Called ‘a series at the top of its game’ by Robert Canning of IGN, 30 Rock’s third season scored a whopping 9.3 on a scale of 10, is now available on DVD by Universal Studios.
Alynda Wheat of Entertainment Weekly on a review of the DVD release said “sort of like the first day of school after summer vacation: sort of awkward at times, but fast and buoyant and warmly familiar all the same”. Although Brian Lowry of Variety called the third season “wildly uneven” and said 30 Rock was “merely a good comedy whose shortcomings prevent it from joining the ranks of great ones.”
30 Rock’s third season received 22 Emmy Award nominations, which is the most for a show in 2009, and broke 30 Rock’s own record for the most nominated comedy in a single Primetime Emmy Award year.
This series features a short on the Muppets show: the Muppeteers who work on the set of 30 Rock. The ‘He Needs a Kidney’ musical performance is fabulous and is in the ‘behind the scenes’ segment. The entire segment, though being very factual, goes on to relate how the song was put together and the orchestration mechanics of the performance. Tina Fey’s charater, Liz Lemon attempts to juggle her job and personal life, focusing on trying to adopt a child and find a new boyfriend. Jack Donaghy is also heavily pursuing his love life with Jenna Maroney, and undertakes a film project, while Tracy Jordan reaps the benefits of a video game that we saw at the end of season 2.
Audio commentaries on the DVD are not so hot, because they are simply normal commentaries. The speakers do not have much to say, while Tina Fey is mostly speechless.