30 Rock

I spent yesterday on a train, trying to see how many episodes of 30 Rock I could watch before my computer battery died.
This is partly because I’m convinced the little battery meter lies to me, but mostly because I couldn’t help myself.

30 Rock, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a television show written by a female head writer about making a television show which has a female head writer.
 If you followed that sentence you’re doing well.
Point is, they’re aren’t a lot of female writers in television. I just went through the list of Doctor Who writers and as far as I can tell there’s been less than five. Ever. Only a tiny handful of episodes. I’m not a feminist but that makes me a bit sad sometimes. (Ok, so I might have occasional feminist tendencies but that comes from being female in the twenty-first century.) I’ve long been searching for a show to love that has a female at its head.

I think that’s part of why I love Laid so much. A man would never have written a scene in which the love interest gets eaten by a giant satin, sabre toothed vagina. And that was brilliant. Similarly 30 Rock would be a very different show without Tina Fey.

This is the first post that I feel could sort of belong on the other blog (I seem to have done a weird sort of blog swap this week so you should probably read both posts). The reasons I love 30 Rock run a lot deeper than the brilliant writing, clever concept and spectacular characterisation. The show kind of epitomises a lot of my hopes, dreams and fears.

On the one hand, Liz Lemon is exactly who I want to be. She manages somehow to turn her obsessive, clumsy, dorkiness into sassy and charming. She’s succeeded in a world I desperately want to call my home. And her hair is quite amazing. The term “Head Writer” carries a wonderful, elusive mystique. Writing everyday for a show that is, in a very real sense, your own…lets just say I‘d give my right arm. I am not left handed.

On the other hand she’s also everything I’m afraid of. She’s got no social life, spasmodic friendships and a disastrous love life. And while staying in the office all night to pull a show together has a certain allure (maybe once) as a day to day reality it’s a little bit frightening.

I feel like I have a vested interest in Liz’s success and failures. I want desperately for happy endings. But I haven’t even finished season one yet. And I’m only nineteen.
So we’ll see.

For the record I watched eleven and a half episodes before my computer shut down. And yes, I do have kick ass battery life. Also- Alex’s Top Tip For Train Travel (via beccamarsh)- there’s a power point in the toilet. So I technically watched twelve…

Thursday on Seven

Thursdays are traditionally a television wasteland. There isn’t any decent reason to explain this as far as I can tell but it is undeniably true. As a result I don’t really feel any shame being excited about the new series of Beauty and the Geek.




Thursday-wasteland-channel-flicking was the original reason my brother and I started watching the first series. Anyone who’s now judging my television choices has obviously not watched the show. Beauty and the Geek is that very rare thing- genuinely charming reality television. The characters somehow manage to struggles out of all the stereotype boxes the producers have stuck them in and make us like them as actual people. Despite being, at first glance, clones of the contestants from series one all proved to have distinct personalities.


Plus its laugh out loud funny. Then again, I’m kind of partial to jokes of extreme nerdiness. There are moments that are cringe inducing too. And not in a good way. Why its necessary to film so many scenes in the spa is totally beyond me. Dear producers- stop trying so hard and just let the thing play out.


I have one other problem with the show- elimination. I get that it’s a reality TV essential and that someone has to win but why do we have to loose a couple every week? There wasn’t anyone I wanted to see go. When Marlon was nominated I almost threw something at the TV.


The tension during the tie breaker was almost unbearable. So was Marlon’s face when he won and said, in a quivering voice, “I don’t feel like a winner.” SOMEONE GIVE THE MAN A HUG! I’m fully aware that I was being shamelessly manipulated by television producers. I know they toy with my emotions but sometimes I don’t mind. ‘Cause its kind of fun.


I’d intended to go to bed at this point. Because, you know, sleep is good. Then I saw the ad for 30 Rock. I’d never actually seen 30 Rock. In fact I’m pretty sure I’d never even seen a commercial for it. I know the name well from various lists of “damn good shows that the networks insist on screwing around.” So, like the time I stayed up just to watch the opening credits of Dexter, I decided to forgo sleep for a while longer.


It was worth it. Admittedly I had only a minimal idea what was going on, which is understandable when you come in at the beginning of series 5. But I did laugh. More importantly the characters were endearing enough that I want to get to know them better. I have series plans which involve “half price TV Thursday” at Video Ezy and series one.


I turned the TV off at the end of the credits but not before I caught a glimpse of what was on next. I turned the TV back on for a second to be sure. Yes, it was Scrubs- another famous member of the screwed around club. It took quite a lot of self control to switch the TV off again and go to bed.


The real question is this- with such quality television on their books why is there so much crap on during prime time and, for that matter, the rest of the time? It defies comprehension. But TV is like that sometimes. We can only prey that there is hope is the glistening digital future.


Beauty and the Geek is on Seven at 8:30pm on Thursdays. 30 Rock comes on at something insane like 10:47pm. Actual time is probably subject to network’s person whims.