracy goes off his meds and flips out just before an appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and a blood-donation-exhausted Liz must run around putting out fires in an episode that builds to classic 30 Rock increasing mania. A good snapshot of Liz’s relationship with the epitome of bad boyfriends, Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters), some classic lines from coolly uninvested Jack, and a guest appearance from a very special hallucinated blue dude (Rachel Dratch). This is a good introductory episode; it’s the first episode where 30 Rock seems to hit its stride, and gives you a good idea of the characters and relationships.
1.18 “Fireworks” - Jack faces off against fellow low-talking businessman Devon Banks (Will Arnett), and Liz makes the immediately backfiring decision to fraudulently join AA to woo her dream man (Jason Sudeikis). With as much genuine tension and speechifying as a romantic comedy, combined with Jack’s corporate drama, this is 30 Rock hitting its cinematic storytelling golden age.
2.13 "Succession" - In an exciting conclusion to the writers'-strike-shortened second season, Jack's boss Don Geiss (Rip Torn) tips him off that he'll be the next president of the company, and Jack preps Liz to take over his own corporate role, but does Devon Banks have another trick up his sleeve? Meanwhile, Tracy is seized with inspiration to design a porn video game in a strangely moving parody of Amadeus.
Bonus Episodes
1.1 "Pilot" - In her book Bossypants, Tina Fey describes the pilot as sweaty and unpolished, and compares it unfavorably to the pilot of Cheers. But personally, I think the Cheers pilot is dead boring, and the pilot of 30 Rock does a fantastic job of setting up the triangle of Liz, Jack, and Tracy and the complete clash in their worldviews.
1.9 “The Baby Show” - A biological clock-affected Liz accidentally steals a baby. A classic episode with some strangely heartfelt conversations, and the first mention (but not appearance) of Jack’s difficult mother.
2.1 “SeinfeldVision” - Jack comes up with an idea to save the network which enrages Jerry Seinfeld, and Liz deals poorly with heartbreak by buying a discount wedding dress.
2.4 “Rosemary’s Baby” - Disappointed with her own selling out, Liz is excited to stick it to the man by offering a guest writer spot to her comedy writer idol, Rosemary (Carrie Fisher), who really pushed the envelope on her Smothers Brothers-like variety show in the 70s, but it slowly dawns on her that Rosemary is totally bonkers.
2.9 “Ludachristmas” - Families descent on the set for Christmas. Jack tries to ditch his critical mother Colleen (Elaine Stritch), and remains perplexed at the unconditional love and support of Liz’s cheerful family (Anita Gilette, Buck Henry, and Andy Richter).
3.4 “Gavin Volure” - Liz discovers the upsides of dating a hermit when Jack introduces her to eccentric millionaire Gavin Volure (Steve Martin), Tracy uses a Japanese sex doll of himself to outsmart his sons whom he worries are going to “Menendez” him, and Kenneth’s new job as floor marshall makes him a hero of the third-act climax. Features one of my favorite 30 Rock lines from Gavin Volure: “We’ll go to Toronto! It’s just like New York, but without all the stuff!”
3.12 "Larry King" - When the Asian markets go crazy, Jack has to decide between business and love of a good woman (Salma Hayek); Tracy happens to be the inappropriate guest on Larry King during the crisis and stirs up panic; and Liz allows Kenneth believe they are friends instead of just co-workers so he will escort her through the apocalyptic wasteland the city has become. A classic example of 30 Rock's ability to weave intersecting storylines building up to an over-the-top tizzy. While the world goes off the rails, the storylines are still ultimately rooted in characters and relationships, generally ending in adorably childish friendship morals.
5.4 “Live Show” - I’m personally not a big fan of 30 Rock’s two experiments in live televised events, but they’re famous so you sort of have to watch one. The energy is good, but the storytelling is necessarily simplistic, and I do not like laugh tracks, even real ones.
5.17 “Queen of Jordan” - Another famous gimmick has 30 Rock parodying reality shows. It is completely spot on.
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