About 30 Rock
30 Rock is a 5-time Golden Globe Award winner and a 9-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that currently airs on NBC. The series takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series depicted as airing on NBC; the name "30 Rock" refers to the GE Building where NBC Studios is located and which has the address "30 Rockefeller Plaza". The series has an ensemble cast which currently consists of ten regular cast members, including Fey, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander and Alec Baldwin.
The pilot episode first aired on October 11, 2006, and the first season comprised 21 episodes. The second season, which premiered on October 4, 2007, was originally intended to contain 22 episodes, but was abbreviated to 15 episodes because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. A third season, which is expected to contain 22 episodes, premiered on October 30, 2008.
The series is produced by Broadway Video and Little Stranger, Inc., in association with NBC Universal. The current executive producers are Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Marci Klein, David Miner and Robert Carlock. 30 Rock is produced in a single camera setup and is primarily filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, New York, with some scenes filmed on location at Rockefeller Center.
30 Rock has been a critical success, winning several major awards including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series both in 2007 and 2008, the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series, the Producers Guild of America Award for Producer of the Year in Episodic Comedy Series, and a Peabody Award, as well as achieving the top ranking on myriad critics' year-end best of 2006 and 2007 lists. Despite these accolades, the series averaged a low 5.8 million viewers in the United States during its first season, according to the Nielsen Ratings system, and ranked 102 out of 142 television series
30 Rock was renewed on January 15, 2009 for the 2009-2010 season.
Conception
In 2002, Fey was the head writer and a performer on Saturday Night Live (SNL). She pitched the show that became 30 Rock to NBC, originally as a sitcom about cable news. NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly felt that "Fey was using the news setting as a fig leaf for her own experience and [he] encouraged her to write what she knew." The show was subsequently reworked to revolve around a SNL style skit show. In May 2003, Fey signed a contract with NBC to remain in her SNL head writer position until at least the 2004–2005 television season, and to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video and NBC Universal.
During the 2004–2005 pilot season, a pilot was announced named Untitled Tina Fey Project. The 30 Rock pilot focused on the head writer of a variety show who has to manage her relationships with the show's volatile star and its charismatic executive producer. The storyline evolved into one that dealt with a head writer of a variety show who dealt with both the stars as well as the variety show's new network executive. 30 Rock was officially given the greenlight to air on May 15, 2006 and was given a 13-episode order.
The show underwent further changes during the months leading up to and following its debut. A May 2006 press release mentioned that sketches from The Girlie Show would be made available in their entirety on NBC's broadband website, DotComedy.com. The idea was to air the fictitious TGS with Tracy Jordan online. This aspect of the series was abandoned prior to its debut.
Filming locations
30 Rock is filmed in New York City. Although establishing shots of 30 Rock are often repeated, outdoor scenes are filmed on location at Rockefeller Center or in other parts of New York City. Most of the indoor scenes are filmed at Silvercup Studios in Queens. 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.
Music
The series features a "jaunty" jazz soundtrack. The music is composed by Fey's husband Jeff Richmond, who is also a producer for 30 Rock. Richmond wrote the theme music, which was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. Seven short original songs have been featured in episodes, five of which were performed by Jane Krakowski, another performed by Tina Fey and Jason Sudeikis, and another performed by Tracy Morgan. The show has also covered three existing songs, including the song "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips. The song had its lyrics altered to accommodate the character Kenneth being "misinformed about the time [of the 11:45 train]." The song "Oh My" performed by the The Gray Kid is heard throughout the episode "The Source Awards", which was mixed with a piano arrangement composed by Richmond.
