rachel dratch-related stories
Posted Apr 7th 2008 4:22PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Saturday Night Live, Celebrities
I can't help but feel really sorry for Rachel Dratch. The comedian left
Saturday Night Live two years ago for a role on
30 Rock. She played the original 'Jenna', but the network replaced her with Jane Krakowski, who made the role a lot ditzier than Rachel played it. After that, Dratch had a few guest parts on
30 Rock but we haven't seen her at all this season.
Evidently, she's not doing much these days.
She told New York magazine that she's getting bored and, "I'm starting to go crazy. I'm ready for a job." The reporter for the magazine must've caught her on a bad day because she says she'd take a job in a "black-box theater company" at this point.
Continue reading Rachel Dratch needs a job
Posted Jan 21st 2008 12:02AM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Adult Swim, Episode Reviews
(S05E01) "Hey, you got kids? If I were married to her... we'd be pumping 'em out!" - Carl
The return of everyone's favorite talking fast-food crime fighters. Except... they weren't in the episode at all, save for a brief phone conversation Carl had with Frylock. Many may have already seen this episode. It was a special feature on the recently released "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am" video game. I never bought it, so it was new to me. Here's where it gets confusing though. In the grand scheme of ATHF, this is the 69th episode. However, if you reference the most recent Adult Swim TV schedule, the 70th episode was supposed to air tonight and this episode wasn't scheduled to have a TV premiere until March 23rd. Not like it's that much of a surprise. Adult Swim is known for just airing stuff whenever they feel like it. Remember last season's finale? Carl Wash? That one ended up airing almost a week early on a Friday night at around 3:00AM and it was never announced.
Continue reading Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Robots Everywhere (season premiere)
Posted Apr 4th 2007 12:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, 30 Rock
Fans of 30 Rock can rest easy: the show has been renewed for the 2007-08 season.
Even though the Tina Fey/Alec Baldwin/Tracy Morgan show is on NBC's "Comedy Done Right" Thursday lineup and has picked up viewer and critic steam since a so-so start, it was still iffy as to whether or not the show would actually be renewed for a second season. I'm not really sure why it was iffy, because I always thought the show would be renewed, especially since the show moved to Thursdays and people started talking about it more. I just wish Rachel Dratch was given more to do on the show.
The show returns tomorrow with one of those "supersized" episodes.
[via Pop Candy]
Posted Dec 30th 2006 2:22PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Festivus
If you had told me a year ago that the top three shows on my "Best of" list would be on NBC, I would have said you were crazy. Then I would have asked you how you knew this. Are you psychic? Can you see into the future? You're the devil I say, the devil!
But that's what happened. Below is my list for the 5 best shows of the year and the 5 worst, along with various odd and ends. Yeah, let me have it in the comments about what I got wrong.
Update: After a few days of thinking about it, I've changed one of my "worst" picks. I'm sure you'll see why.
Continue reading Best and Worst of 2006: Bob's list
Posted Oct 12th 2006 7:48AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, OpEd, 30 Rock
(
S01E01) Hel-lo! I think we have a hit! Out of all the new shows on television this fall, I'd say
30 Rock is the best new comedy. There's no mugging for the camera and no canned laughter or sitcom audience. The comedy is quick and witty... and Tina Fey's self deprecating character makes a terrific central figure in the show. (
NBC Message board reviews are mixed)
Before I go any further, I'd like to call for an all-out moratorium on comparing
30 Rock to
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It should be obvious that they are not the same show. Yes, there's a similar premise of people coming in to stir up production of a show, but that's where the similarities end.
Continue reading 30 Rock: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Sep 30th 2006 5:29PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, 30 Rock
The Premise: Tina Fey stars as Liz Lemon, the head writer and producer for a female themed sketch comedy show called The Girlie Show. Everything was going great until Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) was promoted from GE's Microwave Research Unit to head NBC's east-coast programming. He sees it as his mission to fix The Girlie Show, despite Liz's insistence that nothing is broken.
