New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

On Thursday, 30 Rock will do what very little scripted TV has done before: A live episode.

Of course, back during the early days of television, everything was live. Yet in the modern era, just a handful of programs have attempted an episode (or more) requiring a single take. (Well, make that two, since the west coast gets a live one, too).

I had imagined that many programs attempted at least one live episode, but some quick Googling tells me just seven shows – Gimme a Break!, Roc, ER, The Drew Carey Show, The Daily Show, Will & Grace and The West Wing – have done it in the States. (Of television’s notable shows, anyway).

So consider 30 Rock a soon-to-be-newly-minted member of a pretty exclusive television club.

Elitists will probably cast off live episodes as too gimmicky. Hell, the good people behind Arrested Development blasted the idea on the show’s infamous “S.O.B.s” episode and I loved them for it.

Even so, live episodes are fun, and I think it seems fitting for a program like 30 Rock to attempt one. Here’s why:

30 Rock’s ties to live comedy

Not sure about you, but I was first exposed to Tina Fey through her fine work on Saturday Night Live. The same holds true for Tracy Morgan. A live episode featuring both performers, then, will be like a classic episode of the late-night staple. If anything, it’ll feel pretty damn familiar.

Oh, and funny man Alec Baldwin has hosted SNL, uh, 15 times, which ties him with Steve Martin for most ever.

What I’m trying to say here is that 30 Rock’s turn at doing a live episode feels natural and right since a good amount of its on-screen faces have plenty of experience in live entertainment.

Other things noteworthy:
- Jane Krakowsi, who plays the vain Jenna Maroney, is the real life daughter of a college theater instructor and producing artistic director.
- Jack McBrayer, who’s the spastic and uber goodie goodie Kenneth Parcell, got his jump on funny through sketch comedy and, I think, stand up.
- The live episode, actually, will be taped in 8H, Saturday Night Live’s official home since 1975.

What about the live audience?

You may not realize, but 30 Rock used to be about the behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show not unlike Saturday Night Live. So much so that avid viewers of both it and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip during the 2006-07 television season couldn’t understand why NBC would greenlight both shows for the same season of television.

Now, 30 Rock mostly plays off Tina and Alec’s extremely wonderful chemistry and any ol’ thing that spews out of Tracy Morgan’s mouth. I can’t remember the last time a major storyline actually dealt with the show’s supposed premise. Maybe early season four, when Liz and Jack went hunting for a new cast member.

Anyway, the point is this: Hosting a live show will be, I think, like bringing the series back to its humble beginnings. For one, a live audience will be in attendance for Thursday’s two tapings, which leads me to believe that the lucky attendees may also be playing audience members for TGS with Tracy Jordan.

You know, their laughter – which is real – may play into the show’s storyline as the laughter bellowing from the TGS crowd.

Yet I could be wrong about this. The storyline to the episode, titled “Live Show,” mentions a couple of things – Liz’s 40th birthday, Jack’s relationship with Avery – that a studio audience should know nothing about.

I’m curious to see how the audience factors into the universe of 30 Rock – if, of course, at all.

Ratings

30 Rock has never been a ratings juggernaut. I mean, its best average viewership was for season three, which rode on the coattails of Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin impression and was watched by an average of 7.5 million people per episode. For the 2008-09 television season, 30 Rock ranked #69 against all other broadcast programs.

As well, for the past couple seasons, 30 Rock has aired after NBC’s best-rated comedy, The Office. There really isn’t a better spot on NBC’s schedule than Thursday nights after The Office. And even then, 30 Rock failed to break out.

The show, of course, is in no danger of cancellation thanks for being held in such high regard by the industry. Even so, it’d be nice if a show as smart and funny as 30 Rock could crack, I don’t know, nine million viewers. Its best-rated episode remains “Christmas Special,” which aired in December 2008 in front of 8.9 million people.

So, what I like about a live episode is the opportunity for 30 Rock to, maybe, attract the attention of a few more people.