Four-comedy lineup lags in overall ratings but has TV writers in stitches
August 16, 2007
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television critic
Serious actors get embarrassed when their shows resort to "stunt casting" of celebrities like Shaquille O'Neal to boost sagging ratings. But Tina Fey is thrilled Jerry Seinfeld is doing a cameo on her NBC sitcom "30 Rock" in the fall.
For one thing, Seinfeld is no Shaq.
"Hopefully, then, regular America might actually find out that we have a show and watch it maybe at least that one time," Fey says. "And also, he's super funny. So that fell in our lap."
It seems goofy to critics such as Chicago Sun-Times critic Doug Elfman that "30 Rock" isn't gobbling up good ratings. It's the best show on TV.
Plus, it airs in the middle of a comedy lineup that (despite low ratings overall) is probably the most flawless comedic Thursday night NBC has ever done.
Bill Lawrence, creator of "Scrubs," says the current Thursday beats all those classic years of "Cheers" and yada yada, if you think about one criterion. Every single comedy now is funny: "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "The Office."
"I'm a TV junkie," Lawrence says. "I used to watch all of [those 'Must See TV' lineups]. It used to be a s--- sandwich always. It used to be like three good shows and one giant piece of doo-doo." For instance, he cites, and I quote, "Caroline in the [stinky word that rhymes with 'city']."
"This is actually four good shows," Lawrence says. "Everybody's saying comedy sucks right now. These are three other comedies that I actually watch regularly. So screw the ratings, man."
"30 Rock" was facing other problems because of stars Alec Baldwin (the funniest man or woman on TV) and Tracy Morgan (fairly funny, sometimes just insane). Maybe you didn't hear, but Morgan was accused of groping a woman and violating a DUI thing.
And maybe you didn't see, but Baldwin had said he might not return to "30 Rock" after getting caught up in a messy custody battle.
During a press conference, a TV critic poses this question to Fey: Has she sat down with Baldwin to ask him if he'll show up for season two?
"I've never even met Alec. We shoot everything 'directionally,' " she jokes, but then she says, yes, of course, Baldwin will return.
Three of NBC's Thursday comedies are swinging in new directions, either just a little or a lot.
The biggest challenge-facer is "Scrubs." It enters its last season. Lawrence says his writers have 18 episodes to settle the romantic question of friends/sometime lovers J.D. and Elliott. Some fans want them to hook up forever. Others don't.
"We worked out the first two episodes and the last two episodes, and then I'm mailing in the middle 14," Lawrence jokes. "I think this is the year that 'Scrubs' really becomes a big hit. We had always kind of geared our plan toward peaking in the seventh year."
Over on "My Name Is Earl," Jason Lee's character begins the season behind bars after taking the blame for ex-wife Joy's truck thieving.
"He'll be in prison for a while. We didn't want to come back in season three and just go, 'Oh, he's out of prison,' " says "Earl" creator Greg Garcia.
"I can't really say what ends up happening to him," Lee jokes about jail sex. "But I enjoy some of it."
And at "30 Rock," Fey plans to make the comedy less frenetic.
"The shows were so dense [last year] that sometimes we worried that it was almost going by too quickly for the audience. So we're hoping to let things breathe a little bit," Fey says. (I liked the dense. Poopie.)
Only "The Office" will stay a steady course. Creator Greg Daniels says NBC will probably keep promoting the Jim-Pam romance in commercials, but Jim and Pam will continue to be the "B" plot, not the "A" plot.
"That's by design creatively. [The romance] has more impact when it's not carrying the entire weight" of an episode, Daniels says. "Yeah. And the actors can't memorize that many pages."
John Krasinski, who plays Jim, listens to Daniels' explanation about his "B" plan and eeks, "This is really building my confidence, good."
The decision people behind the shows all say they've found, after all this time, the hardest part of the writers' jobs isn't thinking up gags. It's crafting storylines.
"Especially coming from a sketch-comedy background, where you don't have to deal with story," Fey says, "all of a sudden, you really do need it to move things forward and for people to care about your characters." (I care. Here's a big heart shoutout to the characters. Hearty heart heart, characters!)
Lawrence seems too giddy about getting in one last season of his ratings-challenged comedy to take this "storyline" question totally seriously.
"For our show, at this point," Lawrence says, "it's mostly just about trying to think of new [penis] jokes."
