30 Rock ran for seven seasons and featured an interesting cast of characters. Tina Fey created the show, which was inspired by her time as head writer for Saturday Night Live. The comedy variety show is called TGS. Fey portrays Liz Lemon, the head writer at 30 Rock and our main character. While she is quirky, the other characters are often even more quirky.
Among those other characters is Jenna, one of the actors for the variety show. Jenna is an old friend and roommate of Liz's from back when they were trying to get their start in Chicago. She is hungry for attention and adoration, which is often what brings out the worst in her.
Didn't Treat Animals Well
In Season 1, Jenna has a scene where she works with cats. When asked about her background with cats, Jenna says that she loves cats and had two until she had to move. The place she moved to had nice hardwood floors, so Jenna says that she put them to sleep so that they didn't mess up the floors. When she actually does work with the cats in the scene, she ends up throwing one and having it hit the wall. Luckily, no cats were harmed, but it goes to show us that she is pretty horrible with animals.
Killed Off The Hapsburg Line
Jenna has a dream to be royalty and so, she makes herself available to the last heir of the line. However, the last heir has many problems due to centuries of inbreeding.
Jenna shares a glass of champagne with the heir, leading to his death because his body can't break down grapes. While killing off the line wasn't her intention, she inadvertently helped lead to the royal line's end.
Went Too Far With Jackie Jomp-Jomp
Jenna commits fully to a role, often willing to harm herself in order to achieve the perfection for the part. The writers tell her to look up information on Wikipedia about Janis Joplin, the biopic Jackie Jomp-Jomp is loosely based on. Of course, since the writers love to mess with Jenna, they stock the Wikipedia page with false information. This leads to Jenna trying to go method by, ultimately, trying to eat a cat because they wrote that Janis Joplin ate cats (like Alf). Frank stops her before she goes too far, but this shows how far Jenna will go for a role. We also see the ways that she treats her body to have a youthful physique, too, showing that the worst things Jenna does are often to herself.
Used Hazel As A Guinea Pig
Hazel, a new page, comes on board in Season 7. Upon meeting her, Jenna forcefully gives her Japanese medicine that is supposed to make one's pubic hair fall off.
She wants to know if the medicine causes seizures, and she uses Hazel to find this out. Later, we see Hazel having seizures. Rather than care about the new page, Jenna just notes the effects flippantly.
Hired A Guy To Punch Danny In The Throat
In Season 4, TGS hires another actor, Danny. Unlike the other two actors, Danny is pretty down to earth. When the producer, Pete, finds out that Danny can sing, Pete is overjoyed. Pete believes that he can get back at Jenna for not donating for the Christmas present that they give the cleaning ladies. He arranges for Danny and Jenna to do a duet for the Christmas special.
Not one to enjoy sharing the limelight, Jenna initially hired a guy to hide in Danny's dressing room and to punch him in the throat. She wants to be the only one who can sing, and she feels upstaged by Danny. However, they work out a compromise that leaves both Danny's throat and Jenna's ego safely intact.
Was The Mean Judge In "Kidz Got Singing"
In Season 6, Jenna is a judge on a reality television song that is a singing competition for kids. She serves as the bad judge. It is a delicious little role that brings about the best and worst of Jenna. She is so good at being so bad that Jack actually considers canceling the show because he feels bad for the kids, thinking of his own young daughter being talked to that way.
However, we do get some great catch phrases from Jenna. One of the funniest is, "go jump back into your mother."
Constantly Manipulated Others
This is Jenna's second nature, and it has been in practice for some time. We see in a Chicago flashback that Jenna threatens to kill herself if she has to do the dishes in Liz and her apartment. In a more current moment, she threatens to kill herself if she isn't allowed to be the most dramatic friend. Jenna's dramatic nature has helped her in her career, although it must be very challenging to her friendships.
Didn't Treat Liz Well
Jenna and Liz are best friends from early in their careers, and as such, they have a close bond. There are times when Jenna is really there for Liz or calls Liz out in a way that Liz understands. However, there are many times where Jenna is mean to Liz.
One instance is when Jenna cuts off Liz's ponytail on Liz's birthday because she is jealous of not being the center of attention. An other example is on Season 6. Liz misses their friendship, and they go out to eat lunch. As soon as Jenna tells Liz where she wants to go (The Outback), Liz immediately makes the reservation. Once they are there, people spot Jenna, and Jenna has Liz masquerade as her.
Liz thinks that she is helping Jenna out and getting to enjoy being a celebrity for a brief minute. But Jenna knew that PETA was in the crowd and just didn't want to be photographed looking terrible with paint all over her clothes. Also, we find out that the reason that Jenna wanted to go to The Outback was because she had a contract deal with them. Liz does call Jenna on her behavior, and while Jenna does eventually acknowledge her wild behavior, there isn't a big change of heart.
Was Mean To Judy (A Child From Her Egg Donation)
When Liz and Jenna were starting out, Jenna sold her eggs for money. In Season 7, she tracks them down in order to use it as a story that will humanize her in the media more. All of her children look a little bit like her, all except one. Judy is a brunette, and she just wanted to meet Jenna and have coffee with her.
Jenna meanly cuts Judy out of the interview, saying that they only have a certain amount of chairs and so one person (Judy) will be excluded. Ouch! Luckily, Jenna does come around and bonds with Judy, telling her that Judy is an example that she still has a little good in her. However, earlier she had been extremely mean to a daughter who just wanted to connect. She even told Judy in front of the other kids, "You're a winter."
Tried To Sabotage An Award Luncheon And A Funeral
In Season 7, Jenna feels like Liz stole her thunder when Liz got married before Jenna could have her surprise wedding. She decides to do a secret plan for revenge. Liz invites her to attend the award luncheon where Liz is being honored. Jenna attempts to sabotage Liz, but Liz figures it out before it can happen.
Then Jenna uses Jack's mom's funeral as a place to have a "pop-up wedding ceremony." It was in pretty poor taste, but it helped Jack. He realized that his mother would have disapproved, something that would push him to do more and to be better. In a way, Jenna's inappropriate ceremony evoked his mother's spirit.
Jenna is a memorable character, one of the many that made 30 Rock so special for so long.