The 30 Rock Book

Inside the Iconic Show, from Blerg to EGOT

By: Mike Roe

Narrated by: Mike Roe

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A fascinating and hilarious deep dive into 30 Rock, Tina Fey's beloved modern classic comedy.

In the fall of 2006, NBC somehow unveiled two new shows set in the world of late-night sketch comedy: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and 30 Rock. It was Aaron Sorkin versus Tina Fey, and it was clear which series critics thought was more promising. The Baltimore Sun called it a competition 30 Rock "can't win". By November, the New York Times was noting lackluster ratings for both shows, and adding that 30 Rock was "perilously close to a flop".

But while Studio 60 was canceled after 22 episodes, Fey's madcap buddy comedy lasted 138 episodes. It resurrected the career of Alec Baldwin, survived an extended absence by Tracy Morgan, and permeated the culture - its breakneck pacing, oddball characters, and extremely rich joke writing are deeply beloved by millions of fans.

In this combination of narrative and oral history, culture writer and editor Mike Roe brings to life the history of the gloriously goofy show through interviews with the creators, stars, writers, and bit players.

©2021 Michael Roe (P)2021 Tantor

Probably would have worked better as a podcast?

This is basically just a 30 Rock fan who happens to be an LA Times journalist talking about 30 Rock. It’s not especially in-depth, it spends a lot of time just recapping episodes, and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. There are lots of podcasts that follow the format of a couple friends rewatching a series and talking about it - that’s about the level of depth we have here, but those podcasts generally have the advantage of fun rapport between the hosts. This book does not have that. Roe also quotes Jesse Thorn a lot, and while I’m a fan of Jesse and his work, I’m not sure why he’s being treated as an authoritative voice on 30 Rock. As far as a know, he’s just a big fan of the show and has interviewed a few cast members on Bullseye.

If you’re a 30 Rock fan looking for something easy to listen to while you do chores, it’s fine; but I wouldn’t go out of my way to read this one.

Not much here, but fun reliving 30 Rock

Had its interesting moments, but as another reviewer said, way too much just summarizing every episode. As far as actual information goes, it was very sparse -- not much from any of the main actors and doesn't so much look to explain anything in the behind-the-scenes of the show. It's more like "here's the info/quotes I have, how do I make a book out of this?" What is included also focuses weirdly on people that make you go, why do I care what this person thinks about x? For example, leaning heavily on the actor who played the HR rep to expound on everything having to do with representation on the show. Finally, the author's narration isn't always easy to understand, and I found it grating, though got more used to it as it went on. Overall though it was a fine listen. Interesting enough.

ANATHING AND EVRATHING

I love 30 Rock. The author can write, but his narration sounds like Paul Scheer with a weird accent.

very in depth

Its a pretty good listen , the narration is easy to hear, the material is fun, the only exception I take and I had to fast forward were the whole Racist, trans, and so on woke crap. Comedy is comedy and the funniest stuff happens to be ethnical in nature and every good comedian makes fun of minorities even making fun of their own ethnicity so get over it. it really does bring the book down. so I just skipped through it and kept listening.

I really wanted to love this book...

I really wanted to love this book, but in the end it was a struggle to keep listening. In fact, for the last 8 chapters or so, I kept finding myself going to the Chapters page to see how much I still had to go. Ultimately, I felt I was too invested already to quit listening early.

Why? I would estimate that 2/3 of the book is the author giving summaries of the individual episodes. I loved the behind the scenes stories and especially the creative process in getting the show up and running and slugging it out (unofficially) with another NBC drama program about a "SNL-type" TV show, but there was far too little of those things. Also, in the final few chapters it became an essay on "What else has Tina Fey done in her career besides 30 Rock?" Again, interesting, but not what this book should have been. Overall. I'm disappointed.

A glorified recap of 30 rock

This is just a glorified recap of the tv series .

Not worth it

Author recounts episode by episode