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May 27, 2012

Latest 30 Rock guest star: Steve Martin

by Bob Sassone, posted Sep 15th 2008 4:38PM

Steve Martin
Another week, another guest star announced for NBC's 30 Rock. But this is one I'm actually looking forward to.

Actually, I'm looking forward to all of the guest stars that have been announced for 30 Rock this season (OK, maybe not so much the Gossip Girl cast), including Jennifer Aniston and Oprah Winfrey. But this one seems particularly impressive and funny. Steve Martin will appear on the Thursday night comedy.

In general, I'm still very antsy about all of these guest stars. I don't want to think that the show is resorting to stunt casting just to get buzz and ratings (the show is loved and gets great reviews, but it's hardly a ratings powerhouse). I would hope that the show would just keep going as it is, being the smart, slightly subversive, unpredictable comedy that fans have grown to love. After all, how long before loyal fans - the fans that have stuck with the show even though it's not a big ratings-getter - start to rebel and say to themselves "oh God, who's on the show this week?"

The one thing that the show has going for it in this regard is that it uses its guest stars very well. So well that you don't watch Jerry Seinfeld or Carrie Fisher or David Schwimmer and say "that's just stunt casting." The roles and stories have been great for these guest stars. I just hope that trend continues.

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rick cokely

I guess one could argue that the guest casting is good since it's a show like SNL, but yea... this is getting a little crazy. Will and Grace 2 FTW!

September 16 2008 at 8:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jim

A show about a show lends itself to guest casting, doesn't it, Bob? Kind of like Studio 60?

September 16 2008 at 7:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
twofifty9

I can't wait for the new season of 30 rock. I've liked their guest stars in the past as well, like with Arrested Development they use their "stunt casting" effectively. And I think they can use as much buzz as they can get, and I'd like to think NBC is better at keeping a show around for quality and buzz rather than just its ratings.

Fey and Martin worked well in Baby Mama, which I didn't know he was in.

September 16 2008 at 1:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
StillBash

Yeah Seinfeld wasn't stunt-casting.

He was like the snapple commercial.

"Can we have our money now?" only that he acted, acted, acted and then had this look on his face as if he was going to say "ok now I did everything for you guys let me get my 30 seconds to plug this god awful movie I made" - and then he did that, looked totally idiotic while doing it, wasn't funny, and was gone.

Hell even his Microsoft are now more natural than that performance back then. *yuck*

But still you are right - he felt more fitting into the whole show than even the most fitting actor on another show would've felt.

But that's just because the whole thing is so over the top that being over the top and plugging things seems absolutely natural.

Will Arnett has to get a deal for uber-short bathrobes from some company. I'd buy one ;-)

September 15 2008 at 5:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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