Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #321 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-03-17
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 448 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Remember Arrested Development? Smartest, funniest show on television. A critics' darling. An Emmy-winner for Best Comedy Series. But no one watched, and it was cancelled. Will history repeat itself with 30 Rock? It's the smartest, funniest show on television. A critics' darling. An Emmy-winner for Best Comedy Series. And it finished its inaugural season in 137th place! Hopefully, people will discover all that they missed with this Season 1 set and 30 Rock will, better late than never, find the audience it so richly deserves. A behind-the-scenes workplace comedy in the grand tradition of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show, 30 Rock stars comedy geek goddess Tina Fey as Liz Lemmon, who juggles her hapless personal life with her chaotic career as the producer and head writer of an SNL-ish sketch comedy show. She has a new boss, cunning and ruthless GE executive Jack Donaghy (Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Alec Baldwin), who insists on being her mentor, and a new star, medicated, loose-cannon comedian Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), who steals the spotlight from the show's flighty star, Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski).

Briskly paced and perfectly cast, 30 Rock rewards viewers with brilliant dialogue (when Liz asks Jack why he is dressed in a tuxedo with no formal event to attend, he coolly responds, "It's after six; what am I, a farmer?") and fresh characters you haven't seen on a hundred other sitcoms. Jack McBrayer is the series' scene-stealing breakout star as NBC page Kenneth, a sweet and innocent "rube." The ensemble's seemingly spontaneous byplay invites repeat viewings to catch jokes and sly bits of business you might have missed (in "Tracy Does Conan," listen for the initial confusion over how to pronounce Tracy's less-than-ethical physician, Dr. Spaceman, or, in "The Hair and the Head," watch for the Katie Couric slur on the wall of what is purported to be NBC anchor Brian Williams' trashed office). In a season full of gems (including "Black Tie," featuring Paul Reubens as severely inbred royalty), there are only a couple of comparative clunkers, but the pleasure of this ensemble's company more than compensates. 30 Rock is highly recommended for people like Kenneth who just love television so much. And by the hammer of Thor, watch season 2! --Donald Liebenson

Synopsis
Art imitates life in this smart comedy starring Saturday Night Live alums Tina Fey, Tracy Morgan, and frequent host Alec Baldwin. In addition to writing and executive producing 30 Rock, Fey plays Liz Lemon, the head writer on a variety series called 'The Girlie Show'. But the new Vice President of East Coast Television, Jack Donaghy (Baldwin), decides to shake up the show, adding eccentric actor Tracy Jordan (Morgan) to the cast and changing the name. A critical hit, 30 Rock garnered a Golden Globe win for Fey in its first series for its brand of comedy that ably straddles intelligence and silliness. This sitcom also features Jane Krakowski ( Ally McBeal), Scott Adsit (Kicking and Screaming), and Judah Friedlander. But with such a deep bench of talent, the show's secret weapon is Kenneth, played by Jack McBrayer (Arrested Development), whose naivete is a hilarious contrast to the rest of the characters. This release features the first series in its entirety.

Customer Reviews

Refreshingly Original and Funny Comedy
30 Rock is a great American television series and is criminally unknown and underrated in the UK.

The series was created by Tina Fey, who also stars in the show as Liz Lemon, a writer on hit sketch show "The Girlie Show" who has to put up with arrival of the new boss, Jack, who is brilliantly played by Alec Baldwin. He subsequently informs her that the show is being renamed "The Tracy Jordan Show" to capitalise on the fame of its new star, a comic of the same name.

The show has many interesting characters - Fey's Liz Lemon is a cynical, hard working single woman who believes in herself most of the time but has some insecurities; Baldwin's Jack is a sneering, self involved, arrogant man only interested in the business capabilities of the show and who always interferes with Liz and the others ideas; along with them are Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), an unstable comic who is known for bouts of craziness and extreme moodswings, Jenna (Jane Krakowski) the show's main female star who is determined to further her career and is also Liz's best friend.

Among other things that the show focuses on are Liz's attempts at finding a stable relationship, Tracy's moodswings which often lead to heavily publicised events, Jack's interferences with the show and his strange ideas of making it a success.

The show offers many laughs - so many an episode that it is often hard to keep up - and it is overwhelming that so much is crammed into each episode given that they only last for twenty minutes each. The show has already won two Golden Globes: Best Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for Alec Baldwin and Best Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy for Tina Fey, as well as being nominated for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy two years in a row. The show won the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series this year, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award each for Fey and Baldwin.

If you haven't already sampled the delights of 30 Rock - it shown in such a bad slot on Five - then now is the time. It is easily one of the best comedy shows of the past decade and is a must see for any comedy or television fan in general.

Seriously underrated, terrific comedy
Channel surfing late one night, we came across 30Rock on TV and watched three-quarters of one episode. We couldn't believe this wasn't on prime-time TV on a major channel and apart from that one episode I've never seen it shown on TV since.

Although totally different to 'The Office' it's along the same lines. The humour is sometimes laugh out loud, but often it's cringingly funny. There is no one 'star' - although my family all have their own favourites - but rather all the cast play roles which contribute to the overall program.

This set is excellent value: each episode is around 25 minutes and there are 21 episodes. Great comedy which deserves to have as much recognition as the likes of Frasier and Friends.

Best you can get
I only heard from this tv series through the Grammy Awards. I got curious and got the first season and didn't regret my purchase for a second. Very funny, fast, intelligent stuff on tv as you didn't get it in a long time. Tina Fey is just the best, very funny to the point, great timing and hillarious; she also produced and wrote all the stuff. I can't wait to get season 2 which I will watch all episodes in a row - I definately am "30 Rock" addicted!