30 Rock (season 1)
Encyclopedia
The first season of the television comedy
series 30 Rock
originally aired between October 11, 2006 and April 26, 2007 on NBC
in the United States. The season was produced by Broadway Video
, Little Stranger and NBC Universal
, and the executive producers were series creator Tina Fey
, Lorne Michaels
, Joann Alfano
, Marci Klein
and David Miner
.
The series focuses on TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional sketch comedy
series, and its head writer
Liz Lemon
, portrayed by Fey, as she juggles her job and her personal life. The season consisted of 21 episodes; 19 episodes were approximately 22 minutes long, and the other two episodes were approximately 26 minutes long due to NBC "supersizing" those episodes. The season moved timeslots three times during its run. The first four episodes aired on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm, the next thirteen episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, and the final four episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:00 pm.
The season received generally favorable reviews, and was nominated for ten Emmy Award
s: six Primetime Emmy Awards and four Creative Arts Emmy Awards
. Despite critical success, the series struggled in the ratings, and the first season averaged 5.8 million viewers for all 21 episodes. The 30 Rock first season DVD
box set was released on September 4, 2007 in Region 1 format, and was released on March 17, 2008 in Region 2 format.
sketch comedy
series which airs on NBC. When The Girlie Show's network executive Gary dies, Jack Donaghy replaces him. Jack, the head of east coast television and microwave oven programming, makes many changes to The Girlie Show, including adding Tracy Jordan
(Tracy Morgan
), a loose cannon movie star, to the show's cast and changing the title of The Girlie Show to TGS with Tracy Jordan. Various story arcs are explored, including the rivalry between Tracy and Jenna Maroney
(Jane Krakowski
), Liz's relationships with Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters
) and Floyd Debarber (Jason Sudeikis
) and Jack's relationship with Phoebe (Emily Mortimer
). A few minor story arcs are carried over into season two including Cerie Xerox's (Katrina Bowden
) ongoing engagement to the unseen character
, Aris, and Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit
) living with Liz in order to deal with his marital problems with his wife Paula Hornberger (later seen in "Greenzo" played by Paula Pell).
, Little Stranger and NBC Universal
and was aired on NBC in the U.S. The executive producers were creator Tina Fey
, Lorne Michaels
, Joann Alfano
, Marci Klein
and David Miner
with Brett Baer
, Dave Finkel
, Jack Burditt
and John Riggi
acting as co-executive producers. Robert Carlock
acted as co-executive producer from the episode "Pilot" until the episode "Black Tie." Carlock was then credited as an executive producer, starting with the episode "Up All Night" onwards, except for the episode "The C Word" which was aired out of production order. Producers for the season were music composer Jeff Richmond
and Jerry Kupfer
with Irene Burns
, Matt Hubbard and Diana Schmidt acting as co-producers.
There were eight different directors throughout the season. The staff writers were Tina Fey, John Riggi, Robert Carlock, Jack Burditt, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, co-producer Matthew Hubbard
and Kay Cannon
who all wrote, or co-wrote at least two episodes. Daisy Gardner
, who co-wrote the episode "The Source Awards" with Robert Carlock, was a guest writer. Those who directed more than one episode were supervising producer Adam Bernstein
, Gail Mancuso
, Don Scardino
, Michael Engler
and Beth McCarthy
. There were three directors who only directed one episode each throughout the season; they were Juan J. Campanella
, Scott Ellis
and Dennie Gordon
. Fey and Carlock acted as the show runner
s for the season.
. Tina Fey
portrayed Liz Lemon
, the head writer
of a fictitious live sketch comedy television series named TGS with Tracy Jordan (commonly known as just TGS). The TGS cast consists of three actors, two of whom are part of the main cast of the first season of 30 Rock. They are the loose cannon movie star Tracy Jordan
, portrayed by Tracy Morgan
and the dense, limelight-craving Jenna Maroney
, portrayed by Jane Krakowski
. Jack McBrayer
played the naïve Southern-born
NBC page
, Kenneth Parcell
. Scott Adsit
acted as the witty and wise TGS producer, Pete Hornberger. Judah Friedlander
portrayed the wise-cracking, trucker hat
wearing, repulsive staff writer Frank Rossitano. Alec Baldwin
played the high flying NBC network executive Jack Donaghy
who, at the beginning of the season, is employed to retool TGS. Donaghy's full title at the start of the series is "Head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming."
