Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired

Episode Fan Reviews (26)

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8.2
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  • Only Show Worse is SNL

    2.0
    "Terrible"
    The ONLY show worse than 30 Rock is SNL itself. Tracey Morgan may be this worse actor on TV. Why they ever thought he could be on a TV show is beyond me. I mean I know he is a friend of Tina's but he is pathetic as an actor. Then you got the guy on the show that is obviously there because Jimmy Fallon turned down the part. And I am sick of Tina Fey making jokes about her apparence when she is a pretty woman. Those jokes work with a Rachel Dratch but not with her. The show has NO comedy to it. It has weak acting and horrible writing.
  • Pilot episode which is supposed to grab you, right?

    1.1
    "Abysmal"
    I was so psyched about this show since the "professional" reviews had been so good. So much for that. What a total disappointment. I would have given it a 0 had it not been for Alec Baldwin, whose performance I enjoyed. Not even a chuckle, let alone a laugh to be had.



    Their promo commercial for the show where Alec Baldwin seems confused and dismayed that he's on this show and not Studio 60 was actually better than anything on this episode. Tina Fey's part is just such a totally neutral character. Nothing to love. Nothing to hate. No personality at all.
  • great start

    8.8
    "Great"
    I think this is one of the better pilots for a tv show around. One of the truly funny shows around today, in the post-sitcom era. An heir to Seinfeld and the like? Well, there are some similarities, but really it is it's own thing. It is almost like a satire on how they make Saturday Night Live, which would make sense since Fey and Morgan were former stars and alumni are constantly visiting. Nothing is taken too seriously on the show, which is a relief from how most of these shows are done. It really is a great, nonsense comedy, and I hope it stays on for a long time.
  • I don't get it.

    3.7
    "Bad"
    I must be an idiot or something... I have been hearing so much about this show, how great it is and how funny it is and how many awards it's been winning... And I didn't even get that it's a comedy. It wasn't funny. Mildly sarcastic at points, but so are most drama shows, and to a larger degree than this episode. I don't care that much about the so-so plotlines and characters, since it's a pilot, and pilots hardly ever do well on those aspects. But an actual joke or two might have worked nice in a supposed comedy show.
  • Great.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    Liz Lemon is head writer for The Girlie Show, a live comedy show filmed in New York City's 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Things start to get complicated when her new boss, Jack Donaghy, insists that wild movie star Tracy Jordan join the cast. Okay so my brother told me to watch this show - so I'm giving it a go. I love the fact that it's set in New York City, oh how I wish I lived there. An Interesting start. I enjoyed learning a little about the character - I really like Liz in th is episode, I love the starting scene with her and the hotdogs, I found that amusing. Looking forward to the next episode.
  • Great start to a great show

    9.0
    "Superb"
    Liz Lemon is the head writer on The Girlie Show, a demanding, live TV program in New York City. However, things begin to get complicated when her new boss insists that a wild and unpredictable movie star joins the cast.

    Second time I have seen the series premire and I have to say its a whole lot better seeing it twice. It was a really funny premire that introduced us to all of 30 Rock's funniest characters. Liz, Jack and Tracy got a lot of screen time. Really funny when Tracy stops for a piss and when Jack is introduced. 9 out of 10.
  • Appropriate pilot for a truly outstanding sitcom.

    8.0
    "Great"
    First of all, I just wanted to point out how difficult it is for writers to construct a pilot episode that is both informative and lays the groundwork for the rest of the series and also, of course, enjoyable and entertaining for the audience. More or less, the pilot to Tina Fey's new workplace comedy based much off of her early years writing for "Saturday Night Live" strikes a healthy balance. The ensemble cast, including SNL alums Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski of "Ally McBeal" fame, Jack McBrayer (AD fans will recognize him as a waiter at the Bluth's club), and the unsurpassable Alec Baldwin, meshes perfectly and adds to the brilliance of the show. The chemistry between Baldwin and Fey adds to the show's rhythm. Tina Fey is a comedic genius, perhaps one of the best of our time, and I'm very much looking forward to watching her new show develop into its zany potential (:



