MovieChat Forums > 30 Rock (2006) Discussion > The Reason 30 Rock Won so many Awards

The Reason 30 Rock Won so many Awards

posted 10 years ago by joshm93
13 replies | jump to latest

I was just wondering why 30 rock won such a huge amount of Awards, yet shows of a similar calibre like The Office, Arrested Development and others seemed to be largely overlooked, certainly in comparison. I love 30 rock, but I feel those shows and others that were released during 30 Rock's run, like Parks and Recreation, deserve just as much critical and awards success, if not more.
I was wondering whether the reason for 30 rock's particular success is that it is so closely entwined with television itself - a great deal of the jokes and plot-lines are entirely based around the television industry and in many ways, I feel the show is also a begrudging love letter to TV. Does anyone else feel that this is why so many television awards panels gave this show such high praise, at the expense of other equally witty and intelligent series?
Again, I think 30 Rock is fantastic, just wondering whether this is a valid theory.
Sorry if this has been discussed before, and if I've made any obvious errors - in the UK, we don't hear quite as much about Awards shows etc. so I'm very much positing all this as an outsider!

[–] wheelr 10 years ago

It's the writing that is generally considered to raise 30 Rock above the others, that's not to say the other shows were badly written, just that 30 Rock was of a slightly higher standard.

I've also wondered whether it has something to do with the format of the show, The Office, P&R and some others are like those 'mockumentary' style, 30 Rock isn't. Personally, I'm not a fan of those mockumentary shows, they think they're funnier than they actually are (in my opinion), all those looking into the camera shots, doesn't work for me (I know 30 Rock did it a couple of times but it wasn't the norm and that made it funnier).

( Always nice to see a fellow UK 30 Rock fan btw, this show has always been woefully under-represented over here :-( )

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Just because YOU don't like something doesn't mean it is empirically not good.-Tina Fey

[–] joshm93 10 years ago

I can definitely understand that, some of the writing on 30 rock is superb. Talking about the format of the shows, although I'm a huge fan of shows like The Office and Parks, I can see how the mockumentary format can give way to lazy writing, which even a big fan like myself would concede those shows have been guilty of.
I agree about 30 rock being overlooked here, although I am starting to win my friends around - I'm sure it would gain a following if they brought the series onto Netflix UK. In the meantime I'm really enjoying Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which is superb - although from Tina Fey I wouldn't expect anything less :)

[–] badtothebono 10 years ago

Higher std? Hogwash.

The writing on Arrested Development was FAR superior to that on 30 Rock.

The writing on UK Office was also superior to that on 30 Rock, though I was never a big fan of US Office.

I've only seen 2 seasons of 30 Rock, but so far, P&R is notably better. P&R also seemed to improve slightly as it went on, through Season 5 anyway. Through 2 seasons, I would not say 30 Rock is improving. It is good. It has not changed much since the beginning.

[–] badtothebono 10 years ago

it is not as good as P&R or Arrested Development. It is very good though & stepping back, I'd now say maybe it did even improve some over time.

I would say that 30 Rock may have more great 1-line zingers than the other two but the overall writing is not as good.

As someone who didn't watch any of these when they first ran on TV, I'll say I find TF & AP hilarious & know what all the fuss was about. Still, AD is on another level.

[–] stumpedcomedy 9 years ago

John Fante?

[–] SuperJaded1 10 years ago

30 Rock won more awards than Arrested Development because it was on for more seasons.

If Arrested Development continued on for 7 seasons like 30 Rock did, it would've consistently garnered just as many accolades as 30 Rock, if not more.

The Office after Season 4 was just terrible, and not in the same league as the other shows.

[–] joshm93 10 years ago

Well I see there is going to be a new series of Arrested Development, so we will see if your theory is correct ;) I suspect it is, having researched a bit more I didn't realise AD had won as many awards as it has.
It is a shame that The Office went downhill so quickly. I still think it is a shame that it didn't win many awards, considering Season 2 was some of TVs best ever comedy. That's just my opinion, but some of the episodes in Season 2 changed comedy on TV, like the original Office did here in the UK.

[–] badtothebono 10 years ago

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

And many people who nominate & vote for awards live in NYC.

Nobody enjoys autofellatio as much as Media People & NYers do.

Simple.

[–] wylierichardson-966-922691 9 years ago

There may be some truth to that, but there are plenty of TV shows NOT about the industry and NOT set in NYC that have gotten plenty of Emmy awards love, over time. For example, "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "MASH". Yes, MTM was about the TV industry, but in Minnesota, where (Presumably) few Emmy voters actually lived. And certainly the high quality of the show itself (I am talking about 30 Rock here) helped to win over the Emmy voters.

[–] wab-3 9 years ago

Wow, so glib...and yet so wrong. Far more Emmy voters live in L.A. then New York. Even with the resurgence of TV & film production in the Greater New York area, Southern California still has most of the creative media work.

[–] HeartMonga 9 years ago

I never watched Arrested Development and have only seen a handful of episodes of Parks and Recreation so I can't speak about those. As others have said, 30 Rock just seems be written better. I feel like there are more clever one-liners throughout the show and said by all of the characters. A lot of the characters do ridiculous things but I feel like some of the things they say make sense once you think about it. With The Office, Michael said a lot of dumb things that are just stupid if you don't understand the fact that they're supposed to be stupid. I guess the way I think of it, Michael thinks he's funny and what he says is funny because you're laughing at him instead of his jokes. Characters like Tracy, Jenna, Liz, and Jack actually say things that are supposed to be funny by themselves. I guess that's the difference for me.

It seemed that 30 Rock was more critically acclaimed while The Office had better ratings or was more popular with the general public.

[–] CarrieCrazed 9 years ago

The Office and Arrested Development both received their fair share of awards. Parks & Rec was totally ignored though, yes.

My theory: the Emmys don't usually go for underground, cult hits like AD/30 Rock/Parks & Rec. AD stood out because there weren't any shows like it at the time, but by the time 30 Rock/Parks/Community were airing, the "smart" single-cam style had become commonplace. 30 Rock stood out because of the inside baseball factor (media types love shows about media). If it wasn't for that, I'm guessing it wouldn't be the critical darling that it was.

[–] zionnoizrecords 8 years ago

Parks and Rec isn't a laugh-out-loud comedy. It's more cute than anything. It doesn't deserve the accollades that 30 Rock does. Also, if you took out Ron Swanson it would have been mediocre at best.

Seinfeld, Arrested Development, and 30 Rock are in a league of their own. Not even Cheers, Frasier, or Friends can touch them in terms of 'actually getting you to laugh.'