The 30 Rock cast is getting back together for a reunion/extended NBCUniversal promo reel
Parks And Recreation and Community both had big online reunion specials during this quarantine and John Krasinki orchestrated some fun The Office moments on his now-corporate-owned feel-good web show, leaving pretty much only 30 Rock as the critically acclaimed NBC comedy show of that era to not put everybody on a Zoom call… until now! As reported by Variety, the cast of 30 Rock is getting back together for an hour-long reunion special, but in true meta 30 Rock fashion, it won’t just be a new episode where Liz Lemon is checking on her friends through a Zoom call (as if Liz Lemon is some kind of Leslie Knope). Instead, the 30 Rock special will double as a promo reel for all of the quality programming you can find across the NBCUniversal family of networks.
Variety says the special will “feature guest appearances from talent across NBCUniversal, highlighting new and returning programming from NBC, Telemundo, USA Network, Syfy, E!, Bravo, and more.” It seems like a weird gimmick to frame that with a 30 Rock reunion, since the show ended seven years ago and never really had a reputation for being a crossover smash in the ratings, but it does make a sad bit of sense to use this particular cast to talk about other NBC shows that are probably more popular than it ever was.
But hey, more 30 Rock kinda! Variety says the special will feature Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, and “others” reprising their roles from the show (shoutout to Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, and Scott Adsit, who we assume are counted among the “others”). It’ll be interesting to see what the characters are up to, given what happens in the series finale, which ended with Liz producing a new sitcom, Tracy reuniting with his father, Jenna still being Jenna, Jack inventing a clear dishwasher so we can finally see what’s going on in there (and if this special doesn’t find a way to show that, we will be pissed), and Kenneth running NBC for generations because he’s immortal. Also, it was implied that 30 Rock had been a show-within-a-show the whole time and that it was created by Liz’s future great-granddaughter… but assuming this takes place in 2020, that won’t have happened yet.
The special will air across the NBCU family of networks on July 17, and it will be available to stream on Peacock after that as well.