TVSquad

Tina Fey's surprise return to Saturday Night Live as Sarah Palin was one of the ten greatest TV moments of 2008 (and quite possibly the decade, the century, the millennium and the eon).

So it's no surprise that Fey's name and show 30 Rock came up so many times in the recent list of Emmy nods. I'm no longer convinced that she's a woman. I'm convinced she's an experimental humanoid prototype designed by studio executives solely to win awards like Tom Hanks (aka "Project Red Shoe").

It's also no surprise that one of the two acting nods she scored included her Palin performance on SNL.

And please, this isn't a post about "quality" or "that show sucks!"

Actually, it comes down to this: 30 Rock is owned by NBC and Studio 60 is owned by Warner Brothers. That's one of the many interesting bits of info in Lisa de Moraes' Washington Post column. I mean, that has to be the reason.

As de Moraes points out, it can't be because 30 Rock got better ratings than Studio 60, because Studio 60 got better ratings. It can't be because 30 Rock got a higher rating in the all-important 18 to 49 demo, because Studio 60 had higher ratings there, too. And it can't be because 30 Rock gets the upscale viewers that networks and advertisers like, because Studio 60 was just as good if not better there, too. And I don't think it's because Studio 60 is more expensive than 30 Rock, though that might tie into the whole ownership thing.

It is funny to see Kevin Reilly not really talk about Studio 60, a show he was "really behind" and greenlighted for a whole season. The way he talks now, 30 Rock is the centerpiece to NBC's entire future.