It's not just Girls5eva: TV is starting to sound like 30 Rock jokes

The Daily Beast

"'MILF Island' was one of 30 Rock’s best jokes, a fake reality series dreamed up by Alec Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy that was so outlandish in premise it could only be a comedy-series gag, but so cynically observant about where society was heading in its craven tastes that it only barely counts as satire," says Kevin Fallon. "You could say the same about 'God Cop' ('Crime just got a worst new friend'), the game show 'Homonym!' ('au pair' or 'oh, pear'), and 'Black Frasier' (no tagline needed). Jenna Maroney’s ridiculous stint on 'America’s Kidz Got Singing' is even given a self-referential send-up in Tina Fey’s new series Girls5eva, on which Renée Elise Goldsberry’s character is hired to judge 'American Warrior Singer': 'I loved your vocals and your backstory was moving, but you left your neck unprotected so it’s a no from me.' Who knew how prescient all of those jokes would be in the age of the streaming boom, in which new streaming services and content to fill them are announced every day and the bar for what discerning viewers will actually watch is apparently in the basement. The announcement (last) week that NBC would be making an actual televised game show called Ultimate Slip ’N Slide, based on the summer backyard toy, would seem outrageous had game-show versions of putt-putt golf, tag, and even 'the floor is lava' not already existed. (To be fair, Floor Is Lava is a delight.)"

ALSO:

• Girls5eva is a requiem for how f*cked up life was for girls who came of age in the early 2000s
• Like the Spice Girls and Britney Spears before them, the fictional band’s songs were imagined by creator Melanie Scardino as being written by men 15 to 20 years their senior
• Girls5eva songwriters reveal the inspiration behind every song
• Watch the full music video for "Famous 5Eva"