How many episodes of 30 Rock were there?
7034890#1
"30 Rock" was a critical success, winning several major awards (including Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2007, 2008, and 2009), and achieving the top ranking on many critics' year-end best of 2006 and 2007 lists. On July 14, 2009, the series was nominated for 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, the most in a single year for a comedy series. Despite the acclaim, the series struggled in the ratings throughout its run. During the course of the series, 138 episodes aired over seven seasons.
List of 30 Rock episodes
15938543#10
The pilot episode garnered 8.13 million viewers, finishing third in its timeslot of 8:00pm Eastern Standard Time. After three further low rated airings on the following three Wednesdays, including a series low of 4.61 million viewers, NBC decided to move "30 Rock" to Thursdays at 9:30pm. Its first airing on a Thursday night was on November 16, 2006. Along with this change, the even lower rated comedy "Twenty Good Years" was put on hiatus and later cancelled. "30 Rock"'s first Thursday airing was viewed by 5.19 million viewers. The series then received ratings of a consistent amount of around 5.5 million viewers till the episode "Hard Ball" when a series low, set by the episode "Jack the Writer," was met with just 4.61 million viewers watching the episode. After a further three episodes, which were higher rated than "Hard Ball," NBC moved "30 Rock" to 9:00pm on Thursdays, serving as a lead-in to "Scrubs". Upon its first airing at 9:00pm, the episode "Fireworks," a "supersized" episode attracted the attention of 5.37 million viewers. "30 Rock" aired at 9:00pm for four episodes. The season finale, "Hiatus," was watched by 4.72 million people. The first season averaged 5.8 million viewers for all 21 episodes. Out of all regular primetime programming that aired during the 2006–2007 American television season, "30 Rock" ranked #102 out of #142 according to the Nielsen ratings system.
30 Rock (season 1)
22163617#12
"Apollo, Apollo" was generally, though not universally, well received among critics. Television columnist Alan Sepinwall for "The Star-Ledger" wrote that the episode was "easily the best "30 Rock" of the season, and one of the series' best episodes to date". He complimented Robert Carlock for "[zooming] in on the narcissistic worldview" of the Dennis character as it "cranked those qualities up to appropriately absurd "30 Rock" proportions." In addition, Sepinwall wrote that all of the elements featured in the episode "all came together". Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad was similarly laudatory, writing that it was "one of the most explosively hysterical and imaginative half hours of TV this season, and one of this show's best episodes ever". "Time" contributor James Poniewozik was favorable to the episode, observing that it was "[e]asily the funniest "30 Rock" in months, and probably the whole season." Poniewozik said it "nailed it, from the too-many-good-jokes ... to the sweet heart at the center of each character." "The A.V. Club"'s Nathan Rabin enjoyed Adam West's cameo, but noted that Tracy's plot "felt awfully shticky and sitcommy to me." He opined that "Apollo, Apollo" was "pretty great" for Jane Krakowski's Jenna, and in conclusion, Rabin said "I had initially pegged this episode as good but not great and essentially minor in the grand scheme of things but while writing this post I came to realize just how much of it I loved. "30 Rock" is pretty great even when it's not that great." Rick Porter, a contributor for Zap2it, said he "loved" the episode, writing that it made "perfect sense" for Kenneth to see everyone around him as muppets, and noted that Liz's commercial was a "strong ending" to the episode.
Apollo, Apollo
5174671#50
Below, "Rank" refers to how well "30 Rock" rated compared to other television series which aired during primetime hours of the corresponding television season; for example, in its first year, 101 television series were rated higher. The television season tends to begin in September of any given year and end during May of the following year. "Viewers" refers to the average number of viewers for all original episodes (broadcast in the series' "Regular Timeslot") of "30 Rock" aired during the television season. Although the viewer average may be higher for some seasons than others, the rank will not necessarily be higher. This is due to the number of programs aired during primetime. In some seasons, more regular programs may be aired during primetime than in others.
30 Rock
5174671#1
"30 Rock" episodes were produced in a single-camera setup (with the exception of the two live episodes that were taped in the multiple-camera setup), and were filmed in New York. The pilot episode premiered on October 11, 2006, and seven seasons followed. The series stars Fey with a supporting cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, John Lutz, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, and Maulik Pancholy.
30 Rock
5174671#11
Inside scenes for "30 Rock" were mostly filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, NYC (Studio 8H in 30 Rock in Manhattan for two live episodes). In the episodes "Cleveland" and "Hiatus", Battery Park City, Manhattan, and Douglaston, Queens, doubled for Cleveland, Ohio and Needmore, Pennsylvania, respectively. In the episode "Gavin Volure", stock footage of the Arkansas Governor's Mansion was used for exterior shots of the home of Steve Martin's character.
