30 Rock

[olliebean]

Also worth mentioning that the audio on the Amazon versions seems to be slightly out of sync. I was previously downloading dodgy versions for my rewatch, and being annoyed that those were out of sync - now I know why: they were sourced from Amazon. Think I'll keep downloading them, as at least then I can correct the sync.

[amateur]

Does that affect the music as well?

If I recall correctly it was done by Jeff Richmond, who is married to Tina Fey.

[famethrowa]

I think you're thinking of There's Something About Mary

No I think she's called Liz in this one?

[BeardFaceMan]

I once downloaded an episode of My Name Is Earl where the dialogue was so low in the mix it may as well have not been there, all it was was the music. So that's a story.

Thought I'd do a rewatch of this as I haven't seen it since it was broadcast. Enjoyed the first 2 and a bit seasons but then it started getting heavy on the guest stars (not fussed on the Julianne Moore character, or the whole Donaghy love triangle thing) and Jenna and Tracey started getting paired up a lot more, which I'm not too keen on, that was when the show started getting a little *too*cartoony for my tastes. And the music is bad, but not enough to spoil things yet.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Also worth mentioning that the audio on the Amazon versions seems to be slightly out of sync. I was previously downloading dodgy versions for my rewatch, and being annoyed that those were out of sync - now I know why: they were sourced from Amazon. Think I'll keep downloading them, as at least then I can correct the sync.

I had the month's free trial of Prime recently and the sound seemed to be out of sync on nearly everything I watched. I thought maybe it was our telly or the app being old.

I was going to say that it's available on All 4 (if you can put up with the same 4 or 5 adverts every 10 minutes) but I just checked and it's disappeared from there.

[surreal]

Loved it. So many great episodes and characters.
Alec Baldwin's performance fatally undermined most of the criticisms about him in Team America at a stroke.
Loved the sequence where Jack produced dozens of outtakes while attempting to deliver a perfectly straightforward routine scene.
Loved all the bits with Dr Spaceman.
Loved Jenna's endless narcissism.
Loved Kenneth.
Loved the refreshing total lack of a 'will they or won't they' element to Liz and Jack's relationship.
If I HAD to criticise it:
1. Too many American references in it.
2. First episode wasn't great.
3. Goes off a bit towards the end.
But generally brilliant. Much better than Kimmy Schmidt.

Have to agree with most of this, like many US sitcoms it does seem to take a few eps to find its feet and I think for me it started properly around when Jenna is in The Rural Juror.  The call back to that in the last episode with the title song with the same unintelligible lyrics was just sublime.

I've loved Jane Krakowski since the Ally McBeal days, and she is wonderful in this despite the character being  irritating at times.  Favourite Jenna bit probably: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z25_sOll4Y.  Just a shame about the blackface episode which was a major misstep.

"Why are you wearing a tuxedo?"
"It's after 6, what am I, a farmer?"

[olliebean]

Does that affect the music as well?

If I recall correctly it was done by Jeff Richmond, who is married to Tina Fey.

Yes, the music is also out of sync. On Amazon it was done by John Wahl.

[BeardFaceMan]

I'm up to season 5 now and finding as the seasons go on it becomes less about the TGS show and more about the characters wacky adventures outside the show, which was inevitable, really. The one liners are starting to feel a bit more clunky and shoehorned in too, like someone thought of a line they thought was funny and then had to find somewhere to put it, rather than the characters or situations dictating the lines. Those first two seasons were really good though.

[Mister Six]

That's a rough patch - I think it comes back together very well for the last couple of seasons.

[Mobius]

Definitely agree that the Julianne Moore/Salma Hayek stuff is some of the weaker points. Don't care about the Boston stuff, don't care about the Catholic stuff.

I think I preferred it when they do less of the show stuff and more adventures. I find the writer characters (Twofer, Lutz, hat man, that Dutch woman) to be pretty weak and pointless characters. I think Kristen Schaal's character comes in quite late on and is excellent, and James Marsden is great too. Plus Jenna just gets more demented as the show goes on.

[BeardFaceMan]

So far I'd say seasons 1 and 2 - very good, season 3 - good, season 4 - not good, season 5 - halfway through and it's and improvement on 4, not sure if I'd say its 'good' yet though. Other than the live ep, I wish they had done a lot more of those, the style suited the show perfectly.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

And there was Jon Hamm. At this point, before Bridesmaids, few people knew about how good a comedian he was.

Season 4 was very uneven. I remember the boring quest to replace Josh Girard (possibly because the character looked too much like Jimmy Fallon, who was about to start his gig in late night and was also produced by Lorne Michaels), then a lot of rehash.
Season 5 benefitted from more appearances by Will Forte, but the Elizabeth Banks was rather tedious.

[Mobius]

Oh yeah the Josh replacement was pointless. Not a fan of Elizabeth Banks character either. Will Forte was excellent as always.

