30 Rock (season 2) - Production

Production

The season was produced by Broadway Video, Little Stranger and NBC Universal and was aired on NBC, a terrestrial television network in the U.S. The executive producers were creator Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, Joann Alfano, Marci Klein, David Miner and Robert Carlock with Jack Burditt and John Riggi acting as co-executive producers. Producers for the season were music composer Jeff Richmond, Matt Hubbard and Don Scardino with Diana Schmidt, Margo A. Myers and Irene Burns acting as co-producers.

There were six different directors throughout the season. Those who directed more than one episode were Don Scardino, Michael Engler and Beth McCarthy. There were three directors who only directed one episode each throughout the season, they were Richard Shepard, Kevin Rodney Sullivan and Gail Mancuso. The main writers for the season were Tina Fey, Robert Carlock, Matt Hubbard, Jack Burditt and John Riggi, who all wrote, or co-wrote at least two episodes. Jon Pollack, Kay Cannon, Ron Weiner, Tami Sagher, Donald Glover and Andrew Guest only wrote, or co-wrote, one episode each.

In July 2007, Fey talked to the Philadelphia Daily News about the show's second season, explaining some changes she had in mind:

I would really like to try to live in the world of the characters we've created for a little bit. We had a lot of great guest stars last year, but I also feel like there's a lot we could explore with the characters that we have. And I'd like to leave a little breathing room in the show, to let viewers keep up a little. I feel like sometimes it was a little too dense, the shows last year. In a way, the thing that made Arrested Development so great, but I wonder if it will help new viewers come to the show if it's a little less packed.

The season was affected by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which began on November 5, 2007 and ended on February 12, 2008. The season's show runners Tina Fey and Robert Carlock publicly committed to honor the strike themselves and to not ask their writers to do otherwise. As a result, only 15 episodes of the 22 episodes ordered could be produced.