http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/10/05/30-ROCK.aspx Some years ago I spoke with the then head of HBO about The Larry Sanders Show.  It was a funny, creative take off of a late-night show and I couldn’t understand why it attracted so small an audience.  He suggested that the program might be too hip for the room.  That is, it was too in, too chic, too Hollywood for the great unwashed.  For want of a better explanation I accepted it. But now it’s what 15 years later.  So how to explain the crummy ratings last season for 30 ROCK, the brilliant Tina Fey sitcom?  By her own admission, only about 18 people watched the show last season.  (Actually the numbers were higher – between 5 million and 6 million folks tuned to her show – but that’s hardly a drop in the TV bucket.)  Could it be the Larry Sanders Effect?  I doubt it. Times have changed a lot since then.  The great unwashed are more sophisticated.  They’ve seen London.  They’ve seen France.  They’ve seen Brittney without her underpants.  There isn’t a rationale explanation, so there’s no sense dwelling on it.  Suffice it to say that the show is back for its second season, and is better than ever.  And considering it was the best comedy on the air last season – it did win the Emmy – that’s saying a lot Like the rest of us, THE GIRLIE SHOW with Tracy Jordan is back from hiatus.   Producer and head writer Liz Lemmon (Fey) broke up with her boy friend, but no one cares.  They have their own problems. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/10/05/30-ROCK.aspx 77 60