Review: Quirky '30 Rock' on a downhill roll at season's end

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Early buzz: 'Heroes,' 'Clone' trailer, comic creeps and more
Published 5/8/2008 by Whitney Matheson at USATODAY.com - Pop Candy
... I stayed at the office too late, but I did watch an episode of This American Life when I got home. Man, that show is so good -- don't forget to see it Sunday. I'm also catching up on volumes of Death Note , which keep getting better. (And yes, I've tried to watch American Idol , but it's just too painful to sit through for more than five minutes at a time.) Some headlines: - We give Speed Racer one-and-a-half stars . Yikes! - Our Robert Bianco says 30 Rock has " lost its way creatively ." - AMC has renewed Breaking Bad . - Madonna has ...

Is 30 Rock going downhill?
Published 5/8/2008 by Joel Keller at TV Squad
... In reviewing tonight's season finale of 30 Rock, Robert Bianco of USA Today took the opportunity to bemoan how the show has declined in quality since it came back from the writers' strike. Essentially, his argument centers on how the show has gotten increasingly absurd, when the show's initial attraction was how the relatively-sane Liz Lemon reacted to the insanity going on around her. Now, according to Bianco, even Liz is getting wacky, screaming for her sandwich in "Sandwich Day," for instance, or getting entangled in one romantic situation after ...

30 Rock, "Cooter": The pen is mightier than the ketchup
Published 5/9/2008 by noreply@blogger.com (Alan Sepinwall) at What's Alan Watching?
... Robert Bianco at USA Today, whom I like and often agree with, wasn't a fan of the finale, or any of the other post-strike episodes (which you know I've had issues with), complaining that the show has been hurt by its increasing push towards farcical anarchy (he compares it at one point to "Family Guy"). Specifically, he takes issue with the writing of Liz: ...

30 Rock In A Tailspin. Wait, what? [30 Rock]
Published 5/9/2008 by Ryan Tate at Gawker
... "Since the strike, this once-dependable sitcom has... lost its way creatively, ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of Family Guy... [Liz Lemon] at least used to try to make her show better [but] has spent the spring dragging through outlandish romantic entanglements and going ballistic over missing sandwiches." [USA Today via ...

The More You Know: Nothing better than Nickelodeon on acid
Published 5/9/2008 by John at TiFaux
... drunken suicidal punk rock days Choose your spin: Katherine Heigl is dragging down Grey’s - or - Heigl is too big of a star for Grey’s Gossip Girl gets a 24 episode season next year Watch Britney’s return to HIMYM right here American Idol reject busted for chattin’ up the little boys Say that 5 times fast: Weather Channel sex scandal! Is 30 Rock becoming too Family Guy-ish? Tim Gunn’s new cohost for Guide to Style has ...

Concerned about "The Office" and "30 Rock?"
Published 5/9/2008 by Joel Brown at TV with MeeVee
... Bob Bianco at USA Today, usually a voice of sanity, sez "30 Rock" has gone downhill over the last few episodes by adopting a shotgun approach to wacky comedy, a la "Family Guy," and dragging Tina Fey's Liz Lemon into it. The recapper at TV Squad ...

In defense of 30 Rock
Published 5/9/2008 by Dan at TiFaux
USA Today. I can’t say I would ever got to you for reputable cultural or artistic criticism. Case in point, this review of 30 Rock. Were numbers the only problem, Rock fans might be able to relax. The show, after all, has already been renewed for next season. But since the strike, this once-dependable sitcom has also lost its way creatively, ditching plot and character in a desperate, scattershot search for laughs, as if its new goal were to become a live-action version of Family Guy. Certainly, that’s the approach taken in ...

Why Less is Always More in Series TV
Published 5/23/2008 by Jeff Bercovici at Portfolio.com: Mixed Media
... Just look at the current crop of must-see TV. 30 Rock, while still funny, is already losing its juice. Friday Night Lights had utterly lost the thread before it went on hiatus. Heroes came so unglued, its creator felt the need to ...