Has '30 Rock' jumped the shark?

The NBC sitcom enters its fourth season with some critics wondering how long it can stay on top

"I don't know about you, but I'm feeling very jump the shark right now," said Linda Stasi in the New York Post. The fourth season of NBC's 30 Rock kicks off Thursday night, and although the first episode contains "some good laughs," the sitcom is in danger of becoming one of those shows that is "too smug, too smart, and too out-of-touch" for its "own good" (watch a preview of the fourth season of 30 Rock).

The three-time Emmy Award winning show has lost some of its "confident swagger," said Todd VanDerWerff in The Onion's A.V. Club, and some viewers are starting to wonder "whether it's plunging off a cliff into oblivion." But "all comedies can experience slumps," and "it's worth noting that even at its worst, 30 Rock is still a very solid show."

Tina Fey's 30 Rock is still "television's funniest series," said Tim Goodman in The Houston Chronicle. Those who think it's too smug or the comedy is too subjective should give it a fresh chance. It will someday be recognized as "one of the all-time greats," and "there's virtually no good excuse left to be, inexplicably, off the 30 Rock bandwagon."

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