The season also includes a number of secondary characters including Keith Powell
as James "Toofer" Spurlock, a writer for TGS, and Lonny Ross
as Josh Girard who is a staff writer of TGS as well as a TGS cast member. Katrina Bowden
was TGS's general assistant, Cerie Xerox. These actors were promoted to main cast members in season two. Other recurring roles include Maulik Pancholy
as Jonathan, Grizz Chapman
as "Grizz" Griswold, Kevin Brown
as "Dot Com" Slattery, John Lutz
as J.D. Lutz, and Chris Parnell
as Dr. Leo Spaceman.
gave the season a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impression of 31 critical reviews—of 67%, signifying generally favorable reviews. The pilot episode
, the first episode of the series, was generally well received; however, Marc D. Allan of The Washington Post
said that "viewers who tuned in for the first month or more saw shows that weren't consistently funny", but after a few episodes "the writers discovered the core of the series—the push-pull between Fey's character, Liz Lemon, the harried head writer of The Girlie Show, and Alec Baldwin's domineering network executive, Jack Donaghy—that 30 Rock found its rhythm." Henry Goldblatt of Entertainment Weekly
, whilst reviewing the DVD release of the season, called 30 Rock "[the 2006 –2007 television season's] finest sitcom". Goldblatt said that the episodes "Hard Ball" and "The Break Up" were "some of the strongest episodes", and awarded the first season an "A" grade.
Christopher Monfette of IGN
thought that season one was "well-written and hilariously-performed" and that it was "refreshing to travel through the season and watch these characters grow and evolve". Monfette gave the season a score of 8 out of 10. UGO Entertainment's Kyle Braun said that the season "didn't start out as the funniest new show of 2006", but he praised the seasons progression, proclaiming "now that the show has found its audience, it's hard to argue with the laughs thrown down from high atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza." Anna Johns of TV Squad said that she was "particularly excited for the later two-thirds of the season, when Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan got into their groove and the supporting characters started getting better story lines." After six episodes, NBC picked 30 Rock up for a 21 episode season on December 1, 2006.
. After three further low rated airings on the following three Wednesdays, including a series low of 4.61 million viewers, NBC decided to move 30 Rock to Thursdays at 9:30pm. Its first airing on a Thursday night was on November 16, 2006. Along with this change, the even lower rated comedy Twenty Good Years
was put on hiatus and later cancelled. 30 Rock's first Thursday airing was viewed by 5.19 million viewers. The series then received ratings of a consistent amount of around 5.5 million viewers till the episode "Hard Ball" when a series low, set by the episode "Jack the Writer," was met with just 4.61 million viewers watching the episode. After a further three episodes, which were higher rated than "Hard Ball," NBC moved 30 Rock to 9:00pm on Thursdays, serving as a lead-in to Scrubs
. Upon its first airing at 9:00pm, the episode "Fireworks," a "supersized" episode attracted the attention of 5.37 million viewers. 30 Rock aired at 9:00pm for four episodes. The season finale, "Hiatus," was watched by 4.72 million people. The first season averaged 5.8 million viewers for all 21 episodes. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2006–2007 American television season
, 30 Rock ranked #102 out of #142 according to the Nielsen ratings
system.
nominations; six of which were for Primetime Emmy Awards and four were for Creative Arts Emmy Awards
. Two of these ten nominations were won. They were in the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series
and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
, which was awarded to Elaine Stritch
for her portrayal of Colleen Donaghy, Jack's mother. Alec Baldwin picked up a Golden Globe Award
, in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical, for his portrayal of Jack Donaghy. Baldwin also won a Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
. Another of Baldwin's three award wins, for the first season, was for a Television Critics Association Award in the category of Individual Achievement in Comedy. Tina Fey was also nominated in that category. Despite Fey's two losses in acting categories, she did win a Gracie Allen Award in the category of Outstanding Female Lead in a Comedy Series, for her portrayal of Liz Lemon.
Television comedy
Television comedy had a presence from the earliest days of broadcasting. Among the earliest BBC television programmes in the 1930s was Starlight, which offered a series of guests from the music hall era — singers and comedians amongst them...
series 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
originally aired between October 11, 2006 and April 26, 2007 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in the United States. The season was produced by Broadway Video
Broadway Video
Broadway Video is a media production and distribution company located within the Brill Building on Broadway, New York, United States. Founded in 1979 as a production house tasked with post-production work on Saturday Night Live, Broadway Video has since become one of the largest independent...
