It’s a return
engagement with our favorite presumed WASP, Hampton “Fuff” Stevens! And I don’t even have to feel guilty about
mocking him, since, at least judging from this
article, he’s kind of a misogynist douchebag. Way to go, Hamptons!
What model of cogent argumentation can you provide us with today?
Last night, though, for the second
time in its six seasons, 30 Rock was broadcast live from its namesake
building, 30 Rockefeller Center. [. . . ] If the writing was typically sharp,
the targets of the humor were a tad familiar. A spoof of The Honeymooners
lampooned the sexism in 1950s sitcoms. A send-up of NBC's Nightly News
in the 1960s mocked the sexism in broadcast journalism.
Because there are so many shows that lampoon the sexism on television. I get overwhelmed trying to keep track of the
hundreds of shows created by women currently on TV. Of course those shows never cause sexist
reactions, right?
Also, remind me: were those spoofs funny?
Yes, yes they were. As Hampton says, the “writing
was typically sharp.” But how quickly I
forget—as delineated in Section 1, paragraph 4, line 5 of the dumbass TV
reviewer handbook, praising a show for being funny or smart is only a prelude
to criticism. And laughter and intelligence are certainly unimportant qualities
to Hampton Stevens III, Esq.
But the larger problem—one that made
this episode such an admirable failure—was another quality typical of 30
Rock—the lack of depth in the characters or a believable story.
Lack of depth. Believable story. Oh, for fuck’s sake. I want my characters as deep as the Mariana
trench. I want a major life revelation
every five minutes. And from now on
every episode of 30 Rock is going to
be a Dardennes Brothers film about the Belgian working class. Sure, it won’t be funny, and the pace will be
glacially slow, but it’ll be believable as hell.
For all the sharp writing, beloved
stars, and technical accomplishment, Fey and company didn't make much of a case
for live TV. In fact, 30 Rock Live perfectly illustrated why the
tagline "shot live before a studio audience" has gone the way of
rotary dial—and it isn't money.
Wait, what? It makes my head hurt
trying to follow your “logic.” I thought
you were talking about your idiotic reasons for not liking 30 Rock, even though it’s really fucking funny. But no, you’re talking about why it didn’t
make a case for live TV. You realize
that making a case for live TV and making a funny fucking comedy have nothing to
do with each other, right? Any show
could be done live, and many have done stunt live shows. So the “case for live TV” is totally separate
from your feelings about 30 Rock. Anybody home? Hello?
You also realize that “shot live before a studio audience” is not the same
as actually being live, like this particular episode? Cheers, Seinfeld, The Tonight Show—all “shot before a live studio
audience” (you can’t even get the phrase right!), but not broadcast live. That may
sound obvious, but I’ve learned not to take anything for granted when it comes
to Hampton.
The episode quite naturally was
clunkier than 30 Rock's usual well-lit, well-edited, and nicely scored
world. That's a realm where actors are free to retake scenes a dozen times
until they get exactly the desired effect. Sure, the live format is exciting.
But the tension and energy isn't worth the trade-off in staginess. The format's
rushed pace, along with the applause and laughter from a live crowd don't give
the actors very much room to be subtle. Then again, most members of the cast
aren't actors. Fey, McBreyer, and Tracy Morgan came out of sketch and improv
comedy.
Yeah, that’s all true. The live format
doesn’t play to 30 Rock’s strengths,
which was a big problem for the first live show. But on this second attempt, they seemed to
realize the limitations, and so made it more of a sketch show—a really fucking
funny sketch show. Again, it’s not like 30 Rock is in danger of doing all its
shows live. There are 124 episodes of 30 Rock.
Two are live. I know you’re worried about that growing 1.6% of live
shows here, but I think we’re all pretty safe. Not really sure what you’re arguing here,
Hampton (can I call you Ham? Hambone? Just checking).
Fey, brilliant though she may be, has
always seemed more interested in skewering the sitcom than in making one and
has never seemed able to commit to characters as real human beings.
Whoa, hold it there, Hambone. Again,
this has nothing to do with the question of live TV. Do you really think these ideas are
related?
Newsflash—Immabout to blow your mind.
Did you know that Liz Lemon doesn’t have a social security number? Neither do the characters of Modern Family. It’s almost like they’re not “real human
beings.” They’ve been pulling the wool
over our eyes all this time! Now I
understand—wow, I’ve really wasted my time hanging around 30 Rockefeller Plaza
hoping to catch a glimpse of those “real human beings” Jenna Maroney and Tracy
Jordan. I met this guy named Tracy
Morgan once, and he really did look a lot like Tracy Jordan, but he seemed kind
of smarter, so I guess they weren’t the same person. I really hope that Tracy Jordan pulls his
shit together, though. He’s really,
really funny, but I’m more concerned for his health as a “real human being.” Think of his children!
And Hambone, I’m glad that you have pledged yourself to defending the honor
of the sitcom against the likes of those who seek to skewer it. Hold that shield high, Mr. Stevens! No joke is too clichéd that it should not be
defended against those who seek to stain the mantel of that most sacred of
institutions, the situation comedy!
