30 Rock: 5 Characters We Love To Hate (& 5 We Just Love)

30 Rock is a big favorite for anybody who loves Tina Fey–or, just anybody who loves good comedy, some would say! Tina Fey is a brilliant writer, creator, and star in this hit series, and it’s no wonder why. She’s clever, subversive and she relates to the public in blatantly honest and unabashed ways that many other creators didn’t dare attempt before her.

Does this mean viewers love everything about her show, though? No, certainly not. 30 Rock has much to love, but it also offers many characters who a bit hard to swallow. All the same, most things viewers are tempted to hate in the show they just end up love-hating–which is, of course, much more fun.

10 Love To Hate: Jenna

Jenna wavers between being hilarious and somewhat pitiable, and purely annoying and frustrating to watch. She is a complete narcissist and is deluded about her perception of herself and others, constantly striving to be the center of attention or spinning a story to benefit her. Her vanity and ignorance are, of course, meant to be satirical, but that doesn’t change that she’s kind of the worst.

9 Love: Liz

Liz, the star of the show, garners viewers’ affection in many ways. She is sloppy and oblivious and indulgent, and that makes her a relatable character who makes viewers feel less bad about themselves. She also embodies darker parts of humanity that people would rather not have others see, but where most people hide them she brings such issues to the forefront of the show, making her a difficult but admirable character.

8 Love To Hate: Jonathan

Jonathan is easy to hate because he makes himself an easy target. He relentlessly fan-boys Jack, making his desperation known to everyone who comes into contact with him.

He’s cruel to anybody who isn’t Jack, also, making him unlikeable to characters the audience likes and therefor unlikeable to the audience. But Jonathan is also kind of pathetic in a way that urges sympathy from viewers, and his unapologetic quality demands a little respect.

7 Love: Jack

Jack is a pleasure to watch. He is hilarious, and his humor meshes well with the other characters on screen. He is self-confident in inspiring ways, but also shows a rare side of extreme vulnerability which is at times comical and other times simply refreshingly human. He’s a passionate person and a hard worker, and best of all he’s a good friend to Liz.

6 Love To Hate: Tracy

Tracy is written to be a cringe-y character, and he very much succeeds in that respect. His character came on the show as an almost completely un-serious, deluded narcissist who was possibly crazy.

As the show goes on and Tracy becomes a regular, his character does gain some depth and he’s more rounded out, but he remains mostly incorrigible, offering humor that is more unsettling and confusing than funny, but which is so unique to him that one must appreciate it.

5 Love:  Kenneth

Kenneth is the most loveable character on the show–and on most shows, for that matter. There’s something about him that radiates wholesomeness and purity.

He’s also ridiculous, but in ways that are always forgivable and enjoyable. It’s a rare case to find a fan who doesn’t love Kenneth.

4 Love To Hate: Dennis

Dennis is almost completely unlikable. Maybe not even almost, just completely. The only thing that causes viewers to hesitate when it comes to absolute dislike is possibly pity, for the fact that he is so immature and unaware of how despicable he is, unable to see why his terrible, offensive behavior is the reason people don’t like him.

3 Love: Grizz

Grizz doesn’t get as much credit as he deserves. He begins as a mostly silent side-kick to Tracy, someone whose main purpose is allocated to sitting on Tracy when he gets too worked up, but eventually asserts his personality in various ways.

He has a comical relation with Liz and spends the odd scene sitting in a book-club that he and Dot Com formed.

2 Love To Hate: Dr. Spaceman

Dr. Spaceman is absurd and aggravating. He’s possibly the most ridiculous satirical version of a doctor created, blowing stereotypes to whole new levels and bringing to life anyone’s worst nightmare about the worst possible Doctor. If someone is ill, he might leave them for dead. If he doesn’t know what something is, he googles it. He’s completely despicable. He also happens to be, as most things on the show, terribly funny, making hating him a love/hate situation.

1 Love: Dot Com

Dot Com, much like Grizz, begins as a pretty shallow, under-written character mostly there to enhance Tracy’s comedic value. He eventually is allowed to fill out a persona beyond the impact of his towering physical presence and ends up often serving as the voice of reason and logic in several scenes on the show, knowing more about history than anyone else and making several attempts to correct people’s ignorant behavior.