Saturday Night Live veteran Tina Fey wrote what she knew in this surreal NBC sitcom set behind the scenes of a dysfunctional TV show.
Gifting herself the plum role of Liz Lemon – the executive showrunner and head writer of the sketch-comedy show TGS with Tracy Jordan – Fey surrounded herself with great characters, from mad-as-a-box-of-hammers leading man Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) to Alec Baldwin’s Republican poster boy Jack Donaghy.
In a world of monstrous egos, 30 Rock never loses sight of its human side.
Notable guest stars included Salma Hayek as Elisa Pedrera, the nurse for Jack’s mother who becomes his fiancée; Jon Hamm as Liz’s incredibly handsome but hopelessly incompetent neighbour, Dr Drew Baird; Matt Damon as a highly-strung airline pilot named Carol Burnett who becomes one of Liz’s most compatible (and stubborn) boyfriends; Jennifer Aniston as Liz’s unstable old friend, Claire Harper; Steve Martin as Gavin Volure, an agoraphobic and eccentric billionaire who is actually a white-collar criminal under house arrest; Oprah Winfrey as herself; Carrie Fisher as former TV writer Rosemary Howard, who had been a childhood idol of Liz’s; Jim Carrey as Leap Day William; and Michael Keaton as a soon-to-retire Rockefeller Center janitor named Tom.
Buzz Aldrin, Robert DeNiro, Conan O’Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry King, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Ian McKellan, Jon Bon Jovi, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Fallon, Al Gore and Condoleezza Rice also made cameo appearances.
While the show struggled to reach mainstream audiences during its original run, it was a massive critical hit.
It received 103 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won 16, including three consecutive wins for Outstanding Comedy Series (2007–2009).
In 2009, it set a record for the most Emmy nominations for a comedy series in a single year with 22.
Liz Lemon
Tina Fey Tracy Jordan
Tracy Morgan Kenneth Parcell
Jack McBrayer Jack Donaghy
Alec Baldwin Jenna Maroney
Jane Krakowski Pete Hornberger
Scott Adsit Frank Rossitano
Judah Friedlander Toofer
Keith Powell Cerie
Katrina Bowden Dot Com
Kevin Dotcom Brown Grizz
Grizz Chapman J.D. Lutz/Mrs Lutz
John Lutz
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In a world of monstrous egos, 30 Rock never loses sight of its human side.
Buzz Aldrin, Robert DeNiro, Conan O’Brien, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry King, Hugh Grant, Tom Hanks, Ian McKellan, Jon Bon Jovi, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Fallon, Al Gore and Condoleezza Rice also made cameo appearances.
