I'm a little late to the party on this one - 30 Rock has already won several Emmy's and is in its 3rd season. I'm just now getting into the series on DVD. Hilarious. And comedy writing is not easy - I've tried it and I was terrible. I laugh out loud at the ridiculous behavior of those characters and marvel at how often I think things at work that they say freely to one another. If only all workplaces were that honest, we'd have greater job satisfaction. It's the passive-aggressive behavior, the simultaneous smile and toss under the bus that kills morale. Liz Lemon, Tina Fey's character, is someone I relate to immensely. She is a single 30-something who lives on the UWS, just a few blocks from me. Works hard, sometimes to the detriment of her personal life, makes impossible relationships a hobby, and eats as much as I do. She's nerdy and independent. We love our humidifiers. While she has this dream job, she's constantly worried that she will be reduced to teaching improv at the Y. She's all our unsavory features rolled in to one sympathetic, funny shell. We don't love the character because she's perfect or well-balanced or someone we aspire to be. She isn't any of those things. We love her because she is who we are, warts and all.
30 Rock is proof that we can do something original in an over-crowded field. It just requires that we put aside our egos, stop looking to others for "copy-and-paste" ideas, and just be exactly who we are and say exactly what we think, funny, nice, meaningful, or not. And for goodness sake, we need to learn to laugh at ourselves and those around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment