Still Perusing the Peacock

I know, NBC is not having the best of seasons, ratingswise, but I still find myself watching and enjoying several of their shows.

ER has been a bright spot in the ratings for the Peacock, and continues to be the one of the best-acted shows on TV.

And I like 30 Rock. I watched for the first time Wednesday night and thought the writing was sharp and funny. It reminded me of that Jay Mohr show on Fox, Action, that so wickedly sent up the business way back in 1999. Is that on DVD anywhere?

30 Rock had some nice touches–the cut to a shot of a computer screen with a YouTube clip from the show-within-a-show, The Girlie Show; the clip from the guest-star's turn on Stand Up Comedy, with that familiar brick wall; and the reference to a profile in the Amtrak magazine–is it called Arrive?–which everybody who takes the train along the New York-to-wherever corridor has seen tucked into the pocket of the seat in front of them.

And as a fan of Friday Night Lights, I was glad to see NBC gave that drama some more episodes to try to build an audience. Any show that isn't kidnapping children, raping coeds, sawing off the top of people's skulls, nailing them to trees, pinioning them to starecases with various knives, or drowning them in fake blood before puncturing their skulls is a welcome respite these days.

By John Eggerton