30 Rock is the best comedy on television, pure and simple. There are a lot of funny shows on TV.  But 30 Rock is funny and intelligent and, FYI, this is only the first in a series of posts intended to pump up the show’s ratings.

    I believe so strongly in 30 Rock and Tina Fey (especially that cutie Tina Fey) I am thinking of banning anyone who does not watch the show from my website.  And, yes, I mean you.  I don’t care what you say.  It’s a lousy half hour a week, and I feel I have the right to ask that little of you.  It’s not like your paying for this.

    Frankly, I’m puzzled why you haven’t found the show on your own.  Clearly, you’re intelligent -- or what would you be doing here?  And you should be complimented that the show’s brand of humor assumes you are smart enough and sufficiently well read to get the joke.

    Consider the season premiere on Thursday.  Jack (Alec Baldwin) tells Liz (Fey), Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski) that they’ve lost touch with their roots.  Tracy is shocked. “I’ve got to talk to Rabbi Shmuley about this.”

    It is funny if you know who Rabbi Shmuley is (and the writers assume you do).  He is (more fully) Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who, among other honors, was a spiritual advisor to the late Michael Jackson. The idea that Jackson would have a rabbi as a spiritual advisor or that Tracy would copy him is only out done by Madonna practicing Kaballah.

    In the second episode, Jack has to go to a microwave conference in Washington, D.C, by bus.  There have been travel cutbacks “ever since the car guys took planes.”  Again, the presumption is that you know that auto company executives each traveled by separate private jet from Detroit to D.C. to plead for government bailout money.

    I appreciate a show that respects my intelligence -- or at least assumes I have some.

    I’ve grown increasingly fond of Tina Fey and jealous of those who work with her.  She is clearly the power there: the series creator, executive producer, writer and “star.”  But yet she doesn’t dominate the screen.  In fact, more often than not, she’s the second banana -- Dean Martin providing straight lines to a number of Jerry Lewises, especially Baldwin, who is brilliant here.

    Despite the critical praise, despite the Emmys, the show’s ratings continue to lag.  And I just won’t put up with that any more.  So I’m watching you.  At 9:30 tomorrow I expect you to be on NBC.  There will be consequences for failure. ★★★★½☆ -- Curt Schleier

    30 Rock season four debuts tomorrow (Oct. 15) at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

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