101 Best Written TV Series

Aired: NBC, 2006-Present

Tina Fey's canny take-off on her former life as head writer on Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock was initially viewed as "too inside" for a mass audience, a behind-the-scenes look at a sketch show, with Fey playing showrunner Liz Lemon and Tracy Morgan as Tracy Jordan, the hard-to-control comedy star brought in to juice ratings. Though it never became a ratings hit, the single-camera 30 Rock far outlasted its presumably limiting parameters and racked up awards for both its zany, Simpsons-esque joke-writing and for Alec Baldwin as corporate honcho Jack Donaghy. In later seasons, the show's sense of play live episodes, a faux reality show within the show within the show reflected the trust it had earned from its audience.

Celebrating the late, great, wacky never-to-be-duplicated 30 Rock

Credited Writers

Brett Baer
Jack Burditt
Hannibal Buress
Kay Cannon
Robert Carlock
Tom Ceraulo
Vali Chandrasekaran
Luke Del Tredici
Tina Fey
Dave Finkel
Daisy Gardner
Donald Glover
Andrew Guest
Lauren Gurganous
Jon Haller
Steve Hely
Matt Hubbard
Colleen McGuinness
Sam Means
Dylan Morgan
Nina Pedrad
Paula Pell
Jon Poll
Jonathan Pollack
John Riggi
Tami Sagher
Josh Siegal
Ron Weiner
Tracey Wigfield