    Review by Caroline, a fallacious antipragmatist.
  • There is a change coming to Liz's work. Jack Donaghy knows what he wants, and what he wants is what he gets. Liz has to decide if she wants to live with these changes, take Jack's idea to have crazy celebrity Tracy on a live show. But Liz is having doubts

    5.5
    "Mediocre"
    I didn't really expect anything from this show, except hoping for a good laugh. I only know Tina Fey from Mean Girls and I only liked Adam Baldwin in Will & Grace. The episode was funny in the beginning of the episode, but later on turned into something that I didn't really find funny. The humor isn't very like mine and therefore I didn't found it such a good show or even a good episode. The story was pretty average and so was the acting. Not a show for me, not the episode for me but if you ever find yourself being bored with all the shows you normally love and you don't really want to stand up from your chair and have a life, 30 Rock is a show you could watch.
  • Wasn't that bad it was Okay...

    8.0
    "Great"
    In the first scene, Liz Lemon is waiting in line at a hot dog stand when a man walks straight up to the stand, ignoring the line. When Liz points this out, he says that there are two lines and half the people already in line promptly move into the "new" line. Indignant over the injustice, Liz buys all the hot dogs and gives them to the people who stayed in the original line, naming them the "good people".

    This wasn't the best first episode I have seen I found the start to be terrible but it got a little better with Alec Baldwin who I think is a great actor also I liked that man who done impersonations.Other than that the show was slow and it had not many funny moments in it although in some parts it made me laugh.
  • A great pilot for a great series.

    9.8
    "Superb"
    After watching the whole first season, I just rewatched the pilot. Many comedies have trouble getting started, or the characters or tone make great leaps in the first few episodes, which makes a second viewing of the pilot a bit strange. Not so for 30 Rock. Clearly, the characters were strong enough to avoid this problem. This episode did a great job of introducing Jack, Jenna, and Tracy in particular. The tone of the comedy also set the stage for episodes to come, and the scenes with Liz and Tracy were a great foundation. If the show is still on in a few years, the pilot episode will probably be just as enjoyable.
  • A great way to start a show.

    9.2
    "Superb"
    30 Rock, In this first episode of 30 rock. In this show we meet Liz who works at 30reckefeller. On a sketch show called the girlie show. But she gets a new boss. Named Jack. Who makes her have a meeting with Tracy Jordan. In the end the Tracy Jordan joins the show.
  • A great start to what so far has been a great series

    9.6
    "Superb"
    I wasn\'t sure what to expect when I pun this on, internet reviews seem to be mixed on this quality of this series. But I thought to myself \"It\'s written by Tina Fey, it has to be good.\", and thankfully I was right.



    The pilot, like any other pilot, was mostly about setting up the characters, and how they work with each other. In this respect I think the episode worked well to identify what each character will bring to future episodes.



    The writing was well done, I particularly enjoyed some of the one liners (\"You have the boldness of a much younger woman\"). I also found that the episode had a decent story to it, which is essential to the program having any longevity. But I think that there is no problem in that respect.



    I enjoyed this episode thoroughly and, as a result, I look forward to seeing the rest of this season and many more after.
  • Not a terrible pilot by any means, but for a comedy pilot, it's just not funny enough. There's potential though.

    6.1
    "Fair"
    "30 Rock" is one of two shows NBC has on its schedule this fall that is about the backstage workings of a sketch comedy show. All summer long viewers were wondering which show would be better: Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" or "30 Rock"? They are both very different shows, despite the similar premise, but so far my observation has been that both of them need work, but they both have potential.



    I have never watched Tina Fey's work on "Saturday Night Live", but I have seen her movie "Mean Girls", which I thought was very funny, so I thought that alone should mean I should give "30 Rock" a try.



