30 Rock premiered twenty years ago, and television still has not figured out how to do what it did. Slate marked the anniversary by ranking thirteen shows by their“30 Rock-ish-ness,”measuring everything from acerbic humor to joke density to media-world satire.
The Other Two and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt both scored 9/10, landing just under early Simpsons, which took the only 10/10. Robert Carlock, Tina Fey’s co-showrunner, earned the title of most literal successor with The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, starring Tracy Morgan. The list also stretches further than you’d expect: Succession, The Good Wife, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, plus Parks and Recreation and Veep as the softer and harsher political takes. And The Comeback returned for a third season in 2026, this time taking on generative AI.
Two decades later, no single show has fully replicated 30 Rock’s chaos. Plenty inherited pieces of it. So we want to know: which show do you think deserves the crown, and did Slate get early Simpsons right?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.