'30 Rock' Hits Close to Home

Liz complains about cutbacksWe love '30 Rock' here at GE. Even when - scratch that, especially when - they're poking fun of their parent company... and no, I'm not talking about the Scheinhardt Wig Company (which is sadly fictional). NBC Universal is actually one of the four business verticals of the GE corporation.

What started as a behind-the-scenes satire of another NBC sketch show has grown and evolved over the past three seasons into a much more complex comedy show. Sometimes we feel like their jokes are written just for us, since some of the jabs at GE probably aren't appreciated by non-employees in quite the same way.

Case in point: episode 309 ("Retreat to Move Forward"), where Jack and Liz attend a GE business retreat full of Six Sigma jokes and GE jargon.

More recently, episode 317 ("Cutbacks") struck me as especially relevant. Like most businesses today, GE is cutting costs in light of the current economic climate. It's definitely a tough time in GE history, but at least '30 Rock' still allows us to laugh at ourselves a bit.

IMLPs Invade 30 Rock

As you might know, 30 Rockefeller Plaza is the headquarters of NBCUniversal.  During the second weekend of bootcamp, a group of 25 IMLPs took a trip from Danbury, CT down to New York City to relax, enjoy themselves, and get a tour of the NBC headquarters.  Led by three NBCUniversal IMLPs, we were able to go behind the scenes to places most people dream of going.

The tour began with a trip to Studio 8H to view the set of Saturday Night Live.  After listening in on a page guided tour from the chairs in the audience, we made our way backstage to see where everyone from Chris Farley and Will Farrell to Tracy Morgan have changed between sketches.  We concluded by walking right in front of the set and seeing the replica of an arch from Grand Central Terminal which surrounds the musical stage.  Interestingly enough, the Saturday Night Live stage was in the process of being setup to be used for NBC's Olympic broadcasts.  It was full of sound booths and video editing computers that would be used to commentate on the events and create highlights.

The tour continued on to Studio 6A to view the set of Late Night with Conan O'Brien.  Here we were able to admire the incredibly tiny set.  On TV, it looks like a big studio, but once up close, you realize how well the use of cameras and lighting is able to deceive you.  We were able to sit in the audience and see the set we see every night from a different angle.  Our visit to Studio 6A concluded with a group picture on the stage Conan's musical guests use to perform.



In addition, we were able to see Studio 3B, home of Dateline NBC, and Studio 3C, home of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

The tour concluded with a walk through the NBC production facilities, where videos are edited and commercials are broadcasted from.

This tour is just one example of a perk of being part of the GE IMLP program.  We are able to get to know other IMLPs from different businesses, who are always more than happy to give you a tour of their business or explain their business to you.  A special thank you to the NBCUniversal IMLPs for the wonderful "all access" tour.