ER and 30 Rock both performed “liveness” by emphasizing the mishaps and pitfalls of shooting live. In ER, the directors of the show about the ins and outs of the emergency room struggle with collecting footage and getting all possible information from their filming. There are a lot of important events happening at once in the emergency room, and it is not possible to capture them all at once. Thus, the directors frequently decide to abruptly abandon their shooting of one worker or event in favor of a more exciting action. Additionally, ER reveals the technological struggles of live television when their camera’s battery dies.
30 Rock also focused on the problems of live television, but the show accomplished this in a much more obvious way
30 Rock also focused on the problems of live television, but the show accomplished this in a much more obvious way