Pilot (30 Rock)

Tina Fey, the head writer and a performer on NBC's Saturday Night Live, pitched a pilot episode for a situation comedy about a cable news network to NBC in 2002. NBC Entertainment president, Kevin Reilly, felt, "Fey was using the news setting as a fig leaf for her own experience and [he] encouraged her to write what she knew."[5] The pilot, and subsequent series, was reworked to revolve around an SNL-style series. Fey signed a contract with NBC in May 2003, which allowed her to remain in her SNL head writer position until at least the 2004–2005 television season. As part of the contract, Fey was required to develop a primetime project to be produced by Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company, and NBC Universal.[6] During the 2004–2005 pilot season, Fey began developing a pilot project under the working title Untitled Tina Fey Project. The pilot, which became 30 Rock, centered on the head writer of a variety show and how she managed her relationships with the show's volatile star and executive producer. During development, some characters were altered; a second star of the variety show was added and the executive producer role changed to network executive.[7]

The part of Jack Donaghy was written with Alec Baldwin in mind.

Fey worked with Jennifer McNamara and Adam Bernstein for the casting of the series. Their first decision was for Fey to portray the lead character, Liz Lemon.[8] Fey acknowledged similarities between Liz and her own life when she became head writer on SNL, primarily a heavy focus on her job.[9] Fey asked one of her castmates on SNL, Tracy Morgan, to play Tracy Jordan.[10] Morgan believed the role was "right up [his] alley and it was tailor made for [him]",[11] and Fey noted that Tracy Jordan "acts wild" like Tracy Morgan did at SNL.[12]

Fey wrote the character of naïve NBC page Kenneth Parcell with her friend Jack McBrayer, who has been described as "the show's brightest discovery",[13] in mind.[8] She has said that she "really wanted him for that part and was very happy when no one objected".[8] Shortly after McBrayer's casting, Alec Baldwin was cast as Jack Donaghy, the "totally uncensored" vice president of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming.[14] Fey had written the part with Baldwin in mind, but was "very pleasantly surprised when he agreed to do it".[8] As the series progressed, "the push-pull [relationship] between Fey's character, Liz Lemon, the harried head writer of The Girlie Show, and Alec Baldwin's domineering network executive, Jack Donaghy" helped the show find "its rhythm".[15]

Judah Friedlander was cast as the staff writer of The Girlie Show, Frank Rossitano. Before auditioning for the role, Friedlander and Fey had never met. His character was based on at least two writers with whom Fey used to work at SNL, but he "certainly brought some of [his] own things to it, as well",[16] including his trucker hat-wearing persona.[17] Fey based the role of Pete Hornberger, a long-time friend of Liz's and producer of The Girlie Show, on Scott Adsit, who agreed to portray the character.[8]

In an unaired pilot for 30 Rock, Rachel Dratch, a former SNL cast member,[18] originally played the role of Jenna DeCarlo. In August 2006, executive producer Lorne Michaels announced that Dratch would be replaced as Jenna, but would portray different roles in other episodes. In the retooled pilot, Dratch appears as The Girlie Show's cat wrangler.[19] Later in the month, NBC announced that Jane Krakowski had replaced Dratch in the role of Jenna,[20][21][22] and that the character was renamed Jenna Maroney.[23] Michaels said that "everyone is thrilled that she is joining the cast", and thought she was going to be a "perfect fit".[20]

The Trivection oven is a convection microwave created by General Electric. At the time of broadcast, General Electric was the parent company for NBC, which produced and broadcast 30 Rock. During the episode, Jack Donaghy describes the product, claiming to have invented it himself and pegging it as his "greatest triumph" after years and years of market research. Donaghy's description of the product was taken near verbatim from GE's website. He later uses the oven as a metaphor for The Girlie Show, saying that Tracy Jordan is the "third heat".

The Trivection oven's inclusion in 30 Rock was widely seen as an example of product placement, especially as the product was later advertised during the commercial break.[24][25] However, Fey stated the oven was actually included in the show purely as a joke and that GE had nothing to do with it, although she suspects, "maybe somebody's taking credit for it."[26] Allison Eckelkamp, a spokesperson for GE, confirmed this and says that GE chose to run ads for the oven during the commercial break to make sure viewers knew it was a real product, rather than one invented by the screenwriters for the purposes of the joke.[27]