30 Rock is always and foremost a parody of sitcoms, and increasingly of itself; the knowing quality makes the poignant moments fascinating. When a sitcom foregrounds its artifice as strenuously as 30 Rock—making up alternate histories of American broadcasting in its second live episode, or scoring a “tender” closing montage to a moppet pealing “Camptown Races”—there’s no earthly reason why we should feel for any of its characters; and yet we do, because the very tropes that 30 Rock loves to mock are embedded in our TV-watching subconscious. The show says, “Look at how shamelessly television pushes your buttons!” while hammering on those very same buttons.... 30 Rock is uniquely skilled at eating its cake and having it, too, while crowing “Isn’t cake ridiculous?” and making you crave cake. A show this unpretentious yet assured can end however it wants and get away with it.
Monday, January 28, 2013
LEMON PARTY: Zoller Seitz, FTW:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, it's hard not to love a show that's so apologetic about what it's doing.
ReplyDelete