Saunders: NBC comedy 'peas' find pod

Published October 11, 2006 at midnight

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The NBC programming schedule is confusing, even for the confused world of network television.

Saturday Night Live, created by Lorne Michaels, has been around since 1975.

In recent years the once sharp-witted series has fallen on lean times. Creatively, SNL is in deep trouble.

So how does NBC rectify this troublesome situation?

By airing two fall series about a late-night comedy-variety series in trouble creatively.

Premiering last month was Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Aaron Sorkin's hour-long Monday night drama designed to chronicle the backstage life of a late-night sketch-comedy show much like SNL.

Premiering tonight is 30 Rock, a half-hour comedy designed to chronicle the backstage life of a late-night sketch-comedy show much like SNL.

Two creative peas in one network pod.

The executive producers of 30 Rock: Michaels and Tina Fey, former talent and head writer for SNL.

So how did two NBC series with similar formats get on the NBC schedule?

NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly calls it "a TV coincidence."

"We feel both series are of high quality. So we put them on the schedule. It was that simple."

For the record, 30 Rock was in development for two years.

Studio 60 came along late last year, mainly because of NBC's long association with Sorkin and the Emmy-winning The West Wing.

Studio 60 has been a disappointment, in audience ratings and in content.

A successful behind- the-scenes series about the TV biz must connect with viewers. Studio 60, following a promising premiere, seems to be trying too hard, concentrating on issues and events of which the public has little interest. The phrase "too much inside baseball" applies here.

30 Rock also has a promising opening show, highlighted by the crisp performances of Fey and co-star Alec Baldwin.

And I have a hunch 30 Rock will connect because of clever writing that takes viewers behind the scenes on TV journeys they can appreciate.

Keep in mind Fey, who is scripting many episodes, really knows all about the problems of a late-night show since she was a key figure on SNL for nine years.

Fey plays Liz Lemon, head writer and emotional rock for The Girlie Show, a rowdy, late-night series produced - you guessed it - at NBC's studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza,

The opening segment shows NBC plaques in numerous scenes, and Fey's character also aims zingers at network and corporate bosses.

Then there's Baldwin's character - Jack Donaghy, an arrogant, skirt-chasing TV "suit," brought in to "fix" the late-night show over the objections of Fey's character.

Baldwin introduces himself as "the East Coast vice president of TV and microwave oven programming for NBC-Universal-GE-K-Mart."

All of this is done with a semi-serious tone, and there's not a laugh track.

Donaghy's arrival sets up a promising antagonistic comedic relationship, particularly after he tells Liz, condescendingly : "I like you. You have the boldness of a younger woman."

Their major conflict tonight is over the hiring of an unhinged, loose cannon comedian named Tracey Jordan (Tracey Morgan, a SNL alum).

Donaghy thinks Jordan would be an asset on the show, while Liz feels his presence would be a disaster.

Part of the half-hour deals with Liz traipsing around New York with the comic during an adventure that includes a visit to a strip club where Liz briefly displays her pole-dancing abilities.

30 Rock is hip and outrageous, offering a crisp mixture of quips and funny situations.

There are moments - dare I say this - when 30 Rock is reminiscent of Seinfeld.

30 Rock could also trace its comedy lineage to Sports Night, the former ABC half-hour comedy that offered a fictitious behind-the-scenes look at life on a TV sports show.

The creator and producer?

Aaron Sorkin.

A major problem for 30 Rock could be its 7 p.m. slot in Mountain and Central time periods.

The series should be aired later in the evening.

TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On Oct. 11, 1967, Barbra Streisand and Jason Robards starred in a CBS musical, Belle of 14th Street.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5137

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