    The show is single-camera, and is quite similar in style to "The Office". Like "The Office", the humor is not fueled by jokes, but by the situations and character reaction. Unlike "The Office", however, the pilot of "30 Rock" fails to be anything more than amusing. It's silly and made me smile quite a few times, but I never laughed. The cast is quite good, especially Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. The show has something about it that makes me like it to an extent even though it failed to be as funny as it was trying to be, and there's definitely enough interest for me to watch a couple of more episodes. However, with my TV schedule being so packed this season, if the show doesn't seriously step up, I'll have to drop it.
  • POTENTIAL

    7.0
    "Good"
    I thought it was a pretty funny episode and I think it just needs time to find it's feet. Not every single thing is a sure bet out of the gate. Look at Barbaro. I laughed at a lot of things and it was actually much funnier than I thought it was going to be. There are a lot of inside jokes but if you watch too much tv like me you get most of them. Give it time! Why does everything have to be immediately hilarious? There are shows being cancelled that I never even got a chance to view. For heaven\'s sake network people there are a zillion channels, if the show was good enough for you to put it on the air give us time to find the good shows!
  • I know this is not the series finale tho it really should be. In the entire half hour I did not laugh one time nor could I even tell where jokes were supposed to be. Tina was the only thing funny on SNL in 20 years and now she is reduced to this.

    1.0
    "Abysmal"
    30 Rock is hands down the worst new show on TV, with Twenty Good Years a real close second. Period. There are no jokes, no humorous situations or even a glimmer of talent shining through this dreck. Alec Baldwin, What were you thinking? Did you lose a bet with your agent or does he have compromising photos of you? Tracy Morgan you can be funny as hell, what happened? Your Martin Lawrence character is dead on but those stunts and mannerisms are only even mildly funny when he did them, five years ago. And don't get me started on Fugly Dratch, whenever she came on screen I felt ill to my stomach. NBC for the love of all that is great in TV cancel this <excrement> and find a funny show for us or at least run Deal Or No Deal in it's place. I had to give this show a 1.0 because it would not let me give a negative number or even the Zero it deserves.
  • Tina's strong backbone

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    I didn't like much about the first episode of "30 Rock." I expect more from the sereis but I'll keep watching the show bacause of Tina Fey. I'm madly in love with her, despite the fact that's she's married. As of right now, I'm her number one fan and I hope her show does better. the first episode is lukewarm with tina getting a popular movie star, played by Tracy Jordon to appear on her weekly series. I had no problem with Tracy jordon and Tina Fey, but overall I would like to series to improve over the next couple of weeks. right now, I'm sticking to the series.
  • Honestly I expected more out of something from Tina Fey.

    3.0
    "Bad"
    I had high hopes for 30 Rock, and this episode just didn't bring it for me.



    When the funniest scene is Tracy Morgan running around in tighty whities saying "I am a Jedi!", that's sad.



    The show just didn't seem funny to me at all... maybe I'm missing something, but I was a big fan of other "quirky" shows like Arrested Development, and The Office, but saidly as much as I wanted to like this show, I just couldn't. I'm going to give it another try and see what happens, but it looks like Studio 60 is the show I'm going to watch for my fake SNL fix.
  • Probably one of the funniest pilots ive ever seen

    8.7
    "Great"
    the pilot of 30 rock was very impressive, actually. even though with its mixed ratings and the tv.com community votes of a 7.5 average, i thought the pilot was funny. it is not even close to a studio 60 rip off like some people were saying. it has actual comedy. Tracy morgan was hilarious in this show, he made me laugh a couple of times. without him i dont think the pilot would have been that good. tina fey and alec baldwin were also great. all my anticipation for this show has finally paid off. great episode, watch it on nbc.com!
  • Pretty good for a pilot.

