All the audio commentary rated out of five! [data driven] [discussion]
All the audio commentary rated out of five! [data driven] [discussion]
Disclaimer: This is all just my own personal opinion.
For the DVD release of each season of 30 Rock, a handful of episodes would have an optional audio commentary track. One or more people involved with that episode would talk about what was going on onscreen, mention some behind-the-scenes trivia, and sometimes just joke around. I did not like them as much as I have liked commentary for other shows that I have seen, so I decided to rate each one, from 1-5, based on the following qualities:
Categories
- Insightful
- How insightful the comments would be, i.e. not just sharing opinions or jokes
- Mentioning how much they enjoyed working with a particular actor or making a joke about a prop may be factual/topical/humorous, but I am not really learning anything from those comments
- This is probably my favorite aspect of audio commentary, and the lack of insughtful commentary is likely why I was generally not very fond of 30 Rock's commentary
- Factual
- Whether the comments were actually truthful or not
- This quality is not about fact vs. opinion; it's about true vs. false information
- Too often, the commentator would make a joke and I genuinely could not tell whether it was just a joke or some serious behind-the-scenes trivia
- Examples of nonfactual comments: "That actor had to wear a wig at all times", "They didn't know the cameras were rolling. That's actually just the actor going on a rant about what was bothering them in real life"
- Humorous
- If the commentator(s) made jokes throughout
- The episodes with multiple commentators tended to have more humor
- This score is not necessarily representative of whether or not I personally found the jokes funny. The score is all about humorous intent. If a joke fell flat, it would still work towards increasing this score.
- Topical
- Whether the comments actually pertained to the episode
- Commentator would occasionally go on irrelevant tangents, and I found those entirely uninteresting
- Active
- How much talking the commentator(s) did compared to just silently watching the episode
The far right column of this chart is the over all rating for the episode, averaging the ratings from all five categories. The very bottom row is the averages for all episodes in each of the categories.
Chart
| Season | Episode | Chronological | Name | Commentator(s) | Insightful | Factual | Humorous | Topical | Active | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 7 | Tracy Does Conan | Tracy Morgan | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 1 | 12 | 12 | Black Tie | Tina Fey | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 1 | 15 | 15 | Hard Ball | Lorne Michaels, Henry Michaels | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2.2 |
| 1 | 18 | 18 | Fireworks | Jack McBrayer | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3.2 |
| 1 | 21 | 21 | Hiatus | Alec Baldwin | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3.6 |
| 2 | 2 | 23 | Jack Gets in the Game | Will Arnett | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3.2 |
| 2 | 3 | 24 | The Collection | Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4.2 |
| 2 | 6 | 27 | Somebody to Love | Fred Armisen | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3.2 |
| 2 | 7 | 28 | Cougars | Judah Freidlander | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 2 | 10 | 31 | Episode 210 | Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 2 | 11 | 32 | MILF Island | Scott Adsit | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | 12 | 33 | Subway Hero | Tim Conway, Jack McBrayer | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3.4 |
| 2 | 13 | 34 | Succession | Robert Carlock, John Riggi | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.4 |
| 2 | 14 | 35 | Sandwich Day | Tina Fey | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 2 | 15 | 36 | Cooter | Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 3 | 8 | 44 | Flu Shot | Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 3 | 13 | 49 | Goodbye, My Friend | Judah Freidlander, John Lutz | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.4 |
| 3 | 15 | 51 | The Bubble | Jack McBrayer, John Hamm | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 3 | 16 | 52 | Apollo, Apollo | Robert Carlock, Jack Burditt | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2.8 |
| 3 | 19 | 55 | The Ones | Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 3 | 21 | 57 | Mamma Mia | Alan Alda | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2.4 |
| 3 | 22 | 58 | Kidney Now! | Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 4 | 3 | 61 | Stone Mountain | Donald Glover, Gillian Jacobs | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 4 | 4 | 62 | Audition Day | Lorne Michaels, Alec Baldwin | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3.6 |
| 4 | 5 | 63 | The Problem Solvers | Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 4 | 7 | 65 | Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001 | Scott Adsit, Don Scardino | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.2 |
| 4 | 10 | 68 | Black Light Attack! | John Lutz, Sue Galloway | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 12 | 70 | Verna | Tina Fey | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 4 | 13 | 71 | Anna Howard Shaw Day | Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 4 | 15 | 73 | Don Geiss, America, and Hope | Tracey Wigfield, Tom Ceraulo | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.4 |
| 4 | 19 | 77 | Argus | Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 4 | 21 | 79 | Emmanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land | Jack McBrayer, John Hamm | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 7 | 87 | Brooklyn Without Limits | Tracy Morgan, Jerry Kupfer | 1 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | 9 | 89 | Chain Reaction of Mental Anguish | Jack McBrayer, Betty McBrayer, Jim McBrayer | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3.4 |
| 5 | 10 | 90 | Christmas Attack Zone | Will Forte, Val Kilmer | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 5 | 12 | 92 | Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning | John Lutz, Sue Galloway | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3.6 |
| 5 | 15 | 95 | It’s Never Too Late for Now | Judah Freidlander | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 5 | 17 | 97 | Queen of Jordan | Tracey Wigfield, Tom Ceraulo | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.4 |
| 5 | 18 | 98 | Plan B | Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 5 | 20/21 | 100/101 | 100 | Don Scardino, Aaron Sorkin | 5 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 23 | 103 | Respawn | Jack McBrayer, John Hamm | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 6 | 1 | 104 | Dance Like Nobody’s Watching | Tracey Wigfield, Tom Ceraulo | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 6 | 10 | 113 | Alexis Goodlooking and the Case of the Missing Whisky | Judah Freidlander | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 6 | 11 | 114 | Standards and Practices | Jack McBrayer, Billy Gonzalez | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3.4 |
| 6 | 19 | 122 | Live from Studio 6H | Jane Krakowski, Jeff Richmond | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.2 |
| 7 | 7 | 132 | Mazel Tov, Dummies! | Tracey Wigfield, Tom Ceraulo | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 7 | 8 | 133 | My Whole Life is Thunder | Damian Holbrook, Colleen McGuinness | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 7 | 11 | 136 | A Goon’s Deed in a Weary World | Jane Krakowski, Jeff Richmond | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4.2 |
| 7 | 12/13 | 137/138 | Hogcock!/Last Lunch | Tina Fey, Robert Carlock | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 |
| 3.67 | 3.76 | 3.51 | 4.29 | 4.63 | 3.97 |
As I already mentioned, I was rather disappointed with the commentary over all. The commentaries by Tina Fey or Judah Friedlander were my favorites, and the others by various writers were good as well, because they provided a lot of insightful behind-the-scenes trivia. On the other hand, if you enjoy listening to people goof around with 30 Rock playing in the background, you'll look forward to the Jack McBrayer commentaries. All things considered: definitely not a reason to rush to grab the DVD/Blu-ray set. With that said, the other bonus features are great, and owning the entire series offline in a medium that no one can take away is invaluable.
Have you listened to the audio commentary? What are your thoughts?
I do have the Blu-ray set, but when I ripped them to my media server, I only did the main audio track. That's pretty much my SOP when I get a new movie/series. The actual discs live on a shelf, and rarely do I ever actually watch them from disc. (I think the last time I popped in a disc was to answer a "spot the difference" post you made a while back).
Should probably watch through with the commentary at least one, though.
I do the same! I ripped it using Automatic Ripping Machine (ARM), and had to do it multiple times with small tweaks to the settings each time after realizing that I missed things like the commentary tracks or tiny 10-second deleted scenes.