Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) leads a page strike, which includes a guest-starring Steve Buscemi, on the season debut of 30 Rock.

If we've heard it once, we've heard it a thousand times, and it's one of the most lame and lazy evaluations in TV criticism.

Someone will mention that even though 30 Rock wins awards, ratings for the series are mediocre, at least in relation to its critical acclaim.

And then someone else will say: "Maybe 30 Rock is too TV insider-ish."

True, 30 Rock -- the fourth season of which debuts Thursday on NBC and Citytv -- is set behind the scenes at a Saturday Night Live-style TV show. But too TV insider-ish? Really?

Think about how preposterous that is in a TV landscape filled to the brim with cop shows and hospital shows.

Have you ever heard anyone claim that CSI or Flashpoint is too police insider-ish? If you've never worked for the FBI, is 24 tough to follow somehow?

Have you ever heard anyone claim that House or Grey's Anatomy is too doctor insider-ish? If you've never taken the Hippocratic Oath, is Nurse Jackie tough to follow somehow?

Look, you can like 30 Rock or dislike 30 Rock, it's up to you. But for the love of God, it's not as if you need to be in the TV biz to follow it. That's just insane.

A more honest evaluation of 30 Rock goes like this: To get it, you can't be an idiot.

You need to at least casually keep up with things -- politics, current events, pop culture -- to understand what 30 Rock is lampooning.

You also need to be fairly quick on the uptake. Sometimes the snappy lines and sight gags come so fast and furious, you have to watch a scene two or three times just to absorb it.

But that said, even if you don't follow current events, or you're a little slow upstairs, you still can laugh at 30 Rock on a purely slapstick level, just for all the zany characters. There's haggard Liz (Tina Fey), conservative Jack (Alec Baldwin), earnest Kenneth (Jack McBrayer), obnoxious Frank (Judah Friedlander), needy Jenna (Jane Krakowski) and insane Tracy (Tracy Morgan), to name a few.

In the fourth-season premiere, Jack informs Liz, Tracy, and Jenna that TGS -- their late-night show -- needs to become more relatable. Meanwhile, Kenneth leads a page strike. Steve Buscemi guest-stars as Len.

In an interview with Sun Media this year, TV legend Alan Alda -- who has a recurring role on 30 Rock as Jack's biological father -- evaluated the series this way: "There's something about the comedy that's not naive, and yet it is naive. There's always an extra attitude lurking around behind everything."

In other words, you can enjoy 30 Rock on two levels. Kind of like those old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

But just don't say 30 Rock is too TV insider-ish.

It's like saying The Office is too paper-company insider-ish, or Being Erica is too time-travel insider-ish.

Shallow analysis makes us laugh in a bad way. 30 Rock makes us laugh in a good way.