, Little Stranger and NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
, and the executive producers were series creator Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
, Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
, Joann Alfano
Joann Alfano
-Career:She replaced Suzanne Daniels as Executive Vice President, Entertainment, Lifetime Networks in late 2008.Prior to starting TV Tray Entertainment in June 2007, Alfano was President of Broadway Video Television, where she developed and executive produced NBC's 30 Rock and the ABC series Sons...
, Marci Klein
Marci Klein
Marci Klein is a four-time Emmy Award-winning American television producer who is best known for her work on 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live...
and David Miner
David Miner (television producer)
David Miner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television producer who is best known for his work as an executive producer on NBC's 30 Rock and MTV's Human Giant. Miner is the manager of Tina Fey, 30 Rock's star and creator.-External links:...
.
The series focuses on TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictional sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
series, and its head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
Liz Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
, portrayed by Fey, as she juggles her job and her personal life. The season consisted of 21 episodes; 19 episodes were approximately 22 minutes long, and the other two episodes were approximately 26 minutes long due to NBC "supersizing" those episodes. The season moved timeslots three times during its run. The first four episodes aired on Wednesdays at 8:00 pm, the next thirteen episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:30 pm, and the final four episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:00 pm.
The season received generally favorable reviews, and was nominated for ten Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s: six Primetime Emmy Awards and four Creative Arts Emmy Awards
Creative Arts Emmy Awards
The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming...
. Despite critical success, the series struggled in the ratings, and the first season averaged 5.8 million viewers for all 21 episodes. The 30 Rock first season DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
box set was released on September 4, 2007 in Region 1 format, and was released on March 17, 2008 in Region 2 format.
Synopsis
Season one begins with the introduction of Liz Lemon who is the head writer of The Girlie Show, a liveLive television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
series which airs on NBC. When The Girlie Show
Tracy Jordan
Ogbert Jordan, better known by his stage name, Tracy, is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, based on and played by Tracy Morgan.-Brief overview:...
(Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.-Early life:...
), a loose cannon movie star, to the show's cast and changing the title of The Girlie Show to TGS with Tracy Jordan. Various story arcs are explored, including the rivalry between Tracy and Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Jane Krakowski.-Fictional biography:Jenna was born Ystrepa Grokovitz on February 24, 1969 and grew up in Bakersfield...
(Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
), Liz's relationships with Dennis Duffy (Dean Winters
Dean Winters
Dean Winters is an American actor, who has portrayed Ryan O'Reily on HBO's Oz, Johnny Gavin on FX Network's Rescue Me, and Dennis Duffy on NBC's 30 Rock...
) and Floyd Debarber (Jason Sudeikis
Jason Sudeikis
Daniel Jason Sudeikis is an American actor and comedian currently starring as a cast member on Saturday Night Live.-Early life:Sudeikis was born Daniel Jason Sudeikis in Fairfax, Virginia, the son of Kathryn , a travel agent who was president of the American Society of Travel Agents, and Dan...
) and Jack's relationship with Phoebe (Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
). A few minor story arcs are carried over into season two including Cerie Xerox's (Katrina Bowden
Katrina Bowden
Katrina Bowden is an American actress. She is known for her short role as Britney Jennings on One Life to Live and for her role as Cerie in 30 Rock .- Education :...
) ongoing engagement to the unseen character
Unseen character
In fiction, an unseen character is a character that is never directly observed by the audience but is only described by other characters. They are a common device in drama and have been called "triumphs of theatrical invention". They are continuing characters — characters who are currently in...
, Aris, and Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
) living with Liz in order to deal with his marital problems with his wife Paula Hornberger (later seen in "Greenzo" played by Paula Pell).
Crew
The season was produced by Broadway VideoBroadway Video
Broadway Video is a media production and distribution company located within the Brill Building on Broadway, New York, United States. Founded in 1979 as a production house tasked with post-production work on Saturday Night Live, Broadway Video has since become one of the largest independent...
, Little Stranger and NBC Universal
NBC Universal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
and was aired on NBC in the U.S. The executive producers were creator Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
, Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
, Joann Alfano
Joann Alfano
-Career:She replaced Suzanne Daniels as Executive Vice President, Entertainment, Lifetime Networks in late 2008.Prior to starting TV Tray Entertainment in June 2007, Alfano was President of Broadway Video Television, where she developed and executive produced NBC's 30 Rock and the ABC series Sons...
