2. STRUCTUE:
Genre – Where does 30 Rock fit in?
Series – The background of 30 Rock
Episode – Episode 2.10
3. GENRE
- 30 Rock is a situation comedy but toes the line between a multitude of genres
- Takes elements from classic and contemporary iterations of the sitcom genre and has revived the
concept of the sitcom
- 30 Rock has subtly modified the sitcom
- Shows like 30 Rock, My Name is Earl and Scrubs have rejuvenated the sitcom in terms of
inventiveness and has constructed its own formula
- 30 Rock offers new alternatives to the previous sitcom format by amplifying or minimizing elements
- 30 Rock’s style of comedy is based on tight storytelling, verbal humor and character-revealing
situations, but 30 Rock uses caricature like jokes, satirical first person observations
- Works on two district genre levels due to the show-within-a-show premise.
4. GENRE
- Works in part as a sitcom and part as a form of sketch comedy – in reference to Tina Fey’s previous
experience at SNL
- 30 Rock combines the elements of sketch comedy to create a show with heightened intertextuality
and also fits within the sitcom genre.
7. - “The "halitosis bomb" and "gay bomb" are informal names for two theoretical non-lethal chemical
weapons that a United States Air Force research laboratory speculated about producing; the theories
involve discharging female sex pheromones over enemy forces in order to make them sexually
attracted to each other.”
8.
9. “Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions
will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do your thing, and don’t
care if they like it.” ― Tina Fey
12. - Critical of the television industry
- Creative VS Corporate
- Writers VS The money makers
- What is being produced and how
13.
14. EPISODE
- Episode 2.10, written by Robert Carlock and Donald Grover, directed by Richard Shepard
- Afraid to breech the legality of the strike
- Hollywood was hit by 3 months of a continuous writers strike
- Writers Guild of America (WGA) against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers
(AMPTP)
- The AMPTP and the WGA finally reached an agreement that ended the strike
16. - “…That’s something you do when you’re married and have a family.”
- Makes reference to societies “typical” woman stereotype
Liz’s struggle to be the “typical” woman
- Punctuated with reminders that Liz Lemon is not your ‘typical’ woman
- AOL’s TV Squad said the episode "was a good episode to go into the hiatus with, if that makes things
better". (C. Wayne, 2008).
- This episode did sustain two unofficial titles; “Liz the Business Woman” and “Coffee & TV”
17. CONCLUSION
- District levels of genre – show-within-a-show
- Intersects global issues
-Laugh at everything, but question everything
19. REFERENCES
L. Bratslavsky (2009), “Television Representing Television: How NBC’s 30 Rock Parodies and Satirizes the
Cultural Industries”, Thesis presented to the University of Oregon, Oregon
S. Hume (2006), “30 Rock – Creating a New Genre?”, The New F-World blog, http://the-new-f-
word.blogspot.com.au/..., date visited 7 September 2013
Kevin Klowden and Anusuya Chatterjee with Ross DeVol, “Writers’ Strike of 2007–2008 - The Economic
Impact of Digital Distribution, 2008, http://www.milkeninstitute.org/pdf/writers_strike.pdf, date visited 8
September 2013
George Freitag, “30 Rock – Episode 2.10 recap”, 2008, http://www.buddytv.com/articles/30-rock/30-rock-
episode-210-recap-15575.aspx, date visited 8 September 2013
Michael Neal, “Coffee & TV” 2008, http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/30-rock/coffee-tv/, date visited
9 September 2013
W. Morris (2013), “30 Rock Landed on Us: Identity politics and NBC's most subversive
show”, http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8900291/30-rock-race-identity-politics, date visited Sept 7th
2013
L. Mizejewski (2012), “Feminism, Postfeminism, Liz Lemonism”, Genders Issue 55, Spring
2012, http://www.genders.org/g55/g55_mizejewski.html, date visted Sept 7th 2013
A. Seubsaeng, (2013), “30 Rock: A Political History”, http://www.motherjones.com/mixed-
media/2013/01/hilarious-politics-30-rock-nbc-tina-fey, date visited Sept 7th 2013
