We'll Miss You, Liz Lemon

Tina Fey's '30 Rock' character signs off tonight
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 31, 2013 1:42 PM CST
We'll Miss You, Liz Lemon
This image released by NBC shows Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, left, and Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney in a scene from the series finale of '30 Rock.'   (AP Photo/NBC, Ali Goldstein)

Tina Fey's 30 Rock ends its seven-year run tonight, and the tributes are plentiful. Here's a sample:

  • Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times: "What is the legacy of these critically acclaimed, low-rated, award-winning seven seasons?" he asks. The "show is itself too singular—and too unsuccessful, in its context—to have spawned a school of obvious followers; if anything, network comedy seems to be swinging the other way. ... But that it exists at all, an unlikely thing in an unlikely place, like a flower finding a crack in a sea of concrete, is in itself inspiring."

  • Jen Chaney Slate, Concord Monitor: Fey's success "just so happened to occur on the front end of what has been a very encouraging time for women working in the industry. More high-profile comedies—from Girls to The Big C to Enlightened to The New Girl and The Mindy Project, which serve as anchors for Fox’s Tuesday night comedy block—are being created or co-created by women and placing dynamic, dysfunctional and funny female characters at the center of their narratives." Fey may not be directly responsible, but surely she played a role.
  • Alessandra Stanley, New York Times: "Fey is a pioneer who resists being taken too seriously. She prefers to be revered for her irreverence. But one sign of her influence is her ability to persuade powerful, sensible women to go on 30 Rock and make fools of themselves." (It's Nancy Pelosi's turn tonight.) One quibble: Stanley thinks Fey's casting of herself as a frumpy nerd was the "weakest" part of the show. "She was never fully convincing in the role of a loser."
  • Emma Keller, the Guardian: Fey had great fun poking holes in female stereotypes, writes Keller, who rounds up her favorite "feminist" scenes here.
(More 30 Rock stories.)

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