30 Rock (season 6)

Synopsis

The story arcs of season six include: Liz has a new relationship and emotionally matures; Jack continues to attempt to recover his wife from North Korea and find his identity at Kabletown; Kenneth moves up (and later down,) the corporate ladder; and Jenna reaches a new level of fame thanks to being a judge on a reality show, and considers settling down with boyfriend Paul.

Cast

Tina Fey portrays Liz Lemon, the head writer of a fictitious live sketch-comedy television series TGS. The TGS cast consists of two main actors. The lead actor is the loose cannon movie star Tracy Jordan, portrayed by Tracy Morgan. His co-star is the extremely narcissistic Jenna Maroney, portrayed by Jane Krakowski. Jack McBrayer plays the naïve NBC page, and later janitor, Kenneth Parcell. Scott Adsit acts as the witty and wise TGS producer, Pete Hornberger. Judah Friedlander portrays trucker hat-wearing staff writer Frank Rossitano. Alec Baldwin plays the NBC network executive Jack Donaghy. Donaghy's full corporate title for the majority of the season is "Head of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming". Keith Powell plays the Harvard University alumnus and TGS staff writer James "Toofer" Spurlock. Katrina Bowden acts as writers' assistant Cerie Xerox. Other cast members include Grizz Chapman as Grizz Griswold, Kevin Brown as "Dot Com" Slattery, and John Lutz as J.D. Lutz. The cast for the season will also feature recurring guest stars Kristen Schaal as Hazel Wassername, a new NBC page who looks up to Liz, and James Marsden as Criss, Liz's new boyfriend.

Main cast

Recurring cast

Guest stars

Critical reception

Alan Sepinwall, writing for HitFix, noted that "there's been a lot of discussion [...] about how much Liz has or hasn't grown since the series began, and also about whether 30 Rock is a show that needs character development — or if, in fact, that growth would be counter-productive on such a silly, cartoonish show." He opined that "if a comedy is as funny as 30 Rock is capable of being — and as it's been so frequently in this late-in-life season — I'm fine with the characters being virtually identical now to the way they were in the pilot." Indrapramit Das, writing for Slant Magazine, awarded the season three stars out of four and commented that "there's something to be said for 30 Rock's unrepentant adherence to formula. By now, the characters' repeated bumbling through the cyclical purgatory at 30 Rockefeller Plaza has attained a certain rhythm, a comforting familiarity akin to long-running sitcoms like Friends." He concluded that "the cast's unfailing enthusiasm points to an ensemble that's only strengthening with age", but commented that the talents of guest star Kristen Schaal had been "wasted".

Dan Forcella, reviewing for TV Fanatic, opined that "television shows, especially sitcoms, normally lose some of their luster as time goes on. Whether it be that the series actually gets worse, or simply our perception of it does because the novelty has worn off, more often than not, things are not going to be the same by season six. Because of that fact, 30 Rock should be commended for how good its sixth season has been. There have been misses [...] and big hits [...] but all in all, this spring has been a solid run for the veteran sitcom." Writing for Splitsider, Jesse David Fox called the series "the best comedy of the 2011–2012 season" and went on to remark "next season is the show's last but it's not because of an overstayed welcome. The show is as sharp as ever, as gutsy as ever, as strange as ever, as funny as ever. Guys, it's the best."

Ratings

The sixth season premiere, "Dance Like Nobody's Watching", attracted an audience of 4.5 million viewers. This demonstrated an increase from the fifth season finale, "Respawn", which had drawn an audience of 4.2 million, but a significant decrease from the fifth season premiere, "The Fabian Strategy", which had drawn 5.9 million. Four episodes of the sixth season demonstrated new series lows: "Idiots Are People Three!" (3.8 million), "Today You Are a Man" (3.2 million), "The Shower Principle" (3.1 million) and "Nothing Left to Lose" (2.8 million). The nineteenth episode of the season, "Live from Studio 6H", was broadcast live and demonstrated a six-week high in the ratings, with an audience of 3.5 million. However, the first live show, broadcast during the previous season, had attracted an audience of 6.7 million. Overall, with the inclusion of DVR viewership, the season averaged 4.6 million viewers, ranking one hundred and thirtieth for the year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Awards and nominations

The sixth season received 13 Emmy Award nominations. The series obtained its sixth consecutive nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Alec Baldwin was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Tina Fey for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Will Arnett was nominated for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Devon Banks in "Idiots Are People Three!" and Jon Hamm was also nominated for his roles as Abner and David Brinkley in "Live from Studio 6H". Elizabeth Banks was nominated for Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Avery Jessup and Margaret Cho was nominated for her role as Kim Jong-il, both for "The Return of Avery Jessup". The season received seven other Emmy nominations.