Most critics are warm, and the praise clusters on two things: the writing and Alec Baldwin. The reviews repeatedly single out the speed of the jokes, the quotable dialogue and the wry, self-aware way the series mocks its own network, with Baldwin’s Jack Donaghy named again and again as the character who holds it together. Tina Fey’s head writer and the character Tracy Jordan are cited as strengths too, and The AV Club adds the jazzy score and the New York atmosphere.
The reservations gather around the pilot. Variety finds the opening episode uneven, with Fey limited as a lead and the show-within-a-show unconvincing, and Den of Geek agrees the pilot does not represent what the series becomes. Looking back years later, The Ringer notes some jokes about race have dated badly. The spread is wide, from outright raves to one sceptical early notice, but the doubters are mostly reviewing the first episode rather than the run.