hijinks ensued

In early days, that’s what Liz was all about. Saddled with flaky friend Jenna Maroney, pompous new boss Jack Donaghy, and genuinely bizarre new star Tracy Jordan, she desperately tried to keep everything from spinning out of control while always being about a millimeter from the edge herself. The first season included episodes like “Jack-Tor” and “Jack The Writer,” both of which found Jack imposing himself on the creative process and needing Liz to run interference. And in “Tracy Does Conan,” she scrambled to save Tracy from making a fool out of himself. Of course, as much as comedy often seems to run on exaggeration, it largely runs on balance, and Liz certainly took her share of ridicule — bad dates, panic over dying alone, and a terrible boyfriend who still sold pagers and refused to move out because he claimed “squatter’s rights.” One of the best moments of the first season came when Jack met that terrible boyfriend and then dryly held up all his fingers while pointing and mouthing, “Ten.” Jack’s advice at that time often came from being shocked at Liz’s willingness to settle for less than she deserved. Why, he seemed to wonder, was she thinking so small? Now, in the sixth season, everything is different.