30 Rock Live Recap

Well that was fun! I don’t think it was as good as a regular episode. I mean, with a regular episode they can refine it and work on it and polish it and use as many takes as they need to eliminate mistakes and get their timing down perfectly. Regular episodes also have much better video quality and lighting (they don’t look like Mexican soap operas). They’re just… better. I assume doing a live episode is done for novelty, ratings, and to give the cast and crew a thrill. Plus, with a lot of the cast having improv or theatre experience, and Tina Fey being a Saturday Night Live veteren and having it filmed in Studio 8H, SNL’s studio, and using the SNL band, it must have been a blast for her. And I suppose, like improv, people give a lot of credit to the actors for their skill in pulling it off, and well deserved. But the product isn’t as good. It lacks the slickness and production values we’ve come to love. That said, it was super fun, especially that they did two versions, an East Coast episode, and three hours later, a West Coast episode, and they changed a few things just for kicks. I’ve written up the transcripts for both the East Coast episode and the West Coast episode separately and sent them off to my friends at 30rockquotes.net. I liked the East Cost version better. Oddly enough, the acting seemed better, and there were fewer mess ups. Next up, listing all the differences and writing up the trivia. Stay tuned!