I watched both and I feel like the adrenaline rush of the East Coast show made for the better show overall. Some jokes were purposely different, other lines were tweaked, and it's interesting what the first studio audience found funny and reacted to compared to the second audience. (Matt Damon got a huge pop in the first show and next to nothing in the second.)
I wonder how many people in the audience for the west coast show had seen the east coast show, or if it was even the same audience? (SNL has a different audience for dress rehearsal and live show.)
Either way, both shows were a huge success. I haven't enjoyed 30 Rock as much since the second season. (My one gripe: No Cerie? Would have been great to see her live.)
That wasn't a 30 Rock episode, that was one long SNL skit. And, it was pretty much subpar. I think the live audience killed the show. Having to wait for laughter to die down killed momentum and made the show seem like a big grand self appreciation exercise.
Originally posted by StaggerLeeThat wasn't a 30 Rock episode, that was one long SNL skit.
It really was not structurally or tonally like an SNL skit at all. It just looked like one because it was filmed in the exact same place. I do agree that the live factor undid a lot of what makes 30 Rock so stylistically good (editing, single-camera, no laugh track) but as a one-week novelty I thought it was fascinating.
I enjoyed the live episode quite a bit as a one-off exercise. The plot was pretty fun too, making it even better. That being said, 30 Rock still wasn't better than the "normal" Community that was before it, although that may have been because I waxed nostalgic for "The Right Stuff" parody they did.
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