    8.9
    "Great"
    The pilot was cool, I guess. Not that cool though. I thought Tina worked real well with Tracy. It's just too bad that she does'nt work on SNL anymore. I'm gonna watch next weeks episode to see if it gets better. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to watch House Of Carter's.
  • Tina Fey's creative efforts lead to an off-the-wall, brilliantly cast half hour comedy show. Funny stuff is sure to happen.

    10
    "Perfect"
    Gah, I could not stop smiling after watching this! It was so...Fey-esque (that's not a word, is it?) I absolutely love the cast and hope to see more of Ratchel Dratch...ah, crazy Cat Wrangler, how I love thee! Liz Lemon--such a unique name to go with...completely avant-garde, New York scene of them to introduce it. Alec Baldwin. What can I say? It's freakin' Alec Baldwin! Such a disturbingly funny guy. Seriously. A little bit of plot and a lot of Tina Fey being herself...enjoyable to the max. Loved the whole "I'm am so gonna quit tirade at the strip joint. It's strange, but stuff like that happens to me all the darn time! So, totally relatable characters and hopefully some time well-spent on Wednesdays until Bones comes back in November!
  • My anticipation of this show sank hard and fast. I barely made it through the full 30 minutes. It actually made 20 Good Years look good by comparison.

    2.0
    "Terrible"
    I think we quickly found out that a well-written dramatic take on a SNL-type show (Studio 60) with some comedic moments will work much more effective than a weakly-written and poorly acted comedic attempt at the same thing. While Tina Fey is a great comedy writer, she lacks as an actress and I don't think she will be able to carry the show on her shoulders. Alec Baldwin played the same character on his stint on Will and Grace, so what's new here? And Tracy Morgan is just flat-out annoying - always has been, always will be. I actually feel bad for Jane Krakowski. She deserves better than this. How this made TV Guide's Must-Watch list, is beyond me.



    Some shows I'm willing to give a few weeks to redeem themselves. This is not one of them.
  • Not bad ... not good ...

    6.8
    "Fair"
    Too much Tracy Morgan. It's not credible he's a hot star. He does his over-the-top persona he's done on SNL and makes that his character. It's too shallow. Some of the jokes were good, some lame.



    Fey's character has no depth; consequently, when she says she's quitting, it doesn't seem life altering. When she's drunk, it's not believable. It's horrible acting. Baldwin was the best, but also not memorable.



    I think it's going to take a while to warm up to the characters. The biggest problem is they don't seem like credible people. You can't buy into any of it.

    However, it often takes time for actors to come up to speed on what their characters are all about. So I suspect it's best to wait a while; I'm sure it will improve over time.
  • A very good start to what could be a fun comedy.

    8.2
    "Great"
    I'm surprised at all the negative reviews this show is getting as I personally found the premire quite good. Pilots for comedies are a tough sell but this one looks fun. Fey knows her material as well as comedy and that shows. I love how some jokes jsut flow out perfectly "It's not HBO. It's TV." They did do a bit much selling her character as strong and independent but that makes her conflict's with Jack more impressive. Baldwin is just so perfect, smarmy and cocky and obviously having a good time.



    Like many, I was bugged at Karkowski taking over for Dratch but she seems good, an aging actresses trying to keep up as a sexpot and having her and Fey, such opposites, be friends is a good dynamic.



    They did do a bit much selling Tracy as Martin Lawrence-like. But I did like bits like when the white cast and crew laugh about all his movies and the one black guy just rolls his eyes in disgust. Also, I liked how the one bit where it looked like Tracy was going emotional had him taking a leak in front of his foster home. Fey is just so great, exasperated, handling the zaniness around her and I loved her dancing on stage. The final skit of the "Cat Lady" getting clawed and Tracy saving things was a good final bit. Overall, it's a good start and I can excuse not as much humor as it had to set things up. Now that it has, I'm sure Fey, Baldwin and Morgan can click well and give us plenty of laughs to come.
  • A show written by members of a sketch comedy show who prove that a comedy about a sketch comedy show is really the furthest thing from actual comedy.