, Marci Klein
Marci Klein
Marci Klein is a four-time Emmy Award-winning American television producer who is best known for her work on 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live...
and David Miner
David Miner (television producer)
David Miner is an Emmy Award-winning American film and television producer who is best known for his work as an executive producer on NBC's 30 Rock and MTV's Human Giant. Miner is the manager of Tina Fey, 30 Rock's star and creator.-External links:...
with Brett Baer
Brett Baer
Brett Baer is an American television producer, actor, and screenwriter who has worked on many successful television shows. Baer often works with his screenwriting partner Dave Finkel.- Writing work :* 30 Rock * Joey * The Norm Show...
, Dave Finkel
Dave Finkel
Dave Finkel is an American television producer, actor, and screenwriter who has worked on many successful television shows. He often works with his screenwriting partner Brett Baer.- Writing work :* 30 Rock * Joey...
, Jack Burditt
Jack Burditt
Jack Burditt is an American producer and screenwriter who has worked on many television shows.He has worked as a writer on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock...
and John Riggi
John Riggi
John Riggi is an American television writer, producer, director, and actor who has worked on various television shows.He has worked as a writer on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock...
acting as co-executive producers. Robert Carlock
Robert Carlock
Robert Carlock is an American television producer and screenwriter most widely known for his work as a writer for several NBC television comedies, particularly his work with Tina Fey as show runners for 30 Rock.-Early years:...
acted as co-executive producer from the episode "Pilot" until the episode "Black Tie." Carlock was then credited as an executive producer, starting with the episode "Up All Night" onwards, except for the episode "The C Word" which was aired out of production order. Producers for the season were music composer Jeff Richmond
Jeff Richmond
Jeffrey "Jeff" Wayne Richmond is an American composer, actor and television producer. Richmond currently produces and composes the music for 30 Rock, a sitcom created by and starring his wife Tina Fey.-Career:...
and Jerry Kupfer
Jerry Kupfer
Jerry Kupfer is an American television producer who has worked on shows such as 30 Rock and Strangers with Candy.-External links:...
with Irene Burns
Irene Burns
Irene Burns is an American television producer who has worked on shows such as 30 Rock and Oz.-External links:...
, Matt Hubbard and Diana Schmidt acting as co-producers.
There were eight different directors throughout the season. The staff writers were Tina Fey, John Riggi, Robert Carlock, Jack Burditt, Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, co-producer Matthew Hubbard
Matt Hubbard
Matt Hubbard is an American television writer and screenwriter who has worked on many television shows. He graduated from Beverly High School, in Beverly, Massachusetts in the class of 1996, where he excelled in the English Department. He later went on to attend Harvard University where he was an...
and Kay Cannon
Kay Cannon
Kay Cannon is an American television writer and actress who is best known for her work as an Emmy nominated writer and producer for the NBC series 30 Rock.-Biography:...
who all wrote, or co-wrote at least two episodes. Daisy Gardner
Daisy Gardner
Daisy Gardner is an American television writer who is best known for her work as a writer on the NBC series 30 Rock and Californication. She also appears on TruTV Presents: World's Dumbest... as a commentator....
, who co-wrote the episode "The Source Awards" with Robert Carlock, was a guest writer. Those who directed more than one episode were supervising producer Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein
Adam Bernstein is an American film, music video and television director and screenwriter. He was born in Princeton, New Jersey...
, Gail Mancuso
Gail Mancuso
Gail Mancuso is an American television director.- Select TV work :* Modern Family * $h*! My Dad Says * 30 Rock * Scrubs...
, Don Scardino
Don Scardino
Don Scardino is an American television director and producer and a former actor.-Acting:Born in New York City, Scardino began his career as an actor. His first Broadway credit was as an understudy in The Playroom in 1965. Additional Broadway acting credits include Johnny No-Trump, Godspell, and...
, Michael Engler
Michael Engler
Michael Engler is an American theatre director, and television director and producer. His Broadway credits include Eastern Standard and I Hate Hamlet...
and Beth McCarthy
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Beth McCarthy or Beth McCarthy-Miller was the director of NBCs Saturday Night Live starting in 1995. She left SNL in 2006 at the end of season 31, replaced as director by Don Roy King...
. There were three directors who only directed one episode each throughout the season; they were Juan J. Campanella
Juan J. Campanella
- Life and career :Campanella was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He started studying engineering, but dropped out in 1980 after four years at university. He would later remark that the decisive factor for this decision was watching All That Jazz on the very day he was going to apply for a fifth...
, Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis is an American stage director and television director.-Biography:Ellis has directed numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway productions, including the New York City Opera Company revivals at the New York State Theatre: A Little Night Music and 110 in the Shade up to his current show, the...
and Dennie Gordon
Dennie Gordon
Dennie Gordon is an American film and television director.Her directorial television credits include, Chicago Hope, Picket Fences, Dawson's Creek, Sports Night, Ally McBeal, The Practice, 30 Rock, Grounded for Life and among other series.She has also directed the feature films Joe Dirt, New York...
