It should come as a surprise to approximately no one that I, above all else, positively worship Tina Fey. That woman is a comedy genius, and 30 Rock brings a light to my life that is only rivaled by puppies and newborn babies.
So why does NBC insist on holding out this show on me every year?
Look, I understand that 30 Rock has pretty low numbers, ratings-wise, but I absolutely fail to understand how starting the season later helps matters. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that people want things to start all around the same time? I can’t help but think that the late starts are actually hurting 30 Rock in the long run — people look at a late-starting show and go “oh, I don’t need another thing to start watching” once their schedule is made. Meanwhile, long-time fans like me often miss the premiere by accident or go crazy waiting.
Besides, what they offer me as an alternative is just plain insulting. Saturday Night Live? How’s that supposed to make me feel better? If I found that funny, which I don’t, I’d watch that on Saturday, thank you very much. Why would I tune into you when I have the far superior Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert making fun of the news? And how many viewers are you losing by them thinking that this SNL malarky is going to continue all season?
It’s simple, NBC. You’ve got gold when it comes to 30 Rock, so exploit it. Pimp it out. Make it easy for people to to catch up with. Don’t go holding out the premiere on us until some random week in October every year. There’s an old saying — don’t build a village around the village idiot. If the general public isn’t cool enough to latch on to how awesome 30 Rock is, don’t sweat it. You’ve still got a viewing public and critical mass that loves you, and your eight bazillion Emmys are proof of that. We aren’t your village idiots. We are your village of awesome people.
Now if you’ll excuse me, that rant took a lot out of me, and I’m going to have to re-fuel. Sabor de Soledad, anyone?
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Sep 30, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
I’m going to go see The Invention of Lying this weekend for my Tina Fey fix. The SNL Update Thursday just seems to be diverting all the good material away from saturday night when they need it most. So I hope next year they just put 30 Rock on when everything else starts.
I agree, 30 Rock was the only one of the NBC comedys I was looking forward too, especially now that “My Name is Earl” got canned. As it is i’m sticking with Bones and Fringe.
um … Community is currently in 30 Rock’s slot …
“Wherefore” means “why.”
From what I’ve read on these sites, the reason is to extend Alec Baldwin’s movie shooting schedule from the summer. Is that not correct?