Rock Stars

As I promised long ago, I have been patiently waiting (well...somewhat patiently waiting) for Netflix to add the final season of 30 Rock to their instant streaming catalog so that I could shotgun it. I was pretty turned off by the sixth season, but not to the point that I decided to jettison the show altogether; I did want to see how it wrapped up.

Netflix finally did get around to adding the final season, and I shotgunned it over the course of a weekend. It was pretty good, if not the height of hilarity like Season 3 was. The plotlines went a bit overboard in the zany department (Kenneth is president of NBC! Colleen is a lesbian!), but the jokes are as snappy as ever.

As with a lot of shows, the addition of kids or stories revolving around the acquisition of kids kind of threw a wrench into the works (that would be How I Met Your Mother's ears burning right about now), but Season 7 had its strong points, too. Jenna shines this season, from her following of Floridian hick fans deciding the presidential election to her increasingly hysterical wedding plans. The celebrity cameos were excellent as always, especially Octavia Spencer's turn as a female version of Tracy. Not everything worked, of course. 30 Rock has always been sharp and merciless when it comes to political satire, so I was surprised at how toothless the jokes about the 2012 election were. Liz's quest for children has taken up so much time and been built up so much that when they finally arrive, it's a bit of an anticlimax. Still, the final scenes that wrap up the series are adorable.

Over the course of seven seasons, 30 Rock established itself as one of my favorite television shows. Though its final seasons weren't as strong as the earlier ones, it's still a must-watch for comedy fans, and I'm pretty sure we won't see anything like it for a long time to come. And not just because NBC is imploding.

30 Rock - Season 7: B-