    1.5
    "Abysmal"
    When I review something, I always give it three tries. An album or song-- three listens. Television shows, I give three eps. I learned this lesson with "Friends", because the first episode I felt was forced. It did get funnier.



    As for 30 Rock, it's the first episode. It comes in with something already working against it, and that's Studio 60, a drama about sketch comedy on the same network on Monday nights. It also has "high expectations". Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, and Rachel Dratch are all SNL alums, and Alec Baldwin has even hosted SNL. It's executive producer is Lorne Michaels himself.



    My question is-- how can a show written for and by people who worked at an institution like SNL get a comedy about a sketch comedy show so wrong? I won't pretend I know what happens behind the scenes at SNL, but I really hope it's funnier than what I saw tonight.



    I had the unique opportunity to watch Monday's episode of Studio 60 before watching 30 Rock (and I even watched Jericho just before this, so I was in the mood for some comedy), and it was painful. It was awkward. I could almost hear someone behind me saying, "You're supposed to laugh.. NOW. Laugh... NOW!"



    The funniest bit was with the angry cat. And if you couldn't see that joke coming... well, let's just put that one to the side. The "Hot Dog Scene", the "Oven Sketch", the "Unpredictable Star", the "Strip Club"-- I've seen it all before. It was called "Beverly Hills Cop". Tracy Morgan is even wearing a red vest in the episode! I'm surprised he didn't stick a banana in a tailpipe.



    Frustrating. Pilots of comedies are supposed to be funny. They're supposed to be the exception-- something that stood out to make the network put it on the air. This was a pile of garbage. If this is the exemplar writing we can expect to see a decline from, 30 Rock will make me cry before I laugh.
  • 30 Rock - Sinking like one...

    5.0
    "Mediocre"
    I got a few chuckles out of Tracey Morgan and Jane Krakowski is hot so those are the positives. As for everything else... well. It is obvious that this show will draw comparisons with Studio 60 and even as a drama, Studio 60 delivers more laughs than 30 Rock. Judd Hirsch going Network was more amusing than Tina Fey buying a crate of hot dogs. And then having to tell us again in the dialogue that her character doesn't like rules being broken... well, I was glad that my phone rang at that moment to interrupt the show. If their intent was to aim for the lowbrow, well, then maybe they've succeeded. She's was right about one thing, it sure ain't HBO.
  • A very very interesting and special show... I\'m not one hundred percent sure that\'s a good thing yet...

    7.5
    "Good"
    30 Rock is the show I\'ve been looking forward to most this Fall season. I watched a hilarious promo over the summer, and fell in love with the show right then in there. After watching the pilot, I\'m not sure if I\'m still in love.



    It was a good pilot, a very good pilot, but it wasn\'t the great pilot I expected and wanted it to be.



    Something just didn\'t seem to click. There is great writing, there is a great cast, but something isn\'t there. I don\'t know what?



    A good portion of the cast are sketch performers: Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Rachel Dratch. It is very obvious that they are sketch performers, not actors. There is something very unnatural about their deliveries. They want to act as over the top as their characters are. The problem with over the top characters is that they can\'t be over or under performed. Alec Baldwin, the most experienced actor, gives the only great performance. The others need work.



    I think another problem is that too many characters are introduced in the pilot: We have Liz and Peter and Jenna and Jack and Tracy and Ken and Liz\'s 2 Co-Writers and Jenna\'s Sidekick and Rachel Dratch\'s random appearences, and they don\'t give any of them enough screen time to make something of their characters. They are all clearly likeable and funny people, but we aren\'t given a chance to get to know them. The cast needs to be trimmed: stick with Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, Alec Baldwin, and Jane Krakowski.



    I still wanna have faith in 30 Rock, and after seeing the majority of the new shows that have premiered this fall, I think it has the most potential to become something legendary. I hope that it doesn\'t get the axe too soon because that means we\'ve all lost Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch from SNL. That could be enough to make me cry.
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