15 most likable TV leads

4. Liz Lemon on 30 Rock

Name a person who doesn’t love Liz Lemon and you’ll have exposed a liar. Tina Fey’s lead character from the long-running but still somehow cult favorite comedy series 30 Rock is the epitome of a spirit animal — if the internet hadn’t driven that term into the ground. There are very few characters who are as shamelessly relatable in their question to find balance in love, career, and staying in more to eat cheese in a blanket with sleeves. She lived life right, folks.

As the head writer of a sketch comedy series called The Girlie Show and later TGS with Tracy Jordan, Liz Lemon exemplifies what it means to be a boss that doesn’t completely have it all together. And she also has to answer to her boss, the unapologetic conservative Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin), with whom she shares an unlikely best friendship. Ultimately, she must corral both her staff and unruly diva talent while maintaining some semblance of sanity. Who can’t relate?

Liz Lemon operates with similar energy to Parks and Recreation’s Leslie Knope, though they are sort of yin and yang or opposite sides of the same coin. They both fight for what they believe in, they’re both clumsy in execution of that fight, and they’re both cursed (blessed?) with unpredictable coworkers. Even in Liz’s most unlikable moments, she’s still our bedrock and voice of reason. She’s the one we’re non-stop quoting and would want to party with. Because, you know, there ain’t no party like a Liz Lemon party because a Liz Lemon party is mandatory.