30 Rock takes a weird turn in season five

Great sitcoms are hard to come by. Sure, there’s been Seinfeld, M*A*S*H, Cheers and Friends, but frankly, on-camera shots and laugh tracks get super stale super fast, and standby formulas seem, well, standby after a while.

That’s what made shows like NBC’s The Office and 30 Rock seem so great. They jazzed up the 30-minute format by canning the canned laughter using handheld cameras and other fun tech stuff to keep the audience on their toes. Quick, snappy writing didn’t hurt much either.

But now, even those revolutionary primetime comedies are losing their touch.

First and foremost, Steve Carell is fleeing The Office for more feature films.

More importantly, 30 Rock is starting to get bizarre. And not in a good way.

Last season ended on a fine note, with Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) maybe finding love with airline pilot Carrol (Matt Damon) and Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) discovering that he and right-wing commentator/girlfriend Avery (Elizabeth Banks) were expecting a baby.

The early season had some fun plotlines, with Liz trying to juggle her job with her new relationship, and Jack coming to terms with impending fatherhood.

There was also some kitschy stuff, like an entire live episode on Oct. 14 (or two episodes, one for the East Coast and one for the West) that was way more weird than funny.

But still, the season was strong, fraught with guest stars like Will Forte, Kelsey Grammar and Damon. Everything seemed like business as usual on the Top of the Rock.

Then, 30 Rock went on a month plus-long winter hiatus, returning with new episodes on Jan. 20. And that’s when stuff started getting weird.

Mostly, with Jack and Liz.

While Jack and Liz have always had great platonic chemistry, recent episodes have been shot up with some new “will they, won’t they” sexual tension.

In one episode, “Mrs. Donaghy,” Liz and Jack go so far as to get married, which, while an accident, might be some foreshadowing for future plotlines.

It was pretty funny to watch Jack and Liz go through couple’s counseling, but it did set a strange tone for the relationship in later episodes, especially with Avery and Liz.

Sure, Liz and Jack might make a cute couple in theory, but isn’t one of the show’s best qualities the strength of their friendship? Do we really want everything to get all Chandler and Monica at TGS?

Well. Maybe a little bit. As long as 30 Rock doesn’t jump the shark. That would be tragic.