As readers of ScreenCrave may have noticed over the weekend, the 2012 Sundance Film Festival is currently in full swing, which means a deluge of films, press conferences, interviews, reviews, snow… and, apparently, celebrity health emergencies. At least in the case of Tracy Morgan, who collapsed into unconsciousness on Sunday night outside of a Sundance event.
Well, this should be interesting. Remember last year when Tracy Morgan, during a stand-up routine, stated that he would stab his son to death if he discovered he was gay, “criticized the media for promoting a gay agenda, said lesbians were just women who were angry at men and dismissed the wave of anti-gay bullying, which was at the time making headlines following a series of teen suicides, ‘insignificant’’? Yes? Well, so do the writers of Morgan’s TV show, 30 Rock, as the comedy series will be tackling Morgan’s homophobic rant in an upcoming episode.
As with every new year of television, the weakest shows that cost the most money are often cancelled after airing a handful of episodes. For example: this season, we’ve already seen The Playboy Club get shuttered, among others. TV shows are often about the ensemble, and most of their casts need time to work together to see how their chemistry develops over longer stretches of time. With comedies, that energy and chemistry is pivotal, and with so many shows put together through high-concepts or based around a name talent, everyone needs to find their footing. With that in mind, here are five shows that started rocky, and became brilliant.
This week’s episode of “30 Rock” brings in two very special guests from the world of politics. Ok, to be fair, one of those “guests” is merely an actor impersonating a famed political figure, but the performance is so frighteningly spot-on that we’d be safe in pretending that it was the real thing. Sadly, the other guest didn’t quite deliver the goods, but that doesn’t ruin the episode by a long shot. Take a look at our review to see how we felt…
“30 Rock” is so attractive to fans of comedy because the writing is extremely sharp, reminding viewers that what goes on behind the camera is just as important as what goes on in front of it. Luckily, this week, both elements were pretty strong, and while there were a few missteps along the way, it generally made for a good half hour of entertainment.
Yesterday, we reported that Alec Baldwin had announced that 30 Rock will be ending next year due to contract expirations. And today, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the 30 Rock star has come under fire for making the announcement, and is scrambling to backtrack.
Well, fans of excellent television might have a reason or two to lament 2012 (aside from it being the end of the world, according to all the billboards I’ve been seeing lately)—according to Alec Baldwin, the next season of 30 Rock will be (brace yourselves) the last!
Tiny Fey covers a lot of ground in her new book, Bossypants (“Why is this book called Bossypants? One, because the name Two and a Half Men was already taken”), from discussing sexism and ageism in Hollywood, to her hit TV show 30 Rock, to getting advice from Oprah Winfrey. But the most interesting sections seem to deal with The One They Call Palin.
Well, Alec Baldwin’s been shoring up some good karma lately—after donating more than a million dollars to the arts lately, the veteran actor just picked up a trophy at the first-ever Comedy Awards.
