Liz Lemon
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Liz Lemon | |
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Seinfeld Vision") Alice Richmond (as a preteen in "Mazel Tov, Dummies!") Marcella Roy (as a preschooler in "Rosemary's Baby" & "Kidnapped by Danger") Carmen Osbahr (Muppet Liz Lemon in "Apollo, Apollo") Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Muppet Liz Lemon in Sesame Street "30 Rocks" sketch) | |
In-universe information | |
Nickname | "Lemon", "LL", "Dummy", "Liz Lemon Cool J", "Li Lem", "Beth", "Lizzy", "The Lizard", "Blizzard", "Liz Zitrone", "Menta-Liz", "El Tejón", "Super Virgin", "The Blocker",[1] "Elizabeth Donaghy",[2] "Lesbian Yellow Sour Fruit",[3] "Shark Eyes", "Lisa Lampanelli", "Lem Lizon", "Elizabart" |
Gender | Female, despite what that doctor said (3.12) |
Occupation | Head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan, Hostess of Dealbreakers, Writer of Kidnapped by Danger: The Avery Jessup Story, Producer of Grizz & Herz, Author |
Family | Dick Lemon (father) Margaret Lemon (mother) Mitch Lemon (brother) |
Spouse | Criss Chros (husband) Jack Donaghy (ex-husband, annulled) |
Children | Terry (adopted son) Janet (adopted daughter) |
Relatives | Adolf Lemon (grandfather) "Nana" Lemon (grandmother) Harold Lemon (uncle) Linda Lemon (aunt) Dolly Harlan (great-aunt) Randy Lemon (cousin) Grey "The Hair" (third cousin) Eliza Lemon (great-granddaughter) |
Religion | "I pretty much just do whatever Oprah tells me to." considered by Jack to be de facto Jewish-by-association[4] |
Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon is a fictional character and the
She is portrayed by
Personal history
Liz Lemon was born in November 1970.
In the
She first saw Jack Donaghy and Tracy Jordan, and spoke with Jack telepathically, in 1986 while watching a live telethon alone in her parents' basement on prom night. Immediately after church choir member Tracy fell and realized his talent for getting laughs as a performer, Liz placed a prank call to the pledge line which was answered by Jack, then a young executive from GE's poisons division. Liz claimed to have been a nurse in the war, who was impregnated by General Electric when he was Colonel Electric. Jack's loyalty to GE and his handsomeness impressed Don Geiss, who transferred Jack to the microwave ovens division.[13]
Liz was inspired to become a
In the episodes "Believe in the Stars" and "Cooter", Liz states that she did not lose her virginity until she was 25 (this would be in 1995 or 1996).[22][23]
Liz met
In
Since 2005,
Liz has also evidently won at least one Emmy Award.[31] In addition to her responsibilities behind the camera, Liz occasionally acts in TGS sketches.[32]
Throughout the seasons, several people have questioned Liz's gender. She always replies that she is really a girl and "that doctor was a quack." She serves as best man at the weddings of both her former sex partner Grizz[33] and her mentor Jack[34] (accidentally marrying him in the process). When Gretchen Thomas tells Jack she thinks Liz looks like Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack initially assumes she means Jason Lee.[31] She also once demonstrates that she is easily able to grow a moustache (which she calls "Tom," in reference to the actor Mr. Selleck) in less than 48 hours.
After TGS is cancelled, Liz tries being a stay-at-home mother to her newly adopted children, while her husband Criss works as a dental receptionist. Both soon recognize that they are ill-suited to those roles, and that Liz has considerably greater earning power. With Criss taking care of Terry and Janet, Liz takes over as producer of former lover Griz's series, Griz & Herz. The children visit her on-set.
In the final episode, as a nod to St. Elsewhere's finale, "The Last One" (complete with a replica of the series' namesake building in a snow-globe stared at by a mentally challenged male), Liz's life serves as the inspiration for a sitcom that is pitched by her great-granddaughter 100 years in the future. The series is green-lighted by immortal NBC president Kenneth Parcell ("Last Lunch") – even though the series includes every one of the banned features on the list which Kenneth gave to Liz when beginning his tenure in "Hogcock!"
Personality
After a mere glance at her in the pilot, Jack sums up Liz as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for...a week". This is confirmed by Pete to be accurate, commenting that the "knitting" part, in particular, was uncanny.
