30 Rock

Elizabeth "Liz" Lemon is the fictional protagonist of the American situation comedy 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its show runner.

Like Fey, who was head writer of Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1999 to 2006, the character is head writer for a fictional SNL-esque show. For this reason, Liz Lemon is widely seen by critics as a fictionalized version of Fey herself, which Fey herself has confirmed as being her intention. In a video interview conducted with Fey prior to the airing of the pilot, she stated that Liz is herself "five or six years ago when I first started at my job and had to figure out how to deal with big, strong personalities and get through the day, being sort-of scared of everyone... but acting like you're not scared of everyone."

Fey has reported incorporating some of her own quirks and history into the character, saying that she tries to "share as many of Liz's habits as possible so it feels truthful." Liz has been seen singing "Maybe"[1]. Both were once rejected by a man who later went to clown college and both were once referred to with the "c" word, which had a huge emotional impact on them.

The character also shares her given name with Fey, whose full name is Elizabeth Stamatina Fey. However, Liz Lemon is only very rarely referred to as "Elizabeth" and the character's name is usually given as "Liz Lemon" in official contexts (example, the plaque on the door to her office). The character's last name, "Lemon", is apparently intended to imply an acerbic personality and possibly also to make her full name alliterative. Fey has stated that she wanted Liz to have a good last name since she knew the character would often be called by it.