As 30 Rock celebrates its historic 20th anniversary, The Washington Post has showered the hit NBC series with unwavering praise, calling it the “perfect TV comedy” in a new story from the newspaper.
Reflecting on the show’s recent anniversary, The Post shared their honest praise of Tina Fey’s workplace comedy, which followed a group of writers, actors and executives at a Saturday Night Live-inspired sketch comedy show at NBC.
“This month, 30 Rock — the NBC cult sitcom that was Tina Fey’s singularly brilliant, satirized send-up of a Saturday Night Live-esque sketch comedy show — somehow turns 20,” the newspaper started by saying.
“We say somehow because even though the show is old enough to vote, it has aged like a fine D’Fwine,” The Post continued. “Revisit its seven stellar seasons, and you’ll be reminded of why it is among the most enduring TV comedies: The incessant, whip-smart jokes delivered with impeccable timing; the oddball, unforgettable characters and their dynamic chemistry; the plotlines that seamlessly stitched together incisive parody, outright lunacy and uncanny prescience; and let us not forget the songs.”
Inspired by Fey’s time working at SNL, 30 Rock incorporated an all-star ensemble cast that included the likes of Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer and Alec Baldwin.
Airing in 2006 and running for seven seasons on the network, the series officially concluded in 2013. In the course of its run on NBC, 30 Rock received a whopping 114 Emmy Award nominations, winning a total of 16.
Elsewhere in the story, four Washington Post reporters spoke about the unique qualities that made 30 Rock such a popular series in the 2000s, as well as its continued legacy today.
“It contained multitudes,” one reporter said of the series. “30 Rock was a workplace comedy; a send-up of the political eras in which it took place (Bush-era patriotism, Obama-era optimism); a ‘Can Women Have it All’ career-gal feminist chronicle; a parody of its own media environment, in which the scripted network sitcom was being surpassed by reality slop.”