30 Rock

[Hated Milk Machine]

Is it still struggling ratings wise? I thought it was doin' okay?

[NausicaN]

Is it still struggling ratings wise? I thought it was doin' okay?

It was in October, but starting with Oprah episode, ratings have decreased.

Here's an interesting piece about whether it's ratings matter...

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment...r_30_rock.html

[NausicaN]

Also..

Where the hell did Lonny Ross go?

[JKwac]

I have a feeling if ratings for 30 Rock aren't stellar the rest of the year, it will definitely be on the brink. After the Palin phenom died down, so did the ratings. Mainstream viewers just don't "get" the show, and with all the publicity/celeb wattage there's no reason that it should still be struggling. So what that it's critically loved, so was another show that only lasted 3 seasons cougharrestedcough

Thoughts?

I think this is a load of crap. Yes, 30 Rock is a smart, hilarious show that is criminally underwatched. What a cute little packaged news story! Well, actually, 30 Rock has beaten Kath and Kim AND My Name is Earl every Thursday this year in both total viewers and the 18-49 demographic, even as recently as this past week. In fact, it's right behind The Office. Still. And the lowest ratings this season have been well above previous seasons' averages. So the Arrested Development comparison doesn't apply. Sorry to be harsh but I'm ready for this false story of "30 Rock is doing terribly" to be over with. The very idea that NBC would cancel 30 Rock NOW --when Tina is wildly popular, they're cleaning up at awards shows, and their ratings are better than ever-- is a notion so absurd, it's laughable. Plus, I think the show has just as much (if not more) "mainstream appeal" than The Office.

[Hated Milk Machine]

I think this is a load of crap. Yes, 30 Rock is a smart, hilarious show that is criminally underwatched. What a cute little packaged news story! Well, actually, 30 Rock has beaten Kath and Kim AND My Name is Earl every Thursday this year in both total viewers and the 18-49 demographic, even as recently as this past week. In fact, it's right behind The Office. Still. And the lowest ratings this season have been well above previous seasons' averages. So the Arrested Development comparison doesn't apply. Sorry to be harsh but I'm ready for this false story of "30 Rock is doing terribly" to be over with. The very idea that NBC would cancel 30 Rock NOW --when Tina is wildly popular, they're cleaning up at awards shows, and their ratings are better than ever-- is a notion so absurd, it's laughable. Plus, I think the show has just as much (if not more) "mainstream appeal" than The Office.

Thats what I thought!

[BillBrasky]

How about:
8 Pm- The Office
8:30 PM- Kath and Kim
9 Pm- 30 Rock
9:30- Office Spinoff

Does anyone care about My Name is Earl anymore? Are its ratings still good enough to be the lead off show on Thursday nights?

[PinkieOfDoom]

How about:
8 Pm- The Office
8:30 PM- Kath and Kim
9 Pm- 30 Rock
9:30- Office Spinoff

Does anyone care about My Name is Earl anymore? Are its ratings still good enough to be the lead off show on Thursday nights?

My Name is Earl is still on? Granted I haven't been near a TV since August, I haven't heard about it in a while unless it was on TBS...

[DonTGD]

My Name is Earl is still on? Granted I haven't been near a TV since August, I haven't heard about it in a while unless it was on TBS...

I loved the first season of My Name is Earl. It was written from a Maryland perspective slightly differently than John Waters, but there was no mistaking the residents for any other state (let alone the existence of a Crab Shack). However season 2 and 3 were awful with unwanted and ill-conceived plot twists. There are still wonderful characters, such as the criminally underrated Dick Bakalyan as a retired mafioso crossing guard. Unfortunately the plots go nowhere and two major structural changes to the show flopped. I've got two months on my tivo to go through- I see no reason to completely give up on the show- but it's limping along at best.

[BillBrasky]

Yeah, I watched My Name is Earl pretty faithfully during its first season, but pretty much stopped after that. It's one of those shows like "King of the Hill" and "Everybody Hates Chris" that are, overall, good, well-written shows, but I always lose interest when I actually try to sit down and watch them.
NBC doesn't have to cancel it, but maybe they could move it to Friday nights and start a new family-oriented sitcom block there (MNIE isn't exactly the most family-friendly show in the world, but moreso than The Office, Kath and Kim, or 30 Rock).

[aenemaTron]

I watched the whole first season too. Then I just got sick of the "dumb hick" jokes. My tolerance hit a wall, I guess.

[metal2000]

Apparently I wasn't the only one! Haven't watched an episode of "Earl" in ages, either. I can't put my finger on what it was, but after a few episodes of season 2, I just stopped watching altogether.

"30 Rock" is indeed doing pretty well in the ratings (for an NBC show). Of course, as a counter, last year "Scrubs" was doing better in the ratings than "30 Rock", and it got booted to ABC while "30 Rock" got promoted to its post-"Office" spot. Maybe it's because "30 Rock" was far more critically acclaimed and is produced in-house, but it also shows that ratings (good or bad) don't mean everything over on crazy-and-stuck-in-4th NBC.

Really, they should just turn themselves into an all-comedy network. With 3.5 hours of late night talk, and the 2 most critically-acclaimed network sitcoms, they're pretty much branded as the "Comedy and Law & Order Network" anyway. "Chuck" is an hour-long but is a comedy. "Life" has a lot of humour in it, despite being a drama. They should just go all-comedy, all-the-time.




(Obviously, I'm not being serious -- they'd never do that. But I do think it could work for them, given their hopeless position in the ratings.)

[Berliner]

Hey, I've been watching Chuck, and I've developed a taste for it.

[DonTGD]

I watched the whole first season too. Then I just got sick of the "dumb hick" jokes. My tolerance hit a wall, I guess.

I was tempted to counter this comment yesterday, but then watched an episode of Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo where they infiltrated a women's roller derby and I started to see that Earl's take on characters was not too far from Carter Country, Lobo, the Dukes and the rest of the urban cowboy era.

[wrinkle_in_my_pants]

I loved Grizz and Dot Com ice skating, "We need boundaries".

I was excited that we might actually get to watch a part of the comedy show, and see a "tv show within a tv show", but it didn't happen. I wonder if Jane Krakowski has it in her contract to sing in every show...

[nadsat droog]

The Christmas episode was not very good but it still made me laugh.

[BlackGirl]

Has there been any mention of a musical 30 Rock episode?

www.quirkbooks.com

[DonTGD]

I actually thought the show was very moving in an adult Christmas way. Jack realizing that he was blinded to the efforts of adults top improve his childhood and he might not have been the self-made-man he thought of himself as.

[BillBrasky]

Mark your calendars: Jon Hamm's first appearance on "30 Rock" will air on Feb. 5, NBC confirmed Monday.

The "Mad Men" actor has a three-episode arc on the NBC comedy in 2009; he'll play a potential love interest for Liz Lemon (Tina Fey). Hamm's character is a doctor who lives in Liz's building, and things went so well after he shot two "30 Rock" episodes last fall that he's going to shoot another episode early this year, the actor told USA Today.

And we know from his November hosting stint on "Saturday Night Live" that Hamm, who's wonderful as the complicated Don Draper on the AMC drama, has some serious comedy chops.

[KeithTalent]

A cup of hot water with a chicken bone in it, and a bowl of salted ice cubes.

[Dogwelder]

Jon Hamm on 30 Rock?? I hadn't heard that. What awesome news.

Also, "Come on, take another little chunk of my lung now baby." That is such a dumb parody song that it's funny.