Continue reading 30 Rock -- an early look
Posted Aug 20th 2006 5:55PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Talent, Industry, Programming, Site Announcements, Web
In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy shopping back-to-school sales with your depressed kids -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:
Breaking News
Discussions
The Five
Opinions
Retro Squad
Episode Reviews
Posted Aug 17th 2006 7:01PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Talent, Industry, OpEd
Ok, I'm confused. When I read the other day about how Rachel Dratch's role on
30 Rock was going to change, the article read that they were going to scrap her role of Jenna DeCarlo, star of the series' fictional "Girlie Show." But
according to TV Week, Lorne Michaels and company have decided to recast the role of Jenna with former
Ally McBeal co-star Jane Krakowski.
As previously mentoned, Dratch will still be a part of the show, playing various roles. But it now makes me wonder why she was taken out of what was going to be a plum part on the show. Is it because they can utilize her talents in this different role, or was Rachel just not cutting it as a co-star? Krakowski seems like an odd fit to this ensemble, as most of them have extensive improv and sketch experience (and Alec Baldwin is one of the best
SNL hosts ever, so he counts, too). Maybe they needed Krakowski's musical theater talents and are making the role of Jenna more musical. I'm not sure. But all this retooling is starting to get me worried about the show.
Posted Aug 15th 2006 4:05PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Talent, Industry, Programming, Saturday Night Live
I am an unabashed fan of Rachel Dratch. I think it's her face; she can just look at the camera with that expression-filled mug of hers and generate laughs. So I was a little disappointed in her role in the
30 Rock pilot; while she was funny as "The Girlie Show" star Jenna DeCarlo, it seemed a little confining for the versatile actress.
Apparently Lorne Michaels felt the same way;
he told Variety (registration required to view entire article) that the Jenna character will be scrapped as the show concentrates on the interactions amongst the characters played by Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, and Tracy Morgan (which, to me, was the best part of the pilot). Instead, Dratch will play a variety of characters, some that will be recurring and some that will only appear once. For instance, she will play a cat wrangler that the show employs when they use a lot of cats in a sketch.
Continue reading Michaels talks: a new 30 Rock role for Dratch and a streamlined SNL
Posted Jul 27th 2006 10:09AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Saturday Night Live, Music and Variety, Watercooler Talk
With the recent departures of Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch from Saturday Night Live, and the announcement of (wink, wink) budget cuts by executive producer Lorne Michaels, one begins to ponder what SNL will look like once the bloodletting is complete. So, my dear TV Squad fans, I pose a question to you: if you were in Mr. Michaels' seat who would stay and who would go?
Continue reading SNL: Who should stay and who should go
Posted Jul 24th 2006 12:53PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, TV Royalty, Talent, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Music and Variety
Looks like the
SNL cast shake-up that the majority of its fans were looking for is ready to happen, but it's not for the reason everybody thinks. We already know
Tina Fey and
Rachel Dratch are leaving to concentrate on their new show
30 Rock. But Lorne Michaels
told critics at the TCA press tour that, because of
budget cuts across the entire network, some other longtime players will probably be leaving as well. No word on exactly who's leaving, but I would imagine Darrell Hammond and Horatio Sanz are busy dialing their agents right now.
Posted Jul 23rd 2006 5:37PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Talent, Industry, Programming, Site Announcements, Web, Celebrities
In case you've missed it -- perhaps you were busy sheltering yourself from a thunderstorm -- here are some highlights from the last week at TV Squad:
Breaking News
Discussions
Opinions
Retro Squad
Episode Reviews
Posted Jul 23rd 2006 2:34PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, NBC, Late Night, Talent, Saturday Night Live, Music and Variety
The big news on Friday night was that Tina Fey
is leaving Saturday Night Live to concentrate on her new NBC comedy,
30 Rock. Well, it only makes sense that Rachel Dratch is leaving
SNL, too. She is a co-star on
30 Rock, after all. In the show, she plays the star of a girls-only sketch show whose world is rocked when a man (fellow
SNL alum Tracy Morgan) joins the cast.
My only reaction to this news is: Thank God, no more Debbie Downer!
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