Quick DVD Review: 30 Rock Season 1

Here’s another show I pimped hard all last year, from encouraging everyone to stick with it threw the slow paced first eps, to celebrating the 10 Emmy nominations it received this summer. It was with great expectations that I awaited the latest step in 30 Rocks evolution, the DVD release. Yesterday was the day and after picking up the set I was thrilled to get home and take it all in…again. That’s really the type of show 30 Rock is, the kind where you want to rewatch episodes three or four times just to memorize a joke or a line. Tina Fey has created the best sitcom since Arrested Development and watching some of the episodes last night it’s a great example of how some shows don’t hit all the high notes right out of the gate. In the first couple of eps the show moves at a snails pace and none of the actors seem comfortable. Then all of a sudden Tracey Morgan starts playing everything a little crazier, and the rest of the show falls in line. The great thing about setting a show in the TV industry is that you open yourself up to a variety of guest starts either playing themselves or parodying someone else they know. How much you want to bet the Will Arnett’s character evolved from dealing with the Fox suits during Arrested? Once the show hits its mark the season flies by. The DVD extras are a bit of a letdown. The commentaries are all solo except for the one with Lorne Michels and his son Henry. I would’ve loved to hear one with Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey or maybe more episodes with just Tina period. Her commentary is the real star of the extras. Otherwise there are a few deleted scenes, a gag reel that’s moderately funny, a couple of over indulgent behind the scenes pieces and a mock talk show with Kenneth the Page. I’d love to have a sit down interview with Lorne and Tina about how the show came about and how they had to sell it to NBC when TV God Aaron Sorkin had already sold a similar show to them. Still the extras make you smile and laugh and the real star of the set is the show itself which comes across here in all its muffin-top glory.