A few weeks ago I discovered the American TV show 30 Rock. 30 Rock is the nickname given to the 30 Rockfeller Plaza, home of NBC’s NY headquarters. The show follows Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) the headwriter of a sketch comedy show called The Girlie Show. One day the new business-minded boss Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) decides to commercialize the show by hiring a mildly-insane (though very popular) movie star and by apply marketing methods he learnt from the industry (Microwave Oven Programming) to the Girlie Show.

Jack is portrayed as a slick, sneaky network executive. Of course with time he proves himself to be very supportive of his cast and crew. He often helps them deal with their personal problems, especially Liz. He’s a Republican, believes in product placement and is devoted to negotiation which is for him “the essence of capitalism”.

30 Rock’s hallmarks generally includes the satire of commercial TV, the self-awareness of sitcom clichés and the twists of public figures’ lifestyle.

The show might not strike home for a French audience who is not very used to sketch comedy tv shows. The cultural references and general style of the sketches were too often lost on my part. However the show had won many awards and was critically acclaimed so I decided to give it a real try (not like I did for Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip). And I am glad I did. The show is hilarious. It was not love at first sight like with the Office (US) but I loved it enough to recommend it to close friends. However I did not like what I saw on my screen earlier today : Alec Baldwin posing as Jack Donaghy promoting AOL products. “Extra Sr Vice President for Special Excellence”. I don’t know what AOL’s position on this is, but obviously the irony (if there is some) is completely lost on my part. I get why Jack Donaghy would do that in a 30 Rock point of view but I don’t get why AOL would do that. Don’t they have some more serious matter at hand ? Is that even an official AOL’s video ? I haven’t found anything about it except this video. I need to do some serious tracking work in the next few days…