Liz is generally portrayed as something of a "geek." So, while she is an apparently skilled writer, she seems to have very few social skills (in "Rosemary's Baby", Jack describes her as "socially retarded"). For example, while she was trying to pick up men at a karaoke bar, a man asked her if the seat next to her was taken, leading her to ask him why she should have to move her coat just so he could sit there.[35] Liz is often shown to be generally insecure and holds a strong concern for how she is perceived by others. Liz is sometimes dismissive of others, a personality flaw that can be connected to her lack of social skills. Assessing Liz's personality up to near the end of season 3, Jonah Weiner described her as "an eternal 13-year-old tomboy—scared of sex, obsessed with Star Wars and meatball subs" and as "cling[ing] to a fantasy of presexual, junk-food-munching adolescence".[36]
Liz has a rather satirical sense of humor. She has frequently been shown to be a stress eater, a trait she shares with Jack.
Like Fey, Liz is a big fan of the
She is also a fan of the
In the episode "
Liz appears to be a
By "Christmas Attack Zone," Liz has learned the meanings of body language through watching The Mentalist (due to her losing the remote control to her television, thus being unable to change the CBS channel it was on). Because of her newfound talent, she dubs herself "The MentaLiz".[52] She is unaware at that time that The Mentalist's original Dutch version, Van der Hoot: Psychische (De Mentalist), was based upon Liz's subordinate Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout's former career as a police psychic.[53]
In contrast with her friend and
Some of Liz's social problems stem from past slapstick events that left her with long-suppressed traumas and phobias. For instance, in "
James Poniewozik of Time had this to say about an Indecent Proposal type situation involving a former classmate in the episode "Leap Day": "[T]his story is about more than that. It's about nerdy, neurotic Liz recognizing that she is, after all, a legitimate object of desire—a successful, smart woman who looks like Tina Fey—and embracing it rather than being freaked out by it."[56]
Liz also has a tendency to say "blërg!" (the name of her home office furniture from IKEA), "nerds", "what the what?", "nertz", "nerf herder" (quoting Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back), "whuck?" and "son of a mother" as replacements for curse words; she has also notably used the phrases "shut it down", "I want to go to there", "deal-breaker", "pwomp", and "by the hammer of Thor!".
Political and religious views
As demonstrated over the course of her appearances, Liz seems to have
She is shown to be somewhat burdened with "
When questioned what
Relationships
Jack Donaghy
When Liz and Jack first meet, and for several seasons thereafter, neither realised that they had spoken to each other by telephone twenty years before.[13]
In the beginning of the series, Liz and Jack had an antagonistic relationship. As the series progressed, however, this original dislike disappeared, and they are now close friends, with Jack at one point going so far as to tell her, "Lemon, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you". In spite of this, they still occasionally tease each other.
In
Despite their close friendship, Jack rarely addresses her as "Liz", generally preferring to call her by her surname. In the Season 5 episode "
Tina Fey has said that Liz's relationship with Jack is "somewhere between
Jenna Maroney
Liz and Jenna have known each other since 1993,
Liz has been seen complaining about Jenna's erratic tendencies behind her back, usually with Pete. Jenna once got mad at Liz when she overheard Liz describe her to Tracy as being "paranoid" and "neurotic."[76] Jenna once slept with Liz's brother Mitch and said he was disgusting in bed.[24] Liz explains this by saying that Mitch has not been right since he was in some kind of skiing accident, because of which he thinks it's still 1985 and he's still a teenager. Nonetheless, Jenna attempts to seduce Mitch once more in the episode "Ludachristmas."[77]
Although Liz is happy to be TGS's head writer, she envies Jenna achieving the performing career they both hoped for when working at Second City. Liz confesses to Jenna, "there's still this sad little part of me that wants to be the center of attention ... that wants to be you, I guess".[24] Liz gets the chance to be on camera as host of Dealbreakers, but the pilot is a failure.[78] Despite their frustrations and occasional rivalries, however, the show often reveals that the two women appreciate their friendship and do their best to be supportive of the other's careers. When the phrase "That's a deal breaker, ladies" is coined by Jenna thanks to Liz's writing, Jenna surrenders the spotlight with a surprisingly short sulking period. She later encourages Liz to write a book and take on a talk show gig based on the catch phrase (though the talk show is very short-lived).
Pete Hornberger
Liz and Pete have known each other since about 1996 and he's possibly the closest thing Liz has to a confidant besides Jack, especially since Jenna, her closest female friend, is far too anxious about her own life to function as such. Pete lived in Liz's apartment for an extended period while separated from his wife. He helps run TGS and serves as the only other responsible adult on the TGS staff.
Tracy Jordan
Liz has not really tried to pursue a relationship of any kind with Tracy, preferring to focus her energies on keeping his craziness in check.[79] She is typically friendly towards him, though mainly to further this end. While Liz will refer to him as either "Tracy" or "Tray", Tracy will most often refer to Liz by her full name "Liz Lemon", "LL", or, less often, just "Lemon".[80]
He often challenges her authority, but always ends up losing out when he does. In "The Natural Order", he cracks under the stress of doing the hard production work that Liz does every week,[81] and in "Into the Crevasse", when Liz allowed him to make a pornographic film about her life as penance for her "Dealbreakers" book messing up Tracy's relationship with his wife, Angie, he was so disgusted that he stopped watching it halfway through.[82] In the series finale she tearfully admits that she will miss him when TGS is over.