30 Rock
20379317#6
Scenes for this episodes were primarily filmed on October 5, 2007 at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, New York. During the commercial breaks in this episode, commercials for American Express were aired featuring "30 Rock" cast members, who were in character. These commercials featured Kenneth giving out "Secret Rodney" Christmas gifts to various other "30 Rock" characters. The commercials were aired in order to deter viewers, who were viewing the episode with Digital Video Recorders, from fast-forwarding through the commercial break.
Cougars (30 Rock)
18516143#8
Robert Canning of IGN thought that the episode "was "30 Rock"’s best episode of the season [so far], if not the best episode ever from this young series." Canning also said that "this was just a fantastic, funny episode of "30 Rock". It was also an episode that once again proved the character of Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), who was completely absent from this half-hour, simply isn't necessary when you've got Tracy Jordan talking to a pigeon on a trash can." Canning rated this episode "9.5 out of 10." Matt Webb Mitovich of "TV Guide" wrote that "it's not surprising that – in my opinion, at least – it fell "juuuuuuust" a bit short. It's almost as if the funniest parts of the Edie Falco story were played by [Kristen] Wiig in the Lifetime movie." He thought that "the 'Liz suspects the neighbor is a terrorist' story played out rather well." Jeff Labrecque of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "Overall, [this was] another splendid [episode]. My only beef was with the Verizon bit. "30 Rock" normally does a splendid job of balancing the corporate elements of television, often utilizing it for comic fodder. But the winking cell phone banter lacked subtlety, and it seemed to me like the show was trying to have its cake and eat it, too."
Somebody to Love (30 Rock)
29198203#7
On July 30, 2010, the NBC network announced that an episode of "30 Rock"s fifth season would be filmed and broadcast live on two occasions in the evening of October 14, 2010. The decision was made in part due to lagging ratings for all of NBC's Must-See TV line-up. The idea was originally conceived during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, when the cast performed two live versions of the season two episode "Secrets and Lies" as a benefit at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. When asked by "Entertainment Weekly" the reason for doing a live episode, Fey said "[The live performance] was what made us think that it would be fun to do [a live episode]. And how far we've come... Now we're going to do it on TV." In this same interview, Fey revealed that the episode would also be performed in front of a live audience. "It will be exciting for us to do it for a live audience and see if we get live laughter." Fey noted that the experience "was so fun to feel the different timing of the show live and the audience response, which you just don't get in a single-camera show." In another interview, Fey revealed that the staff have talked about doing a live show for years "because we felt we had sort of interesting personnel for it." Following the conclusion of the writers' strike they spoke to NBC about performing live and attempted to film it during the fourth season; however, they were unable to schedule it. For the fifth season, the writing staff began planning the live performance and waited until McCarthy-Miller—a recurring "30 Rock" director—was available to helm it. Fey and Carlock said in separate discussions that another decision to do this episode of "30 Rock" was based on the cast having theater and improvisation experience. Alec Baldwin had previously performed in the East and West live broadcasts of the "Will & Grace" premiere episode, "Alive and Schticking".
Live Show
23483182#10
Robert Canning of IGN scored this season an 8.4 out of 10 rating, noting it was "impressive" and that "30 Rock" "is no longer a fresh new series and a bit of the Season 4 doldrums could be felt mid season. But the great start and fantastic finish proved that there's still a lot of great comedy to be found on the stages of "30 Rock"." Aaron Barnhart of "The Kansas City Star" deemed the first episode of the season, "Season 4" as "one of the weakest" episodes from "30 Rock" that he has ever seen, and found the episode boring. In his review of the third episode, "Stone Mountain", Leonard Pierce of "The A.V. Club" gave it a "C" grade, and not entirely favorable to the first two episodes, Pierce commented that "30 Rock" "needs to give us something fast to get rid of the worst-season-ever stink that's starting to gather."
30 Rock (season 4)
16701759#8
Jeff Labrecque of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote that "after three months of strike-enforced exile, [this episode of] "30 Rock" generated the expectations and excitement normally reserved for a season premiere," also saying that "the show [is] in midseason form." Matt Webb Mitovich of "TV Guide" said that he would "be lying if [he] said this was a "super"-great episode." Webb Mitovich went on to say that "[He] did like, though — and thought they should have done a lot more with — the "parallels" between the "MILF" events and the strategizing staff." Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad thought that "It's almost as if this was the season opener" and that this episode was "ambitious." Michael N of Television Without Pity awarded the episode a grade of B. Robert Canning of IGN said that "the overall story arc was less than what we had anticipated from this critical favorite making its post-writers-strike return, the episode was still pretty damn funny." Canning also said that this was "an episode that was divided between a less-than-average story and many hilarious moments." Canning criticized how ""30 Rock" has never really given [Pete Hornberger and Scott Adsit] (the character or the actor) the showcase that he deserves."
MILF Island