Fall TV Preview: 30 Rock on NBC

Last season NBC decided to roll out two new shows, both set behind the scenes of a Saturday Night Live-esque late-night skit comedy show: The pretentious and then just-stupid Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock. Aaron Sorkin, the creator of the Emmy-studded West Wing was behind Studio 60, and Tina Fey was the creative force for 30 Rock. Now, if you think about it, it should have been obvious as to which show would come out on top. Tina Fey had the real-life SNL behind-the-scenes experience as the first female head writer to make 30 Rock at least believable. However, since SNL is rarely funny, I figured 30 Rock would also be hit-or-miss. Then I started watching.

30 Rock is quick, funny, relevant, and clever. Who knew? Even Tina Fey as an actress is quite funny and charming, although most of the time, she is the calm neurotic eye in the center of the hurricane that is provided by her co-stars Alec Baldwin, Tracey Morgan, and scene-stealer Jack McBrayer. I mean even that girl (Jane Krakowski, who I saw in NYC at a nearby table and she is really pretty in real-life) from Ally McBeal is funny, and I never thought I would be writing that.

So if 30 Rock is so funny, why is NBC pushing it down our throats all of the sudden, when last season it was all but forgotten? Maybe because NBC scotoma Studio 60 is gone. Maybe because NBC drank smart juice for breakfast. Maybe, but maybe because 30 Rock got about a zillion Emmy nominations and can now say that it is the Best Comedy because Emmy says so. Will that mean anything when it comes down to the ratings?

Now, my experience with sitcoms is that they only get better with age, or at least until they get too old. With 30 Rock, I am expecting the show to really come into its own, now that it has the approval of critics, the Academy and the Network. However, I am one time out of 379 times wrong, so maybe becoming the new darling of Must See TV will go right to 30 Rock's head and it will implode under the pressure.

But we should probably take a look at what we can expect this new season on 30 Rock. I am more than excited to see that Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Blades of Glory) will be returning as Jack Donaghy's (Baldwin) executive rival at NBC and sometimes seducer of McBrayer's Kenneth the Page's character, and Nathan Lane as Donaghy's grifter brother. In what could be a comedy coup, Jerry Seinfeld is returning to Thursday night in the season premiere as himself.

Really even the laziest of us could be watching 30 Rock. It's right there in between My Name is Earl and The Office. You don't have to turn the channel.