Tina Fey Movie:

		List Price: $39.98		Label: Universal Studios Salesrank: 20 Released: October 7, 2008
		Our Price: $23.69
		Used Price: $22.69
		MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Media: DVD

Editorial Review:
Relive the second season of the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning comedy 30 Rock, the show that the guy who writes stuff on DVD boxes calls “my current assignment” and that Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly has named “simply the best TV.” Created by Golden Globe® and SAG Award winner Tina Fey, 30 Rock features Fey (as TV writer Liz Lemon), Golden Globe® and SAG Award winner Alec Baldwin (as corporate executive Jack Donaghy), Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski (as Lemon’s unpredictable stars, Tracy Jordan and Jenna Maroney) and Jack McBrayer (as the naive NBC page Kenneth Parcell). Co-workers and friends, they are all trying to balance work and life, with the inevitable result of failed relationships, disastrous parties, at-work drunkenness, hard-core coffee addiction, world-class sandwich eating and occasional attempts to chop down Christmas trees. Join in the behind-the-scenes fun with lots of exclusive content and all fifteen episodes of the acclaimed second season of 30 Rock from executive producer Lorne Michaels.

Description of 30 Rock: Season 2:
"I really feel like this is going to be my year," an uncharacteristically optimistic Liz Lemmon proclaims in 30 Rock's season two opener. Reality quickly intrudes on the hapless Liz, but for Tina Fey and 30 Rock, the year couldn't be better. Nominated for 17 Emmys, the series repeated for Outstanding Comedy Series and earned Outstanding Actress and Actor honors for Fey and co-star Alec Baldwin as GM CEO-in-waiting Jack Donaghy. TV icon Tim Conway was also honored as Outstanding Guest Actor as Bucky Bright in "Subway Hero"--just one of the strike-shortened season's benchmark episodes--as a faded TV star from the 1940s and '50s who shatters the illusions of television-loving NBC page Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) with appalling (and unprintable) stories about "the good old days." If you're going to make a television show, Bucky tells him, "things are going to get weird." And from one of Kenneth's lame parties that turns dark and twisted to the "Page Off" between Kenneth and his nemesis (Human Giant's Paul Scheer) things get really weird behind the scenes of TGS, the SNL-ish sketch show where Liz oversees a motley crew of writers and her tempermental, demanding stars, insecure diva Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) and all kinds of crazy Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan). 30 Rock is rarefied television, each episode brimming with quotable dialogue ("Never go with a hippie to a second location"), brilliantly absurd bits (Tracy Jordan's novelty hit, "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah," the TV series "MILF Island," Liz's Cathy moment), and edge of the frame silliness that rewards close attention ("Anne Heche Leaves Husband for Pony," reads a network news scroll in the episode, "Somebody to Love"). Stellar guest stars rise to the occasion. Edie Falco was an Emmy nominee for her recurring role as "C.C.", the liberal Democratic Congresswoman who becomes conservative Republican Jack's "hippie dippy mama," as was Carrie Fisher as former Laugh-In writer Rosemary in the instant classic episode, "Rosemary's Baby." It's this episode which features Tracy's therapy session during which Jack channels Fred Sanford and J.J. from Good Times. Making welcome returns this season are Will Arnett as Jack's corporate rival, Devon Banks, Chris Parnell as unethical Dr. Spaceman, Elaine Stritch as Jack's castrating mother, and Dean Winters as Dennis Duffy, Liz's sleazy former boyfriend and New York's unlikeliest hero. But the real muffin top on this two disc set are the awesome bonus features, including a revelatory table read of the season finale, "Cooter," the benefit live performance of the episode "Secrets and Lies" (complete with an improvised commercial), a 30 Rock panel discussion with cast and creators moderated by Brian Williams, and a backstage look at Fey's Saturday Night Live homecoming last season. Most sitcoms are as bad for you as the offbrand Mexican Cheetos that Liz gorges herself on, and as Jenna tells Liz at one point, employing "a weak metaphor," you deserve a good meal. 30 Rock is a feast. --Donald Liebenson

30 Rock: Season 2 Reviews:
Amazing episodes, technical difficulties!
2008-10-08 - First of all, I find it half-amusing, half-annoying that as I type this, I notice that all the reviews of this set (before mine, of course) are from BEFORE the set was even released -- the most recent review being almost an entire month premature!