[Noodle Lizard]

I find the writer characters (Twofer, Lutz, hat man, that Dutch woman) to be pretty weak and pointless characters.

Speaking of which, does anyone know why Judah Friedlander has top billing/appears in the opening titles throughout the series' run? He's hardly a big name (even less at the time), not an especially prominent character and I'm not sure he even has lines in every episode. There's no B.J. Novak excuse of being a writer/producer on the show either. Always confused me a bit.

[Noodle Lizard]

By the way, speaking of guest stars, I think Buzz Aldrin with his rivalry with/antagonism towards the moon is possibly the best use of a non-actor/comedian in a guest role.

"Return to the night! You have no business here!"

[Mobius]

Yeah I never got that either, and kept expecting the credits to update but they never did. He often disappears for like 5 episodes in a row. Pete Hornberger is in the credits too and I wouldn't call him a major character. There's guest stars who if you combined all their dialogue probably spoke more than Frank did in the entire show's run.

Really the opening credits should just be Liz, Jenna, Jack, Tracy and Kenneth.

[BeardFaceMan]

Speaking of which, does anyone know why Judah Friedlander has top billing/appears in the opening titles throughout the series' run? He's hardly a big name (even less at the time), not an especially prominent character and I'm not sure he even has lines in every episode. There's no B.J. Novak excuse of being a writer/producer on the show either. Always confused me a bit.

I think that speaks to what I was saying earlier about the show being less about TGS as time went on. Frank and Pete were big parts of the show in the early seasons, but as they started using more guest stars, pairing Tracey & Jenna together etc they had less time for the TGS bits so the roles of the writer and producer weren't needed as much. I'd say it was a bit more of an ensemble show to start with, towards the end it felt a bit more like the credits should just have been Jack, Liz, Jenna, Tracey and Kenneth.

[olliebean]

Pete had a larger role in the first season, but his role as Liz's friend and confidant was pretty much taken over by Jack as the show went on. As for Frank, I always felt like he was just one of the writers, although I guess he was given more to do than the rest of them. I think both characters were originally conceived as having a larger part of things, but it soon became obvious which were the core group. As for them remaining in the opening titles, I imagine it'd be a bit awkard to take someone out of the opening titles once they're in, unless they leave the show entirely.

[dissolute ocelot]

In US television, title billing is tightly specified in contracts, so before it started broadcast Friedlander may well have signed a 7-series deal specifying he goes in the opening credits of every episode.

[Dr Rock]

They made a public announcement before whatever season it was that it would be less about the writers room characters/the making of the show. I don't mind, I think it was better after.

[Ant Farm Keyboard]

In US television, title billing is tightly specified in contracts, so before it started broadcast Friedlander may well have signed a 7-series deal specifying he goes in the opening credits of every episode.

Yep. Originally, Jack Donaghy was supposed to have a much more limited part in the stories. The show actually found its markings after a few episodes, like many other shows, while the credits were already set in stone at this point.
After the pilot was reshot due to Jenna being recast (Rachel Dratch was supposed to play the part, then she was given a series of guest appearances as different characters during the first season), it took them time to figure that Kenneth was the breakout character of the ensemble, that Jack worked better as a mentor and confident than Pete, etc.

For the American version of The Office, I guess that the plan was to have Ryan as the audience surrogate, the new guy who discovers the antics of Michael Scott. But, once again, the show evolved rather quickly into an ensemble, and Novak was also more interesting as an arrogant cokehead or a pathetic loser stuck with his on-off relationship with Kelly. Still, I believe that the Jonah character from Superstore (created by Justin Spitzer, a former writer for the Office) is basically what Ryan was supposed to be initially, and both characters are actually the new guys introduced in the first episode, with some college background, they're both overqualified for the job, and act somewhat pretentious (foreign films, edgy TV shows, etc.). And they even look the same.

[gilbertharding]

Oh, that's interesting. Because for ages I wondered why the old grey-haired copper was in the titles of Cagney and Lacey when he hardly ever seemed to be in it.

[Dr Rock]

It took ages for Cliff/John Ratzenberger to get a proper credit including old pic variant in Cheers.

[Virgo76]

Oh, that's interesting. Because for ages I wondered why the old grey-haired copper was in the titles of Cagney and Lacey when he hardly ever seemed to be in it.

Not to mention that pregnant woman who walks past Cagney and Lacey in the street.
Longest pregnancy ever.

That guy with the turkey on his head was never in Friends that much either?

[BeardFaceMan]

Well, I almost made it to the end on a rewatch. My ranking would be season 1 and 2 are great, 3 is good, 4 is poor, 5 is an improvement but doesn't reach the heights of the first 3, 6 gets worse, and 7 totally shits the bed, I had to give up 2 eps away from the end. But those first 3 seasons will definitely be going in my rewatch list.