Dear 30 Rock,

When I was in 10th grade and just a mere comedy nerd in hiding (and denial), I was looking for shows to watch and I stumbled upon 30 Rock one Friday afternoon and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy and overjoyed that I did. 30 Rock was, in the most cheesy way possible, the start of a new era. I know a lot of people claim this and I don’t doubt them. It’s a life changing show. I don’t think anything has ever compared, at least for me, because the show opened me up to comedy. 30 Rock came to me when I was in transition. I decided that being a doctor would not work for me and I decided to pursue journalism after high school. I decided to change myself and I found 30 Rock at the same time of transition. The show was so effortless, so complex, so intelligent - I could not resist its charm, as many people can attest to. It took my hand and brought me to a place where people were weird and smart and funny and had personality and existed in a realm of passion for their craft.

Without 30 Rock, I don’t think I would have ever gotten there because no show would have so aptly eased me into a genre I was scared to love and then scared not to love. I would not have ever started watching many other shows that I now watch. 

You can measure your life a lot of different ways. One of those ways is through TV finales, and the only other TV finale I can remember watching is House M.D. When I watched it, it was for tradition’s sake and not because I had been keeping up with it. I fell out of the loop but thought I owed it to the show, to watch it for the last time.

Now, I am faced with a much more difficult task. I am going to watch a show end tonight, a show that helped me come to terms with myself. And I don’t know how I’m going to feel about that tonight. For weeks, I have been in denial. I feel like the show is going to live on forever on Thursdays, but my foolish fantasies are merely just to ease the pain. As I sit in front of my TV for the last hour of 30 Rock on Thursdays, I only have one thing left to say. 

I want to thank the writers, directors, cast, crew - everyone who worked on the show - for being a part of 30 Rock. I don’t think you could ever fathom how much of an influence you had on me and so many others, how much of an imprint you’ve made on pop culture and history, how monumental your work on the show has been. There is nothing better than knowing a show I have loved for so long will go out on its own terms - with a bang. 

30 Rock came to me when I was growing up and because of that it very much feels like I’ve grown up with the show always there, airing Thursdays, when I needed and expected it to be there for me, a half hour of laughs that made me feel better week after week. Now, when I’m older and maybe wiser but most certainly not grown up, it’s so much harder for me to let go of something that taught me so much. It feels like surgery: difficult to do, but for the best; or maybe it just feels like letting go of your favorite tv show: too painful to understand, but bittersweet in its own way. I guess every great thing must come to an end, but of all the things I’ve seen leave me as I’ve grown up, 30 Rock will be one of the hardest. 

I will miss the show so dearly, but I am confident in its ability to live on forever. 30 Rock has changed me, so thank you for that, 30 Rock: for the laughs, for the screams at my television in joy, for the ability to gather every Thursday and feel a sense of community, for being the highlight of my Thursdays for so many years. Thank you, and goodbye.

Sincerely, 

Samantha. Lemon Out.