DVD Review: 30 Rock Season 3

While practically everyone who has a show on television nowadays can claim to be Emmy Award nominated – with the categories expanded to allow for up to seven nominees in certain areas this year –winning three consecutive awards for Outstanding Comedy Series still says a lot about the quality of a show…or at least more than a Grammy does music or Spike TV does video games.

And NBC Universal last month released a three-disc DVD set comprising the third season of 30 Rock, which garnered the show’s third Outstanding Comedy Series award, as well as another Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award for Alec Baldwin.

With Season 3, longstanding fans should feel right at home. All of 30 Rock’s ensemble cast is still in place and bringing the laughs. Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) has gone baby crazy, with plans to adopt a child, while Jack (Baldwin) is competing with the sinister Devin Banks (Will Arnett) to reclaim his throne at 30 Rockefeller Center. Meanwhile, the supporting cast continues to be generally unmanageable and provides a majority of the laughs for the show.

The 22 episodes comprising the season were also notable for the show’s wealth of celebrity guest appearances. “The One With the Cast of Night Court” featured the cast name-dropped in its title, but also Jennifer Aniston in the role of an old friend of Lemon’s who falls for Jack. Steve Martin joins the following episode as eccentric businessman “Gavin Volure,” while Salma Hayek’s guest appearance turned into a continuing character for the season. Mad Men’s Jon Hamm also has a great run as a less-than-perfect man for Lemon.

But the real celeb-fest is in the season’s finale, “Kidney Now,” which features musicians from the Beastie Boys to Clay Aiken to Norah Jones to Elvis Costello, coming together for a mock charity track to get a kidney for the previous episode’s guest character portrayed by Alan Alda. Obviously, the show is stretching a bit for some long overdo attention, but does it smartly with great use of its guests, making it last year’s best comedy on network television.

The DVD collection also features a wealth of bonus material, most of which should provide extra entertainment to diehard fans. Only select episodes have commentary, but the collection does a good job of mixing things up, with different combinations of cast and writers on each, along with a couple of the guest stars. The collection is rounded out by deleted scenes, “Behind-the-Scenes with the Muppets,” a “1-900-OKFACE” commercial, season finale table read, making of “He Needs a Kidney” and a photo gallery. The “He Needs a Kidney” featurette is the most interesting, providing a fun look at how the celeb-studded finale came together.

About the Writer
Bill Jones is the editor-in-chief of padsandpanels.com, a site dedicated to the coverage of comics and games.