I Do Do

I've watched every episode of 30 Rock and this is easily the worst. No one watches every episode of a show over 5 seasons without loving it - I think 30 Rock is very funny.

But this - labored beginning, a forced and unfunny meet-cute in the middle, and increasingly frantic toward the end as the actors tried to compensate for the paucity of the material - is just awful.

This episode even included the "joke" where the viewer is thinks he's listening to background music but, in fact, it's someone playing music just off screen. Eventually the character on screen turns and says "Will you shut up!" (or words to that effect). Too hackneyed for Blazing Saddles but OK for 30 Rock? What next "walk this way"?

What I like about 30 Rock is the way they subvert your expectations – they know what joke you're expecting so they throw in a twist. Not this time – everything was by the numbers.

And Matt Damon – really? Surely the worst, most pointless cameo since Natasha Henstridge on South Park. Watching him trying to be wacky was a bit like watching the Queen krump: entertaining in an excruciating watch-through-your-fingers sort of way.

The actors realized that the material was weak and tied to compensate with their delivery. Eventually, in sheer desperation the episode finished with Tracey doing a topless duck-walk across the screen.

Thanks for the effort guys but nothing could stop me noticing that this episode was a complete stinker.

Season 4 of 30 Rock was maybe not the best season overall, but it goes out with a bang, with what was probably my favourite episode so far.

There are lots of great jokes, I especially loved the reaction of Jenna's boyfriend to the name of Matt Damon's character. Other great parts of this episode include Liz' wedding filibuster and Kenneth's drunk speech. There's also a lot of plot advancement when it comes to Jack, which I won't spoil.

Tracy is not very present in this episode, which is fine because the other characters more than make up for it. Like Wesley for example, whom I couldn't stand when he was first introduced - but he's just so terrible that I'm starting to like him.

In my review of season 3 of 30 Rock, I made comment on the difference between The Office US and 30 Rock in regards discussions held by critics over which is the better sitcom. My opinion was that The Office was the better sitcom as it had stronger plots and characters, whereas 30 Rock was the better comedy as it seemed to be written all about the moment and the next laugh, rather than having plots that are suppose to interest and engage. In retrospect this suggests me doing a disservice to the writing of 30 Rock because it seems to say that the plots and stories are less important in this show than in The Office. This is not the case and season 4 confirms it.

Sadly it confirms it in a negative way by showing what happens when the scenarios are not right. There seems to be more plotting in here than before and the plotting seems to need a lot more feeding in terms of dialogue and scenes to keep it moving. This has two impacts on the season. Firstly it means that the viewer has to get used to not laughing every 10-20 seconds as they have done for the last three seasons because this leaves less room for the wonderful asides and one-liners that 30 Rock has always made look so effortless. Secondly it asks the viewer to come at the content of the show in a way that we have not had to do before – giving time to these plots as opposed to using them as nothing more than a vehicle for the laughs.

Since I sound quite negative let me just say that this show still had me laughing a handful of times in each 20 minute episode and that the usual quick wit and imagination in the writing is still in evidence, that this has vanished is not the problem. The problem is that it has been pushed to the side and the writers have been labouring on plots and stories to continually move forward. This is understandable but I'm not sure how they forgot that 30 Rock's strength is that the laughs are so frequent that any plot that sort of matches the imaginative wit of the dialogue will do the job – not the longer, character driven things this season brought. I don't know – too much of it just seemed forced and hard work where before this show always sparkled and fizzed like it was no bother at all. It is not the fault of the cast as actors as everyone continues to do their thing well and are excellent when the material is.

Season 4 of 30 Rock is still funny and worth seeing, but it is hard to shake the feeling that it is significantly below the standard of what has gone before. The writing feels heavy where previously it was fresh and, more importantly, the laughs come less frequently – not because some of the jokes fail, but just because there seems to be fewer of them in a sea of elaborate plots – many of which just feel silly and poorly written without the laughs to help carry them along. A shame and I hope that season 5 can turn it around.