Fey is too self-aware—and too much of
an improv comic—which is why 30 Rock can never go two minutes without
a character saying something wildly incongruous, or self-conscious, or
otherwise breaking the fourth wall and reminding viewers that they are, in
fact, watching a TV show.
It can’t even go two minutes without being really fucking funny! What’s the deal with that, Tina Fey? Can’t you slow it the fuck down? It’s hard for a Hampton to keep up with the pace of jokes. It’s
kind of vertiginous for him to realize that dude, he’s like watching a TV show,
man. Hampton keeps putting his hand up to the TV
screen and trying to give a big bro high five to Tracy Jordan, and it’s
disorienting to realize that he’s just a pattern of LEDs.
God, breaking the fourth wall!
Reminding readers they’re watching TV!
30 Rock—too avant-garde for
the tastes of Hampton Stevens. The ideal
sitcom: a comforting bowl of cream of wheat.
Preferably served on a yacht. Don’t challenge me with your jokes, Tina!
I lie awake at night out here in Fort
Wayne plucking flies out of my beard wondering where Bertolt
Brecht is when you need him. He may be a
small man (and a dead one), but I’m sure he’d be able to kick Hampton’s ass.
The thing is, viewers of scripted TV
shows usually don't want to be reminded they are watching an illusion. Usually
people want to lose themselves in the character's lives. That's hard to do
when, as on 30 Rock, the audience is always being reminded otherwise.
Hampton Stevens—the new Don Quixote. When you find him wandering the halls
of 30 Rock dressed up in a page uniform, you’ll first want to call security,
but now you’ll at least understand why.
He’s … not very smart.
As is typical of this kind of argument, Hampton the Yachtist doesn’t seem to realize
the difference between comedy and not-comedy.
To him, it’s all “scripted TV shows.”
Um, Hampton. Comedy works differently. It’s about whether or not it’s FUNNY. That’s kind of the point.
This live episode was a stunt—and a
very smart one, beautifully executed by extremely talented people.
Again, this is meant as a criticism?
The episode was fun—for nostalgia's
sake and daredeviltry of it.
Daredeviltry. Nice. Your mother teach you that one?
But the attempt mostly served to
illustrate why sitcoms aren't shot live anymore—not even "live on
tape" in front of a studio audience. All that laughter and applause seems
stiff to an audience increasingly demanding shows with a look and feel closer
to real life. Don't expect a widespread return to live comedy, like Uncle
Miltie's day is coming soon. Modern Family, say, seems unlikely to
follow suit.
Holy shit, this just reached a new level of ineptitude. This is gonna take a while. Hold on there.
First off, we’re back to “why sitcoms aren’t shot live”? You realize your asinine criticisms of 30 Rock have nothing to do with that
issue, right?
Secondly, the “Straw
We,” Hampton
Gladwell. We don’t expect a widespread return to live comedy. No one does.
We’re talking about one experimental
episode of 30 Rock. There aren’t live dramas or sitcoms
anymore. There haven’t really been since
the early 1950s. No one’s saying there
should be. Next week I’m going to write
an article about how we shouldn’t expect a return to Betamax tapes. And after that, my ground-breaking report on
why we shouldn’t be crossing our fingers for the return of army cavalry
regiments: spoiler alert, they don’t stand up well to IEDs. Or you know, guns.
Thirdly, “all that laughter and applause seems stiff to an audience
increasingly demanding shows with a look and feel closer to real life.” I assume by “look and feel closer to real
life” you mean single-camera, non-laugh-track shows like Modern Family. And, I might
add, 30 Rock, in every other episode. Seems
that I remember that the two highest rated comedies are Two and Half Men and The Big
Bang Theory. Yeah, they’re not live
(cause nothing’s live). But they are
multi camera, laugh track comedies, so they kind of resemble the genre of live
TV. Yet somehow, they’re really fucking
popular (who knows why). Um, maybe shows
that “look and feel closer to real life” aren’t as in demand as laugh-track
ones. One thing’s for sure. You have nothing to say.
People will always watch sports live.
Nobody wants to see a Super Bowl three days after the fact. People will watch
reality TV result shows. With narrative, scripted television, though, there's
simply not that much value to immediacy and topicality, or the electricity of a
live broadcast. With scripted shows, the character and story are what matters
most. Case in point: The Andy Griffith Show is still in reruns 40
years after it first aired.
Wow, Andy Griffith is resilient. So
are a lot of old sitcoms. Is that
because they were on tape? No. It’s because they hold up. It has nothing to do with how they were
filmed. You know why we don’t watch live
sitcoms anymore? It’s not some
groundbreaking statement about the condition of our culture. It’s just because, for the most part, they
weren’t preserved, or they were only preserved on low quality kinescopes. It’s not some inherent issue with the
“liveness” of the format. It has to do
with how successful the sitcom is. Ever
watched Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows? It’s
brilliant, but unfortunately the image quality is pretty bad, and a lot of
episodes have been lost. But now we have
DVDs, so thirty years from now, we’ll still be watching 30 Rock, and you know why? Because
it’s really fucking funny.