. Fey and Carlock acted as the show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s for the season.
Cast
This season had a cast of seven actors who received star billingBilling (film)
Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works...
. Tina Fey
Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live , the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls and Baby Mama .Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the...
portrayed Liz Lemon
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.-Personal history:...
, the head writer
Head writer
A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits, but in prime time series this function is generally performed by an...
of a fictitious live sketch comedy television series named TGS with Tracy Jordan (commonly known as just TGS). The TGS cast consists of three actors, two of whom are part of the main cast of the first season of 30 Rock. They are the loose cannon movie star Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan
Ogbert Jordan, better known by his stage name, Tracy, is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, based on and played by Tracy Morgan.-Brief overview:...
, portrayed by Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan is an American comedian who is best known for his eight seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and currently known for playing the role of Tracy Jordan on the NBC series 30 Rock.-Early life:...
and the dense, limelight-craving Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney is a fictional character on the American television series 30 Rock, played by Jane Krakowski.-Fictional biography:Jenna was born Ystrepa Grokovitz on February 24, 1969 and grew up in Bakersfield...
, portrayed by Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski
Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is most well known for her performance of Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her current role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she has been nominated for three Emmy...
. Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer
Jack McBrayer is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"...
played the naïve Southern-born
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
NBC page
NBC page
An NBC page is a person usually in his or her early twenties working in various departments of the NBC television network during a one-year period as a training ground for careers in television broadcasting and entertainment...
, Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell is a fictional character in the comedy television series 30 Rock. He is portrayed by actor Jack McBrayer and first appeared on television in the 30 Rock episode "Pilot" on October 10, 2006...
. Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit
Scott Adsit is an American actor, writer and improvisational comedian. He is currently co-starring as Pete Hornberger in the hit NBC comedy 30 Rock and worked in the Adult Swim stop-motion animation programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole.-1990s:After attending Columbia College Chicago,...
acted as the witty and wise TGS producer, Pete Hornberger. Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander
Judah Friedlander is an American actor and comedian, known for his trademark trucker hats, oversized glasses and unkempt appearance, which he retains in many of his screen roles.-Early life:...
portrayed the wise-cracking, trucker hat
Trucker hat
A trucker hat or mesh hat is a type of baseball cap. It is also sometimes known as a "gimme cap" or a "feed cap" because this style of hat originated as a promotional give-away from feed or farming supply companies to farmers, truck drivers, or other rural workers.The design of a trucker hat is...
wearing, repulsive staff writer Frank Rossitano. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
played the high flying NBC network executive Jack Donaghy
Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He is the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric and later Kabletown....
who, at the beginning of the season, is employed to retool TGS. Donaghy's full title at the start of the series is "Head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming."
The season also includes a number of secondary characters including Keith Powell
Keith Powell
Keith Powell is an American television actor who is best known for his role as James "Toofer" Spurlock on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock.-Career:Powell was the Producing Artistic Director of Contemporary Stage Company, a summer theater in Wilmington, Delaware...
as James "Toofer" Spurlock, a writer for TGS, and Lonny Ross
Lonny Ross
Lonny Ross is a comedy actor and writer. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his work as Josh Girard on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock...
as Josh Girard who is a staff writer of TGS as well as a TGS cast member. Katrina Bowden
Katrina Bowden
Katrina Bowden is an American actress. She is known for her short role as Britney Jennings on One Life to Live and for her role as Cerie in 30 Rock .- Education :...
was TGS
Maulik Pancholy
Maulik Pancholy is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Sanjay on Weeds from 2005 to present, and his role as Jonathan on 30 Rock, which he has played since the show began in 2006....
as Jonathan, Grizz Chapman
Grizz Chapman
Grizzwald "Grizz" Chapman is an American television actor best known for his recurring role as Grizz on the NBC series 30 Rock. A June 2007 interview with rollingout.com lists Chapman's height as 6'10". In his commentary for the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Tracy Morgan revealed that they met when...
as "Grizz" Griswold, Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown (actor)
Kevin 'Dot Com' Brown is an American comedian, film and television actor, best known for his role on the series 30 Rock as "Dot Com".Brown also appeared as the lead in Marq Overton's one-man play Die Laughing in 2008 at the Diversity Players of Harlem and as an actor and executive producer of the...
as "Dot Com" Slattery, John Lutz
John Lutz (television writer)
John Lutz is an American actor, writer and comedian.-Biography:The son of a Lutheran minister, Lutz grew up in suburban Chicago and Detroit. He attended Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, majoring in psychology and minoring in...
as J.D. Lutz, and Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
as Dr. Leo Spaceman.
