Down-to-Earth Fey on Top of the World

NBC's moves to promote show's popularity miss the mark

(NEWSER) - Tina Fey’s popularity is at an all-time high, but NBC hasn’t tried to capitalize by moving up the season debut of her critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock. NBC has struggled to boost the show’s ratings, the New York Times reports, and hopes three Saturday Night Live specials on Thursdays will keep audiences when 30 Rock returns in that slot Oct. 30. More»

One blogger thinks her brand of humor is to blame instead

(NEWSER) - In her new book, Girl Walks Into a Bar, Rachel Dratch says her looks have cursed her career. "By Hollywood standards, I’m a troll, ogre, woodland creature, or manly lesbian," she writes, and that's prevented her from getting the roles she wants—NBC replaced her as a 30 Rock lead, for instance. Jezebel generally agrees with Dratch ("if she were a dude, she'd have her own show"), but at Slate , Torie Bosch isn't so sure. "What if her particular brand of acting—and she has admitted that she is more a character actor—just isn’t right for leading-lady-dom?" More»

Tina Fey on her Sarah Palin impersonation, Steve Carell, and being a workaholic

(NEWSER) - Tina Fey talks about many things in her interview with Laura Brown for Harper’s Bazaar—her “Halloween wig”-like hair, her “Tootsie”-like glasses—but the most important news? The resurrection of her Sarah Palin impersonation. “I feel like I've probably not worn that wig for the last time. At some point, it will come out of the closet,” she says, marveling over the way her impression “had some strange weight to it. It was weird. I'm not a pundit.” More»

Close, Cranston snag back-to-back drama awards for leading roles; Collette, Baldwin top comedy winners

(NEWSER) - The Emmy Awards ended with a spell of deja vu as Mad Men won its second consecutive best drama trophy and 30 Rock captured its third straight best comedy award tonight in Los Angeles. Glenn Close of Damages and Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad, last year's winners for lead roles in dramas, also repeated, and The Amazing Race took home its seventh consecutive award for reality programming, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - As if its record 22 Emmy nominations weren’t enough, 30 Rock also recently landed a syndication deal. Tina Fey talks success—and Sarah Palin—with Broadcasting & Cable:

• On possibly hosting the Emmys: "No, I think it's a hard job and a thankless one. I think maybe it's also a job for a standup [comic], and I was never a standup. I guess, never say never. But the thought of it makes me feel sweaty."