Last week, New York Magazine ran a feature article on the subject of product integration in scripted television. The author, Emily Nussbaum, discussed the growing trend and the way it pushes showrunners to plug products within the context of scripted television. Nussbaum makes 30 Rock the center of her discussion and uses Tina Fey as the key example of an enthusiastic adopter of the technique (although it takes Nussbaum several pages to get into her discussion about Fey, the article is titled, cheekily “What Tina Fey Would Do for a Soyjoy”).
What’s missing from the argument, however, is any comment from Fey herself. Luckily for us, Tina Fey’s meta-comedy 30 Rock addressed the issue of corporate compliance in Episode 2.04, the Emmy nominated “Rosemary’s Baby,” with Carrie Fisher. In it, Fey and Fisher’s characters debate the pros and cons of going with the flow. Fey’s Liz Lemon wins a special “Followship Award” for her obedience to GE, while Fisher’s Rosemary insists that the only way to fight the system is through outright revolution (her proposal to start a new network, Bitch TV is the beginning of her character’s descent into total madness). By the end of the episode, Lemon finds her way back into the fold, commended by boss and Lorne Michaels’ stand-in Jack Donaghy for her ability to have the guts and brains to work inside the system.
In interviews, Fey has often used the word “obedient” to describe herself. This episode, specifically Liz Lemon’s award for “Followship,” plays off what seems to be one of Tina Fey’s essential qualities – the ability to both comply with and subvert the demands of her corporate bosses. To this end, the premise of 30 Rock proves itself to be an ingenious platform on which to debate some of the larger issues television writers face in a post-Tivo universe.
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