Take that, penis joke haters!
delfman@suntimes.com
BY DOUG ELFMAN Television critic
Serious actors get embarrassed when their shows resort to "stunt casting" of celebrities like Shaquille O'Neal to boost sagging ratings. But Tina Fey is thrilled Jerry Seinfeld is doing a cameo on her NBC sitcom "30 Rock" in the fall.
For one thing, Seinfeld is no Shaq.
"Hopefully, then, regular America might actually find out that we have a show and watch it maybe at least that one time," Fey says. "And also, he's super funny. So that fell in our lap."
It seems goofy to critics such as Chicago Sun-Times critic Doug Elfman that "30 Rock" isn't gobbling up good ratings. It's the best show on TV.
Plus, it airs in the middle of a comedy lineup that (despite low ratings overall) is probably the most flawless comedic Thursday night NBC has ever done.
Bill Lawrence, creator of "Scrubs," says the current Thursday beats all those classic years of "Cheers" and yada yada, if you think about one criterion. Every single comedy now is funny: "My Name Is Earl," "Scrubs," "30 Rock" and "The Office."
"I'm a TV junkie," Lawrence says. "I used to watch all of [those 'Must See TV' lineups]. It used to be a s--- sandwich always. It used to be like three good shows and one giant piece of doo-doo." For instance, he cites, and I quote, "Caroline in the [stinky word that rhymes with 'city']."
"This is actually four good shows," Lawrence says. "Everybody's saying comedy sucks right now. These are three other comedies that I actually watch regularly. So screw the ratings, man."
"30 Rock" was facing other problems because of stars Alec Baldwin (the funniest man or woman on TV) and Tracy Morgan (fairly funny, sometimes just insane). Maybe you didn't hear, but Morgan was accused of groping a woman and violating a DUI thing.
And maybe you didn't see, but Baldwin had said he might not return to "30 Rock" after getting caught up in a messy custody battle.
During a press conference, a TV critic poses this question to Fey: Has she sat down with Baldwin to ask him if he'll show up for season two?
"I've never even met Alec. We shoot everything 'directionally,' " she jokes, but then she says, yes, of course, Baldwin will return.
Three of NBC's Thursday comedies are swinging in new directions, either just a little or a lot.
The biggest challenge-facer is "Scrubs." It enters its last season. Lawrence says his writers have 18 episodes to settle the romantic question of friends/sometime lovers J.D. and Elliott. Some fans want them to hook up forever. Others don't.
"We worked out the first two episodes and the last two episodes, and then I'm mailing in the middle 14," Lawrence jokes. "I think this is the year that 'Scrubs' really becomes a big hit. We had always kind of geared our plan toward peaking in the seventh year."
Over on "My Name Is Earl," Jason Lee's character begins the season behind bars after taking the blame for ex-wife Joy's truck thieving.
"He'll be in prison for a while. We didn't want to come back in season three and just go, 'Oh, he's out of prison,' " says "Earl" creator Greg Garcia.
"I can't really say what ends up happening to him," Lee jokes about jail sex. "But I enjoy some of it."
And at "30 Rock," Fey plans to make the comedy less frenetic.
"The shows were so dense [last year] that sometimes we worried that it was almost going by too quickly for the audience. So we're hoping to let things breathe a little bit," Fey says. (I liked the dense. Poopie.)
Only "The Office" will stay a steady course. Creator Greg Daniels says NBC will probably keep promoting the Jim-Pam romance in commercials, but Jim and Pam will continue to be the "B" plot, not the "A" plot.
"That's by design creatively. [The romance] has more impact when it's not carrying the entire weight" of an episode, Daniels says. "Yeah. And the actors can't memorize that many pages."
John Krasinski, who plays Jim, listens to Daniels' explanation about his "B" plan and eeks, "This is really building my confidence, good."
The decision people behind the shows all say they've found, after all this time, the hardest part of the writers' jobs isn't thinking up gags. It's crafting storylines.
"Especially coming from a sketch-comedy background, where you don't have to deal with story," Fey says, "all of a sudden, you really do need it to move things forward and for people to care about your characters." (I care. Here's a big heart shoutout to the characters. Hearty heart heart, characters!)
Lawrence seems too giddy about getting in one last season of his ratings-challenged comedy to take this "storyline" question totally seriously.
"For our show, at this point," Lawrence says, "it's mostly just about trying to think of new [penis] jokes."
Take that, penis joke haters!
delfman@suntimes.com
Comments