• Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: Oct 11, 2006
Season #: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
67

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 31
  2. Negative: 2 out of 31
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Critic Reviews

  1. 80
    One of the zaniest - and most savvy - workplace comedies in years.
  2. 70
    There's a lot to enjoy... But "30 Rock" is more sitcommy than most of the single-camera sitcoms on the air now, and it has none of the sharp bite of "The Larry Sanders Show."
  3. 88
    I don't want to spoil the great lines, delivered with perfect comic acting. To me, it's bliss.
  4. 75
    Fey's humor possesses a sly, literate snap. And like NBC's recent cool comedies, "The Office" and "My Name Is Earl," her rollicking "30 Rock" has a surplus of nutty imagination.
  5. Baldwin's sharklike momentum pulls you through a sitcom that otherwise makes little sense.
  6. A good, potentially great, show.
  7. 80
    A weirdly appropriate and hilarious symbol of our times.
  8. It's smart without either condescending to or patronizing the viewer.
  9. 80
    30 Rock... is pretty darn funny, a bitterly merry comic jihad against corporate stupidity and mendaciousness.
  10. Like the best TV comedies - from "Seinfeld" to "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and all the way back to "The Jack Benny Program" - "30 Rock" sparkles not just because its central star gets to shine, but because everyone does.
  11. 75
    OK, so I admit it, the premiere isn't all that funny, but the second episode is hilarious.
  12. Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    80
    A rare and almost totally unexpected triumph.
  13. 70
    There's reason to hope, especially for Baldwin's bold performance and the cutting dialogue.
  14. People Weekly
    Reviewed by: Tom Gliatto
    88
    It's the best new sitcom of the fall. [16 Oct 2006, p.39]
  15. There's plenty of charisma to go around on 30 Rock, and Fey will go just about anywhere for a laugh. Her absurd, yet almost believable, showbiz send-up is full of them.
  16. Where "Studio 60" takes a scathing and indignant tone toward television, "30 Rock" offers a more sarcastic, less hackles-raised critique. It's also funnier and goofier.
  17. 75
    The cast is perfectly matched to this material.
  18. Arguably the best comedy this fall.
  19. Reviewed by: James Poniewozik
    70
    For all the show's cartooniness, its gender-conscious take on the TV business is actually more sophisticated [than Studio 60's].
  20. 75
    Yet for all its laughs, 30 Rock does call to mind a kind of sketch show version of The Mary Tyler Moore Show — one in which everyone's playing Ted. That can be fun for a while, but eventually sitcom viewers tend to want to root for someone.
  21. The standard caution is relevant -- debut episodes tend to be highly polished. All the more reason to enjoy the hilarious scenes and fine ensemble cast here.
User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 270 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 20 out of 270
  1. PeterF.
    May 20, 2008
    10
    The funniest show on television, bar none.
  2. alexl
    Oct 10, 2006
    10
    saw first episode on an nbc.com page and laughed out loud which is more than anything besides the office does for me
  3. mixalot
    Oct 10, 2006
    10
    the debut episode at least is incredibly funny.