Twenty years ago, 30 Rock debuted starring Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer. And throughout the show's seven seasons, many more celebs made guest appearances.
Good god, Lemon! It’s been 20 years since 30 Rock premiered.
Debuting Oct. 11, 2006, the show was created by and starred Tina Fey. Loosely inspired from her days at Saturday Night Live, the sitcom followed her character Liz Lemon as she served as head writer of sketch-comedy series TGS—led by unpredictable actor Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan)— while dealing with the demands of NBC executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin).
Also featuring Jane Krakowski as TGS cast member Jenna Maroney and Jack McBrayer as NBC page Kenneth Parcell, the show ran for seven seasons before it ended in 2007.
While the series was beloved by fans and racked up 16 Emmy nominations, it had lower viewership figures than other popular sitcoms like Friends or Home Improvement.
"Though we are grateful for the affection 30 Rock has received from critics and hipsters, we were actually trying to make a hit show," Fey admitted in her 2011 book Bossypants. "We weren’t trying to make a low-rated critical darling that snarled in the face of conventionality. We were trying to make Home Improvement and we did it wrong."
As she put it, "You know those scientists who were developing a blood-pressure medicine and they accidentally invented Viagra? We were trying to make Viagra and we ended up with blood-pressure medicine.”
Still, Fey adored the show just the same. "Would I still rather have a big, strong Two and a Half Men than our sickly little program?" the comedy star later added. "No, I would not, because I love my weird little show."
And many would love a reboot. While there was a special in 2020 as well as an in-person reunion scheduled for the 20th anniversary, Fey has previously shot down revival rumors.
Noting she and fellow showrunner Robert Carlock "would never do a straight reboot because that would be too easy," she said on The Tonight Show in 2018, "we try to think of a way to do something. Should we do a prequel that’s like Muppet Babies? Or, set in a dystopian future where there’s a lot of robot sex and McBrayer comes in and is like, 'Oh no.'"
For now, fans will just have to turn to reruns to watch the cast and many, many celebrity cameos. To look back at a few stars who made guest appearances on the show—including Oprah Winfrey, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon, Emma Stone and Paul McCartney—scroll on.
