Pop Smart - ‘30 Rock’ on a roll

With “The Office” going through a period of transition, “30 Rock” (airing at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays on NBC) can rightly claim to be the funniest sitcom on television. At its best, “30 Rock” delivers so many funny lines, you can barely keep up with them all.

One of my favorites came from the “Rosemary’s Baby” episode with Carrie Fisher that aired Oct. 25. Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon was eating lunch with Fisher’s Rosemary Howard, a pioneering female comedy writer. The scene started in mid-sentence, like this:

Rosemary: “… and his foot lingered.”

Liz: “That’s such an upsetting story!”

And then the conversation went on in another direction, leaving the audience to wonder, “What was that about a foot? How did it linger? What would be upsetting about it?” “30 Rock’s” confident ability to craft such smart, strange throwaway jokes accounts for part of its appealing vibe.

A surprise winner for this year’s Emmy for Best Comedy, “30 Rock” has been on its game this fall. It took the show a while to find its voice after its debut in fall 2006, but has established itself as what feels like a fleet, fictionalized version of Fey’s life when she was “Saturday Night Live’s” head writer beginning in 1999. Created by Fey, “30 Rock” doesn’t restrict itself to the behind-the-scenes chaos of “The Girlie Show with Tracy Jordan,” however, encompassing a reasonably gentle, far-reaching spoof of show business, New York culture and corporate America. Finding comedic subplots about anti-terrorist paranoia and Michael Vick-inspired dog fighting, “30 Rock” is one of the rare shows that acknowledges contemporary social differences in American class, race and politics.