Solid As 30 Rock
June 25, 2013
Director of the hit TV series 30 Rock and ARHU alumna Beth McCarthy-Miller brings UMD roots to character Liz Lemon played by Tina Fey.
By Kimberly Marselas, TERP Magazine
From MTV to “Saturday Night Live,” on television hits like “30 Rock” and “Modern Family” and behind the scenes of award shows and concerts, director Beth McCarthy-Miller’s credits read like a 30-year-long list of must-see TV.
Fresh out of UMD’s radio, television and film program, McCarthy-Miller ’85 landed an MTV internship. The network kept her on, and in her early 20s, she was directing VJs and running the three-camera game show “Remote Control.” It was, she recalls, “sink or swim.”
“I’d known that I wanted to be in the business, but I didn’t know what part,” says the L.A.-based McCarthy-Miller. “Going the director route really led me the right way for a long career.”
The seven-time Emmy nominee also credits her success to good timing. She left MTV for “The Jon Stewart Show,” but found herself out of work when the show was axed nine months later. The following week, she had interviews with “Saturday Night Live” and David Letterman.
McCarthy-Miller was SNL’s first female director, working on 218 episodes between 1995 and 2006. She was joined in 1999 by Tina Fey, who impressed McCarthy-Miller with her first sketches and remains a close friend.
After having a son and “going without sleep for a year,” McCarthy-Miller left SNL at 42. She began freelancing specials and single episodes of popular shows. Then Fey asked her to direct “30 Rock.” By the time the show wrapped in January, McCarthy-Miller had done 24 episodes, including two live shows and the finale.
She also may have brought a little of her Maryland roots to Liz Lemon, the snarky geek—and UMD alumna—portrayed by Fey.
“Tina uses a little meld of all of us in her characters,” says McCarthy-Miller. “But the fact that ‘University of Maryland’ came out of Tina Fey’s mouth is a huge compliment.”
A TASTE OF LEMON
30 Rock’s Liz Lemon was weirdly proud of her awkward years at the University of Maryland. She mentioned her alma mater several times during the series’ run:
“Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter” Season Four
Pete: Elizabeth... I don’t know how to pronounce your middle name ... Lemon. You attended the University of Maryland on a partial competitive jazz dance scholarship.
Liz: So?
“College” Season Five
Liz: The fall of 1988. A young Liz Lemon enters the University of Maryland. Richard Marx haircut, pilonidal cyst under control. It was a magical time, Jack!
Jack: Don’t worry about getting to your point. I’m going to live forever.
Liz: The registrar accidentally gave me a handicapped room. It was HUGE. And for two weeks it was party central. I was popular. People gave me nicknames. A blonde girl high-fived me.
“Game Over” Season Seven
Liz: I played Frederick Douglass in a one-woman show the University of Maryland Diamondback called ‘Too
confusing to be offensive.’