Share tcrash's profile
tcrash
tcrash's stats
- Review count1
- Helpfulness votes0
- First reviewOctober 7, 2007
- Last reviewOctober 7, 2007
- Featured reviews0
- Average rating4
Reviews comments
- Review comment count0
- Helpfulness votes0
- First review commentNone
- Last review commentNone
- Featured review comments0
Questions
- Question count0
- Helpfulness votes0
- First questionNone
- Last questionNone
- Featured questions0
Answers
- Answer count0
- Helpfulness votes0
- First answerNone
- Last answerNone
- Featured answers0
- Best answers0
tcrash's Reviews
![30 Rock: Season 1 [3 Discs] [DVD]](https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/8402/8402864_sa.jpg)
The lauded laugher's inaugural season introduces the offbeat staffers at "The Girlie Show," a TV variety program produced at venerable Rockefeller Center in New York City. Presiding over the show is TV scribe Liz Lemon (series creator and writer Tina Fey). But trouble looms upon the arrival of brash new honcho Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), the head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Jack incessantly meddles with the series, hiring edgy but wildly erratic star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) and changing the show's name to the desperately hip "TGS With Tracy Jordan." All this exasperates Lemon and pushes the show's horrified starlet, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), to the sidelines. Not only does Jack creep into the writers' room and even appear as a sketch performer (only to plug products), but he referees Lemon's sour romantic life. He sets her up on a blind date (with a woman); interferes with her bumpy reunion with her boorish ex-boyfriend Dennis (Dean Winters); and intervenes as her love blooms for affable paramour Floyd (Jason Sudeikis). Love is on the horizon for Jack, too. He dates a Bush administration official; tangles with his ex-wife (Isabella Rossellini); and woos an auctioneer (Emily Mortimer). But Jack still has time for territorial warfare against his gravelly voiced archnemesis Devin Banks (Will Arnett), a Left Coast network exec who callously eyes Jack's job. Always an omnipresent figure is naive man-child Kenneth the Page (Jack McBrayer), whose misadventures include switching roles with bigwig Jack, scoring a prime spot in Tracy's posse and trying to help the pampered Tracy reach spiritual self-actualization. Alas, Kenneth's bright-eyed idealism prevails even while working for this cast of ego-fueled eccentrics.
Customer Rating
4
Emmy Winning Show, DVD Needs Work
on October 7, 2007
Posted by: tcrash
from Peoria, IL
This is a review of the DVD release and not the show. The show itself is perfect. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin fit so well into this show that it feels like you're watching a documentary on The Girlie Show and not a sitcom. Funny documentary, not snore documentary. It’s obvious why 30 Rock won the Emmy on its first year out. Having said that, the DVD release isn’t quite up to par for a show of this quality.
On the plus side, the picture and sound quality are first rate. The picture is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen just as it is broadcast. Sound is selectable between Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, English only. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.
The episodes are split among three discs. Unfortunately, each episode is a whole chapter on the disc. Many other TV shows on DVD will at least split episodes into chapters at their original commercial breaks. If you skip ahead to a new chapter on 30 Rock, you're moving ahead to a new episode, not to a point later in the same episode. I don't know if that's a major factor to other TV series viewers, but it’s a sticking point with me.
The bonus features are all on the third disc. There are 5 episodes with commentaries, but the episodes are all repeated on the third disc just for the commentary. This is very unusual. Instead of making the commentaries a separate selectable audio track on the episodes where they appear, they've duplicated the episodes there on the third disc with the commentary being the only audio track. The show audio is lowered in the background on the commentaries. Most of the commentaries consist of only one person, which makes for a lot of gaps. When there aren't multiple people on a commentary track, it can be dull just listening to one person say things like "this is actor x, he's really funny".
Other bonus features include: deleted scenes from several episodes; "The Wrap Party" which is basically a gag reel but with a horrible voiceover; "An Evening with Kenneth" in which Kenneth the page does his own mini talk shows with cast of The Girlie Show; "Behind the Scenes" in which Judah Friedlander, Jack McBrayer and Lonny Ross show us around the sets and talk to cast and crew of 30 Rock; and "Makin' It Happen" which are three webisodes of the show Will Arnett's character created from the episode "Fireworks".
The packaging is typical cardboard with glossy graphics on the outside. The graphics actually wrap around to the inside of the outer packaging.
Overall, this is a DVD set worth owning. The show is worthy of multiple viewings. I mentioned are minimal considering the quality of the show itself.
On the plus side, the picture and sound quality are first rate. The picture is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen just as it is broadcast. Sound is selectable between Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0, English only. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.
The episodes are split among three discs. Unfortunately, each episode is a whole chapter on the disc. Many other TV shows on DVD will at least split episodes into chapters at their original commercial breaks. If you skip ahead to a new chapter on 30 Rock, you're moving ahead to a new episode, not to a point later in the same episode. I don't know if that's a major factor to other TV series viewers, but it’s a sticking point with me.
The bonus features are all on the third disc. There are 5 episodes with commentaries, but the episodes are all repeated on the third disc just for the commentary. This is very unusual. Instead of making the commentaries a separate selectable audio track on the episodes where they appear, they've duplicated the episodes there on the third disc with the commentary being the only audio track. The show audio is lowered in the background on the commentaries. Most of the commentaries consist of only one person, which makes for a lot of gaps. When there aren't multiple people on a commentary track, it can be dull just listening to one person say things like "this is actor x, he's really funny".
Other bonus features include: deleted scenes from several episodes; "The Wrap Party" which is basically a gag reel but with a horrible voiceover; "An Evening with Kenneth" in which Kenneth the page does his own mini talk shows with cast of The Girlie Show; "Behind the Scenes" in which Judah Friedlander, Jack McBrayer and Lonny Ross show us around the sets and talk to cast and crew of 30 Rock; and "Makin' It Happen" which are three webisodes of the show Will Arnett's character created from the episode "Fireworks".
The packaging is typical cardboard with glossy graphics on the outside. The graphics actually wrap around to the inside of the outer packaging.
Overall, this is a DVD set worth owning. The show is worthy of multiple viewings. I mentioned are minimal considering the quality of the show itself.
What's great about it: One of THE best shows ever, great picture and audio quality, good packaging
What's not so great: Lack of chapters in shows, Bad implementation of commentaries
I would recommend this to a friend!
Share this review:
-1point
0of 1voted this as helpful.
tcrash's Review Comments
tcrash has not submitted comments on any reviews.
tcrash's Questions
tcrash has not submitted any questions.
tcrash's Answers
tcrash has not submitted any answers.