Love life
Many episodes of the show have dealt with Lemon's ongoing search for love. According to Pete, Liz has had some "really terrible boyfriends" in the ten years that he's known her. It is repeatedly implied (and eventually confirmed) that she once dated
Liz has also had several multi-episode onscreen romances. A recurring gag is Liz having relationships with men who share the names of celebrities or fictional characters, including Wesley Snipes (a Caucasian Englishman), commercial airline pilot Captain Carol Burnett (though his surname is pronounced "Burn-it"), Floyd DeBarbour (i.e., Floyd the Barber), Dr. Drew Baird (i.e., Dr. Drew), and Criss Chros. She also "takes her reward" for a time with new subordinate Jack "Danny" Baker (assuming Jack is in this case a diminutive of John or Jon, he shares his name with CHiPs character Jon Baker, portrayed by Liz's childhood crush, Larry Wilcox); he was even dressed as Wilcox during one of their assignations.[85] Other boyfriends include Dennis Duffy.
In her longest onscreen relationship, Liz dates Criss Chros (James Marsden), a down-to-earth hot dog vendor named after a 1990s teen rap duo. Their relationship began sometime before season 6 and continued past the 6th-season finale, in which she and Criss finally decide to try to have a baby together. In the 7th and final season, after weeks of unsuccessful attempts at conception, believing it will increase their adoption chances, they get married at city hall. In A Goon's Deed in a Weary World, Liz and Criss adopt two children, Terry and Janett (who bear an uncanny resemblance to Tracey and Jenna), and, after disastrously attempting to become a stay at home mom, Criss decides to become the at home parent, allowing Liz to continue work in television. (Hogcock/Last Lunch)
Reception
Lemon has been featured in several honorific lists compiled by various publications. She appeared in
Slate, discussing how the show covers politics and feminism, assessed Lemon's character as being drawn from other genres of comedy in unexpected ways: "the man-child is a venerable comic tradition, from The Jerk to Billy Madison to everything Will Ferrell does, and 30 Rock proves that an eternal 13-year-old tomboy—scared of sex, obsessed with Star Wars and meatball subs—can be just as funny as her male counterpart."[92]
Behind the scenes
Like Fey, who was head writer of Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1999 to 2006, the character is head writer for a sketch comedy 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 before 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."[93]
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"[8] and Fey has noted that she also enjoys singing songs from Annie.[38] Both were once rejected by a man who later went to "clown college" which had a huge emotional impact on them.[94]
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). It is also worth noting that in Fey's original script for 30 Rock, Lemon's first name was "Lisa".[95] The character's middle name, "Miervaldis," is a Latvian masculine name. Fey has said that, while Lemon's ethnic background is unknown, "Latvian seems to make sense.".[96] She has also, more recently, been suggested to have German ancestry, and speaks at least a little of the language. 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.[97]
Among the child actors who portrayed Liz in flashbacks to her youth was Fey's own daughter, Alice Richmond, in "Mazel Tov, Dummies!".
References
- ^ "Kidnapped by Danger"
- ^ Liz uses her temporary formal name of Elizabeth Donaghy when announcing the Jack and Elizabeth Donaghy High School for Teen Drama, The Arts, and Feelings in "Mrs. Donaghy".
- ^ Name as author of the Chinese counterfeit copies of her Dealbreakers book in "The Problem Solvers"
- ^ Jack Donaghy: "The American public doesn't want your elitist, east coast, alternative, intellectual, left-wing..." Liz: "Jack, just say Jewish, this is taking forever." from episode "Stone Mountain"
- ^ Staff, A. O. L. "Liz Lemon and 30 Rock Are Returning to NBC In the Most Unexpected Way". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
- ^ Tina Fey - Yahoo! TV
- ^ "Larry King". 30 Rock. Season 3. Episode 12. 2009-02-25. NBC.
- ^ a b "Jack Meets Dennis". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 6. 2006-11-30. NBC.
- ^ "Ludachristmas"
- ^ a b "Episode 209 (A.K.A. Ludachristmas)". 30 Rock. Season 2. Episode 9. 2007-12-13. NBC.
- ^ a b "The Moms"
- ^ "Kidney Now!"
- ^ a b "Live from Studio 6H"
- ^ "Rosemary's Baby". 30 Rock. Season 2. Episode 4. 2007-10-25. NBC.
- ^ "Jack the Writer
- ^ "Reunion"
- ^ "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter". 30 Rock. Season 4. Episode 17. 2010-04-22. NBC.
