Every time Thursday night rolls around I can't help but wonder: When will "30 Rock" finally return to NBC?
Comedy night done right, as they call it, is simply not right without Liz Lemon, Jack Donaghy, Tracy Jordan, Kenneth Parcell, Jenna Maroney and the rest of the gang.
I watched for five seasons as Liz hopelessly tried to find love and have a baby despite her demanding career, but of course, as with any good comedy, the show isn't all about Liz, and it definitely isn't all about finding love. But for some reason everyone on the show manages to find someone, except for Liz.
Jack, despite his undying devotion to GE, managed to find a woman who loves business as much as he does and they get married and have a baby girl, all before Liz even finds a stable boyfriend.
Liz's best friend and star of TGS, Jenna Maroney, also finds love before Liz. Sure Jenna is in love with a drag queen who makes his living by impersonating Jenna herself and Cher, but hey — who's to judge?
The finale of season four is a hodge-podge of three different weddings on the same day. Liz attends the wedding of her ex-boyfriend Floyd, which is painful of course because Floyd is the only normal person Liz ever dated up until that point.
She also attends the wedding of the flaky but beautiful TGS assistant Cerie.
She finally ends the night at the wedding of Grizz (a critical member of Tracy's two person entourage) to his fiancée Feyoncé.
In typical Liz Lemon fashion (always the bridesmaid, never the bride), she is in the wedding party of each ceremony.
The point I'm trying to make here is that everyone on the show is just so much better at being in a relationship than Liz even though Liz is relatively stable, smart and incredibly funny.
It's clear that Tina Fey's life experience considerably shapes the character of Liz Lemon. As both the creator, head writer and actress who plays Liz, Fey has created a believable world based on her time as a writer at "Saturday Night Live."
It's completely understandable that any semblance of a normal relationship goes out the window when you're the head writer of a weekly comedy show that airs at midnight. Adding children to this weird mix would appear impossible.
Fey explored this herself in the episode titled "Do Over," where Liz meets with an adoption agency evaluator played by Megan Mullaly. The interview does not go well, but even worse is the tour of the TGS studio. It seems entirely too hectic an environment to have a child in.
And yet Tina Fey herself managed to find a way to balance a demanding job and having kids. She gave birth to her second daughter Penelope in August.
Production for the sixth season of "30 Rock" was likely delayed because of Fey's pregnancy, but they recently began filming in New York.
There is still no date set for the season premiere, but any true fan will be willing to wait because they know that in waiting the true heroine of the show, Tina Fey, finally found a way to have it all.
Contact Courtney Cox at ccox3@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
