Tough to say goodbye to one of the smartest and most consistent network comedies of the century. “30 Rock ” (NBC, 8 p.m.) bids farewell after seven seasons and a boatload of awards.
It was the perfect skewer of network television from within the beast — a funny depiction of the state of the industry and a circus of fascinating characters within to keep things straight. Tina Fey deserves a lot of the credit — it’s her idea, she’s likely doing a lot of writing and she’s the star. Alec Baldwin is very good at what he does in the show (an has been richly rewarded for doing so).
But is there a stronger comedy cast pound for pound on any other comedy show?
“30 Rock” beat the odds in a lot of ways; it appeared (and survived) the same fall that there was another show about doing a late night comedy show “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,” an Aaron Sorkin project that never quite jelled.
But “30 Rock” rarely didnt work; or at least it moved so fast, you couldn’t tell if it was failing. Its best episodes were the live ones, in which all they had learned from “SNL” could be used to great effect to keep the show moving through a half hour.
By now, the show within the show, “The Girlie Show” is also playing its final show, so there’s reasons for sadness all around on both shows.