- ^ "Black Tie"
- Episode 210"
- ^ "Gentleman's Intermission"
- ^ "Larry King"
- ^ a b c "Believe in the Stars"
- ^ "Cooter"
- ^ a b c d e "The Rural Juror". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 10. 2007-01-11. NBC.
- ^ "Apollo, Apollo"
- ^ "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter"
- ^ "Pilot"
- ^ "The Aftermath"
- ^ "Jackie Jormp-Jomp". 30 Rock. Season 3. Episode 18. 2009-04-16. NBC.
- ^ "The Breakup". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 8. 2006-12-14. NBC.
- ^ a b "Blind Date"
- ^ "The Tuxedo Begins"
- ^ "I Do Do" (in which her title is "woman of honor" versus "best man")
- ^ "Mrs. Donaghy
- ^ "The Break-Up"
- ^ Weiner, Jonah (6 May 2009). "I Want To GOP to There: 30 Rock's weird conservative streak". Slate. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
- ^ "The Baby Show"
- ^ a b "Live Blog, "Shared Habits", from NBC's 30 Rock website". Archived from the original on 2007-10-29. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- ^ "Subway Hero"
- ^ "The Ones"
- ^ "Jack the Writer"
- ^ "Corporate Crush"
- ^ "The Head and the Hair"
- ^ "Up All Night"
- ^ "Cougars"
- ^ "The C Word"
- ^ "It's Never Too Late for Now"
- ^ "Cleveland"
- ^ "Future Husband"
- The Fabian Strategy"
- It's Never Too Late For Now"
- ^ "Christmas Attack Zone"
- ^ "Plan B"
- ^ Booth, William (2004-04-25). "Tina Fey, Specs Symbol". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-06-01.[dead link]
- ^ "Reaganing"
- ^ Poniewozik, James (2012-02-24). "The Morning After: Happy Leap Day! Edition". Time. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
- ^ "Hard Ball". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 15. 2007-02-22. NBC.
- ^ "Hard Ball"
- ^ "Fireworks"
- ^ "Jack-Tor"
- ^ "The Source Awards"
- The Fighting Irish"
- ^ "Stone Mountain"
- ^ "MILF Island"
- ^ "Succession"
- ^ "Retreat to Move Forward"
- ^ 30 Rock – Tina Fey On Her Favorite Episode – YouTube
- ^ 30 Rock: A possible hook-up Archived 2007-04-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 30 Rock: Are the Emmy Winners Gettin' Busy? - E! Online
- ^ "Black Tie". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 12. 2007-02-01. NBC.
- ^ "Hiatus". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 21. 2007-04-26. NBC.
- Do-Over"
- ^ "Do-Over". 30 Rock. Season 3. Episode 1. 2008-10-30. NBC.
- ^ "Apollo, Apollo". 30 Rock. Season 3. Episode 16. 2009-03-26. NBC.
- ^ "Secrets & Lies". 30 Rock. Season 2. Episode 8. 2007-12-06. NBC.
- ^ "The Aftermath". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 2. 2006-10-18. NBC.
- ^ "Ludachristmas". 30 Rock. Season 2. Episode 9. 2007-12-13. NBC.
- ^ "Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001"
- ^ "Tracy Does Conan". 30 Rock. Season 1. Episode 7. 2006-12-07. NBC.
- ^ "Seinfeld Vision". 30 Rock. Season 2. Episode 1. 2007-10-04. NBC.
- ^ "The Natural Order"
- ^ "Into the Crevasse"
- ^ "Tracy Does Conan"
- ^ Whilst dancing at the post-show party with James Franco and his pillow, Kimiko, in "Klaus and Gretta", Liz seduces him by suggesting, "Let's do this." She introduces the pair to her nephew the next morning.
- ^ "Black Light Attack!"
- ^ "TV's Most Intriguing Characters". Comcast. Archived from the original on October 14, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2013.
- ^ Potts, Kim (March 2, 2011). "100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters". AOL TV. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ^ Jackson, Josh (December 5, 2011). "The 20 Best TV Characters of 2011". Paste. Retrieved June 30, 2012.
- ^ "AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters". AfterEllen.com. February 27, 2012. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
- ^ "The 99 Best Television Characters Since Tony Soprano". Yahoo. 14 March 2015.
- ^ "25 Best TV Characters in the Past 25 Years". ew.com. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
- ^ Weiner, Jonah (6 May 2009). "I Want To GOP to There". Slate.
- ^ 30 Rock TV Show, Series - Exclusive Video Clips & Episodes – NBC Official Site Archived 2009-10-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Entertainment Weekly, "One Fine Fey" Archived 2007-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ 30 Rock - The Story of Liz Lemon's Middle Name - Video - NBC.com Archived 2010-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
- YouTube