Tina Fey worked with Jen McNamara and Adam Bernstein for the casting of the series. Fey's first act as casting director was to cast herself as the lead character, Liz Lemon, who is said to be much like Fey herself when she first became head writer on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The next actor to be cast was Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, who was then a former castmate of Fey's in SNL. Morgan was asked by Fey to play the role, and he believed it was "right up [his] alley and it was tailor made for [him]". Fey said that the character of Kenneth Parcell was written with Jack McBrayer in mind. McBrayer is an old friend of Fey (they worked together at Second City in Chicago), and she "really wanted him for that part and was very happy when no one objected".
Rachel Dratch, Fey's longtime comedy partner and fellow SNL alumna, was originally cast to portray Jenna. Dratch played the role in the show's original pilot, but in August 2006, Jane Krakowski was announced as Dratch's replacement, with Dratch remaining involved in the show playing various characters. Fey explained the change by noting that Dratch was "better-suited to playing a variety of eccentric side characters", and that the role of Jenna was more of a straight-ahead acting part. Although Fey went on to say that "Rachel and I were both very excited about this new direction", Dratch said that she was not happy with the media's depiction of the change as a demotion. Dratch was skeptical about the reasons she was given for the change, and was not happy with the reduction in the number of episodes in which she would appear.
Shortly following the casting of McBrayer and Dratch, frequent SNL guest host Alec Baldwin was cast as Jack Donaghy, the "totally uncensored" Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Fey said that the character of Donaghy was written with Baldwin in mind, and she was "very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do it". Baldwin—who models his portrayal of Donaghy on SNL and 30 Rock producer Lorne Michaels—was reluctant to commit to a weekly television show, and agreed to appear in the pilot on the condition that he appear in no more than six episodes a season for six seasons. NBC, however, agreed to broadcast 30 Rock only if Baldwin would appear in every episode of the first season. Baldwin agreed to 12, but appeared in every episode.
Judah Friedlander was cast as the staff writer of The Girlie Show, Frank Rossitano. Friedlander had never met Fey before auditioning for a role in 30 Rock. His character was based on at least two writers that Fey used to work with at SNL, but he said that he "certainly brought some of [his] own things to it as well". Finally, Scott Adsit was cast as Pete Hornberger, a long time friend of Liz's and producer of The Girlie Show. Adsit, an old friend of Fey, also had his character written based on him.
The series features seven roles that only appear during the opening credits, and another seven roles that don't appear during the opening credits but receive star billing. Additionally, one role was written out of the show during season four.
Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is the protagonist of the series, the head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan. Jack Donaghy accurately describes her as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, overscheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for...a week."
Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is the decisive, controlling, suave network executive who constantly must deal with and/or causes unusual events at TGS. Donaghy is portrayed as a slick, yet brilliant and scrupulous network executive who directs many overtly backhanded compliments to head writer Liz Lemon. Lemon—whom he always refers to by her last name—and Donaghy are each other's work spouses.
Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) is the loose cannon star of TGS. He is a successful movie star with a reputation for unpredictable, highly erratic behavior. This reputation is well-earned and much of it is an intentional attempt on his part to maintain his "crazy" persona in the eyes of the media. In the pilot episode, Jack Donaghy forces Liz Lemon to hire Tracy as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz and Jenna, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the following episode. Tracy has remained the star of TGS ever since. Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) is the limelight-seeking co-star of TGS and Liz's best friend. A running gag is her thinking she's doing the right thing for her career, only resulting in her humiliating herself in front of everyone, and never learning from her mistakes. Generally, she fits into the "dumb blonde" stereotype as well as the stereotype of actresses being air headed and self-centered. Off-camera, she is conceited, frequently lies about her age and uses her "sexuality" (i.e., flirting) to get her way with men. She tries to seem smart to her fans and to the general public, even going as far as telling Life and Style magazine her favorite book is the Quran. Sometimes her views get her in hot water with the public, even when she is misquoted; when Maxim asked her about her view on the Iraq War, Jenna misheard and thought she was being asked about theatre troupes rather than "the beleaguered troops." When she saw the article afterwards - in which a quote "I hate the troops" was printed - she and Liz were forced to do damage control by placing her on Hardball with Chris Matthews (accidentally confusing Barack Obama with Osama bin Laden), followed by doing a number about America, but in both cases the damage was made even worse than before (the sparklers didn't spin, and they inadvertently showed swastikas). Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) is a cheerful, obedient Southern-born NBC page, who "lives for television." In initial episodes, it appeared as though Kenneth was not very familiar with some of Liz Lemon's staff, or even Liz herself. In the pilot episode, Liz refers to Kenneth only as "that NBC page." As the show progressed beyond its initial episodes, the character became very familiar with other staff of TGS with Tracy Jordan including Jack. Kenneth often acts as Tracy Jordan's personal assistant, for instance getting him nachos from Yankee Stadium. He is an active member of Tracy's entourage leading him to become very close with Tracy, Grizz, and Dot Com. The show repeatedly hides his actual age by making him sound old. None of the TGS staff know his age, and an argument can be made that he is immortal.
Rachel Dratch, Fey's longtime comedy partner and fellow SNL alumna, was originally cast to portray Jenna. Dratch played the role in the show's original pilot, but in August 2006, Jane Krakowski was announced as Dratch's replacement, with Dratch remaining involved in the show playing various characters. Fey explained the change by noting that Dratch was "better-suited to playing a variety of eccentric side characters", and that the role of Jenna was more of a straight-ahead acting part. Although Fey went on to say that "Rachel and I were both very excited about this new direction", Dratch said that she was not happy with the media's depiction of the change as a demotion. Dratch was skeptical about the reasons she was given for the change, and was not happy with the reduction in the number of episodes in which she would appear.
Shortly following the casting of McBrayer and Dratch, frequent SNL guest host Alec Baldwin was cast as Jack Donaghy, the "totally uncensored" Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Fey said that the character of Donaghy was written with Baldwin in mind, and she was "very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do it". Baldwin—who models his portrayal of Donaghy on SNL and 30 Rock producer Lorne Michaels—was reluctant to commit to a weekly television show, and agreed to appear in the pilot on the condition that he appear in no more than six episodes a season for six seasons. NBC, however, agreed to broadcast 30 Rock only if Baldwin would appear in every episode of the first season. Baldwin agreed to 12, but appeared in every episode.
Judah Friedlander was cast as the staff writer of The Girlie Show, Frank Rossitano. Friedlander had never met Fey before auditioning for a role in 30 Rock. His character was based on at least two writers that Fey used to work with at SNL, but he said that he "certainly brought some of [his] own things to it as well". Finally, Scott Adsit was cast as Pete Hornberger, a long time friend of Liz's and producer of The Girlie Show. Adsit, an old friend of Fey, also had his character written based on him.
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Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is the decisive, controlling, suave network executive who constantly must deal with and/or causes unusual events at TGS. Donaghy is portrayed as a slick, yet brilliant and scrupulous network executive who directs many overtly backhanded compliments to head writer Liz Lemon. Lemon—whom he always refers to by her last name—and Donaghy are each other's work spouses.
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