Anyone else a little nervous about 30 Rock’s sophomore season? Granted, it’s just two episodes in, and the inaugural season took a while to pick up to full impressiveness. But something’s off. When Tracy Morgan/Jordan mentioned “mindgrapes” last Thursday night — one of the best gags from last year’s phenomenal “Tracy Does Conan” episode — it felt forced and a little lazy.
We think there are a couple of problems. One is that the direction seems slightly different. Maybe they’re using different equipment, but the show feels more static, less nimble, than it did before. Season one was like a musical, with fluid camerawork and curious narrative logic. So far, season two comes off more like Malcolm in the Middle or Scrubs.
But our main gripe is that they’re focusing too much on the main characters and their insecurities. Yeah, Liz is lonely, Jack is ambitious, Jenna is vain and Tracy is… er… Tracy. But how about getting the characters into jams that bring out those qualities subtly, rather than putting everyone in situations based entirely on them. Note to Ben Silverman: We don’t need another Office, and if we cared about a bunch of TV people flailing around in midlife, we’d have fucking watched Sunset 60.
But maybe we’re just too quick to be nervous about a show that we deeply and truly love. If that’s the case, then we’ll just say simply, “Hey NBC: More Pete!” And leave it at that. — Bryan Christian