30 Rock: Live versus edited

When you work in television, or maybe even watch it a lot, or watch it somewhat critically, it's hard not to always be thinking about how it's done. So it was interesting to me last night to watch the live episode of 30 Rock on NBC with my mother.

My mom is a big 30 Rock fan, but not especially interested in the behind the scenes aspects of TV production. In fact, she hadn't heard that the show would be live and didn't really notice. But she could tell something was up: "Baldwin and Tina Fey seem different. It's like they're acting on stage. Usually they're so natural."

I suppose that it's ironic that a performance with the actors really live at that moment you're watching would seem less real than a program that's taped and edited. And few shows are as heavily edited as 30 Rock, which made its live effort all the more bold.

I thought it was great show, but of course a lot of my favorite television is television that's about television.