I've gathered from the [unfortunately] low ratings of 30 Rock that many of you have not watched the show, so I'll be looking at the pilot first to give you all some background about the characters and the general plot of the show. Here's the basic premise: NBC has a sketch comedy show called "The Girlie Show," that stars Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) and eventually Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan). The head writer of the show is Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), who answers to the president of GE East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). Basically, Liz puts up with Jenna, Jack, and Tracy, and awesomeness ensues.
The interesting thing about this episode is that it introduces all of the characters, as well as the plot, in an episode only 30 minutes long. The ways in which each character are portrayedin such a short period of time is actually a little disconcerting for me, because Tracy seems to epitomize an African American movie star and Liz is, in a way, degraded because of her inconsistencies "as a woman."
The first person we see-- or rather, hear-- in the episode is Liz Lemon. Liz has a kind of upbeat jazzy theme song that I might classify as "girly" (fun fact: music for the show is written by Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond), and we hear that as the camera pans the street near 30 Rockefeller Center in New York and then zooms in on Liz, who is standing in line at a hot dog cart. Not exactly the epitome of femininity. She then yells at a man who cuts in line, who argues that he was not cutting the line but in fact making a new line. In spite, Liz buys all $150-worth of hot dogs and gives some to the "good people" who stayed in her line and to random people on the street. In most TV shows, the recipients of these unexpected hot dogs would have been grateful, happy, or touched, but instead most of them are thrown away in disgust or chucked back at Liz. Realistically, if someone on the streets of NY randomly gave me a hot dog from a box, I wouldn't eat it.
When Liz gets to work (with an entire box of hot dogs), she's called into a meeting with her new boss, GE corporate guy Jack Donaghy. Upon meeting Liz, Jack uses his "years of market research" to identify her as "a college-educated, third-wave feminist. Single and pretending to be happy about it. Overworked, undersexed, and buys any magazine with "Healthy Body Image" on the cover. [She] takes up knitting every two years for... a week." This is a hilarious way characterize Liz for the audience in less than a minute, but it also offers an extreme critique of Liz. She's a "college-educated, third-wave feminist," but she is unhappy without a man, has body image issues, and has a nagging desire to knit. Jack establishes her as an educated feminist, but then underlines the ways in which Liz is "failing" at feminism and is influenced by the more traditional ideas about women's roles. And, just to top it all off, he demeans her in those traditional ways about her style and her weight.
Jack's idea to re-tool the show is to add Tracy Jordan. "The black guy?" someone asks. "The black movie star, yes." . . . "Isn't he, you know, crazy?" Tracy is, in fact, a bit crazy. He runs through the streets in his underwear waving a lightsaber and yelling "I am a Jedi," he has consiracy theories about "the white dudes" using Affirmitive Action "to make women and minorities compete with each other while they inject AIDS into our chicken nuggets." Riiiight. When Liz goes to meet with Tracy to discuss him joining the show, Tracy becomes a walking, talking stereotype. They eat at a nice restaurant, and Tracy demands that they (Liz, Tracy, and Tracy's entourage) leave because he doesn't like all of the food they serve. They go to a Fried Chicken place where apparently everyone hangs out. After they eat, Tracy offers Liz a ride but then has to "make a quick stop" at a strip club. Later that night, they stop in a run-down neighborhood where Tracy reveals that he grew up in the foster care system.
So now the show has established and demolished Liz's character and embodied a whole series of steretypes in Tracy. But why would it do that?
Near the end of the episode, Liz plans on quitting because Jack he fired her producer/friend Pete and is revamping her show without her permission. She talks to Pete first, though, and Pete tells her "you have the best job in New York, don't quit over this. Don't buy all the hot dogs." Life isn't fair. You're judged based on whether your actions confirm stereotypes or contradict them. But instead of overreacting or giving up, stay within "the system." You have many, many opportunities to dismantle them: save your money for that.