In terms of the episodes contained, the set is pure gold. The boni are great, especially the live performance.

However, the reason I give this set three stars is, quite simply, the discs won't play in my DVD player. They play fine in a computer, but on my standard DVD player, only the intro logo and disclaimers play, then the discs come to a dead halt 16 seconds into Chapter 3 (the Spanish disclaimer). Both discs have this exact problem. The discs are clean, and I cleaned the laser lens on the player. Didn't do anything. My guess is that there's some new-fangled encoding on this DVD that's not compatible with my circa 1998 Sony DVD player.

Season Two is a better but a shorter season
2008-09-08 - "30 Rock" season two will be remembered as the time when this TV sitcom really got into it's stride. Season two is much better than Season one. Newcomers should probably start with Series Two, or maybe half way through Series One, and go back to the early episodes later.

Unfortunately the writers strike meant that series 2 is only fifteen episodes long, not the usual twenty two or so. But don't be discouraged all fifteen episodes in this series are excellent zany fun.

So good I felt compelled to write a review!
2008-09-07 - WOW! 30 Rock is hilarious, witty, and smart. The second season was much better than the first and could be watched independently. If you like Alec Baldwin this is a must watch. Together him and Tina Fey are a phenomenal!

HOPE for extras on this SHORT season
2008-08-05 - This is the best show on television today. I hope they do a bit better with the extras and commentary that last season's dvd set. Although there is commentary by Baldwin, Fey and Morgan on season one, they are all separate and this leads to some painful, awkward silence by the commentators.

Also because of the writer's strike there were only 15 episodes this season as opposed to the usual 22, so I'm hoping there is some time/effort put into the extras.

I'm still buying this day one. It is the funniest, smartest comedy on today, and honestly my favorite show in years. Also seeing Tina Fey eat a whole sandwich in one take is worth the $30.

No "Sophomore Slump" here.
2008-07-30 - Season 1 of "30 Rock" was a landmark of television, if you ask me. Finally a sitcom that was original, refreshing, and, most of all, hilarious. When Season 2 began, my expectations were high. To say that my expectations were surpassed would be an understatement of grand proportions.

Whereas the plotlines and randomly vanishing characters (any one of Rachel Dratch's appearances???) in Season 1 were out of left-field in that funny-but-almost-too-random kind of way, Season 2 was a different kind of animal.

"30 Rock" season 2 came from left-field, but this time, it pulled you over there with it. In the beginning, it held onto some of the pitfalls of Season 1 (i.e., Where was Jenna half the time???), but as episodes aired, the ensemble and the writing both grew into something much greater and more entertaining than Season 1 ever reached.

Even as many shows suffocated and failed the hiatus the writer's strike brought, "30 Rock" seemed immune. In fact, I would be so bold as to suggest the break fueled the creativity. Either those last handful of episodes were pure, unadulterated brilliance, or I was just desperate for more "30 Rock" after their lengthy sabbatical.

Some brilliant moments in Season 2: Carrie Fisher as a crazy ex-writer, EVERYTHING involving the Devon (Will Arnett) vs. Jack rivalry (including the Don Geiss coma), Jack's job at Homeland Security (can you say, "gay bomb"?), & Kenneth's House Party AND a special appearance by Al Gore satiring himself ("A whale is in trouble!") in one episode? Oh HECK yeah.

All in all, "30 Rock"'s sophomore season was a brilliant display that proved that comedy can be even better the second time around.