Read the screenplay: FANNIEGATE — $7 trillion. 17 years. The biggest fraud in American capital markets.
#46
#46

30 Rock

2006The Joke Machine

Cultural Impact

7/10

Storytelling

8/10

Rewatchability

8/10

Total Score

23/30

The Joke Machine23/30 Score#46 Overall
All 25 Shows

Why It Ranks

The fastest comedy ever written.

Score Breakdown

Cultural Impact7/10
Storytelling8/10
Rewatchability8/10
Total Score23/30

The Review

30 Rock is the most joke-dense sitcom in television history. Tina Fey packed more laughs per minute into her fictionalized version of Saturday Night Live than any show before or since. The comedy arrives at a velocity that rewards — and practically demands — rewatching: cutaway gags, background signs, throwaway lines, and running jokes layer on top of each other in every scene. Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy is one of the great comedic performances — a corporate Republican mentor who is somehow the most competent and self-aware person in every room. Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, and Jack McBrayer form a supporting cast so reliably hilarious that any one of them could carry their own show.

Fun Fact

30 Rock won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series in its first three seasons, beating The Office each time — a rivalry that both shows' writers took very personally.

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