Critical reception
MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the season a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impression of 31 critical reviews—of 67%, signifying generally favorable reviews. The pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
, the first episode of the series, was generally well received; however, Marc D. Allan of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
said that "viewers who tuned in for the first month or more saw shows that weren't consistently funny", but after a few episodes "the writers discovered the core of the series—the push-pull between Fey's character, Liz Lemon, the harried head writer of The Girlie Show, and Alec Baldwin's domineering network executive, Jack Donaghy—that 30 Rock found its rhythm." Henry Goldblatt of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, whilst reviewing the DVD release of the season, called 30 Rock "[the 2006 –2007 television season's] finest sitcom". Goldblatt said that the episodes "Hard Ball" and "The Break Up" were "some of the strongest episodes", and awarded the first season an "A" grade.
Christopher Monfette of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
thought that season one was "well-written and hilariously-performed" and that it was "refreshing to travel through the season and watch these characters grow and evolve". Monfette gave the season a score of 8 out of 10. UGO Entertainment's Kyle Braun said that the season "didn't start out as the funniest new show of 2006", but he praised the seasons progression, proclaiming "now that the show has found its audience, it's hard to argue with the laughs thrown down from high atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza." Anna Johns of TV Squad said that she was "particularly excited for the later two-thirds of the season, when Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan got into their groove and the supporting characters started getting better story lines." After six episodes, NBC picked 30 Rock up for a 21 episode season on December 1, 2006.
Ratings
The pilot episode garnered 8.13 million viewers, finishing third in its timeslot of 8:00pm Eastern Standard TimeEastern Standard Time
Eastern Standard Time may refer to:*North American Eastern Time Zone, UTC-5*Australian Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10*An album by Hip Hop group Kooley High...
. After three further low rated airings on the following three Wednesdays, including a series low of 4.61 million viewers, NBC decided to move 30 Rock to Thursdays at 9:30pm. Its first airing on a Thursday night was on November 16, 2006. Along with this change, the even lower rated comedy Twenty Good Years
Twenty Good Years
Twenty Good Years was an NBC situation comedy starring Jeffrey Tambor, John Lithgow, Heather Burns and Jake Sandvig that ran from October 11, 2006 until November 1, 2006. The series had also been slated to air on CTV in Canada...
was put on hiatus and later cancelled. 30 Rock
Scrubs (TV series)
Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...
. Upon its first airing at 9:00pm, the episode "Fireworks," a "supersized" episode attracted the attention of 5.37 million viewers. 30 Rock aired at 9:00pm for four episodes. The season finale, "Hiatus," was watched by 4.72 million people. The first season averaged 5.8 million viewers for all 21 episodes. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2006–2007 American television season
2006-07 United States network television schedule
The following article details the developing fall prime time schedules for the United States six major English language broadcast networks. Following are lists of what programs have been either renewed or canceled by their networks, the new programs picked up by the networks, and a schedule grid...
, 30 Rock ranked #102 out of #142 according to the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
system.
Awards
Season one received ten Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations; six of which were for Primetime Emmy Awards and four were for Creative Arts Emmy Awards
Creative Arts Emmy Awards
The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming...
. Two of these ten nominations were won. They were in the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an Emmy given to the best television comedy series of the year.-Winners and nominees:...
and Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Comedy Series
This is a list of winners of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.-1970s:Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series...
, which was awarded to Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch
Elaine Stritch is an American actress and vocalist. She has appeared in numerous stage plays and musicals, feature films, and many television programs...
for her portrayal of Colleen Donaghy, Jack's mother. Alec Baldwin picked up a Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
, in the category of Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical, for his portrayal of Jack Donaghy. Baldwin also won a Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor - Comedy Series
The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements by a male actor on a comedy television series. The award is for both lead and supporting...
. Another of Baldwin's three award wins, for the first season, was for a Television Critics Association Award in the category of Individual Achievement in Comedy. Tina Fey was also nominated in that category. Despite Fey's two losses in acting categories, she did win a Gracie Allen Award in the category of Outstanding Female Lead in a Comedy Series, for her portrayal of Liz Lemon.
Episodes
| Series episode |
Season episode |
Title | Directed by | Written by | U.S. viewers (million) |
Original air date | Production code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|