PASADENA, Calif. — Tina Fey is sort of a superwoman — she's producing, writing and starring in her own network sitcom this fall.
But she isn't really Superwoman — she can't produce, write and star in "30 Rock" and keep her old job as head writer, cast member and anchor of "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live."
"I am going to focus just on the new show right now," said Fey, who not-so-coincidentally created a sitcom that's set behind the scenes of a network sketch comedy show that airs live from New York.
It's not like it was an easy decision to make, however.
"I've been at 'Saturday Night Live' for nine years total. I know I'll never ever not be there in some way," Fey said."I'm never not going to call up with an opinion or show up on hiatus wanting to write a sketch. But I will not be in the cast next year. I won't be a paid employee of 'Saturday Night Live' next year."
Which is sort of good news, bad news for Lorne Michaels, the creator/executive producer of "Saturday Night Live," who is also an executive producer of "30 Rock."
"If you're asking if I'm happy about it, no," Michaels said. "But I think it was time for Tina to do her own show. I think the show will be great. Anything that makes for another good show on television, I think is a good thing."
WHO WILL REPLACE Fey behind the "Weekend Update" anchor desk? Stay tuned — a decision is coming, but not for a while.
"We're going to do a bunch of tests, as we've done pretty much every time we've had to make a transition — different combinations and different people alone," Michaels said. "We'll do that in September and decide then what we think the best approach is."
THERE'S A SCENE in the pilot of "30 Rock" in which Tracy Morgan's character, a comedian/TV star, is running around in the middle of traffic, wearing nothing but underpants and acting crazy. Which is, of course, what real-life comedian/TV star Martin Lawrence once did.
So . . . does Morgan know Lawrence personally?
"No, but I know my Uncle Rick," he said. "He did it first. The character that I'm playing is not really based (on Lawrence). I mean, Martin didn't corner the market on meltdowns. The only thing, my cousin Rick, he didn't have no drawers on at all. So he was really the Evel Knievel of dudes like that."
Uncle, cousin, whatever.
RACHEL DRATCH HAS ALSO left "SNL" for "30 Rock," but what exactly she is going to be doing and how much time she'll be spending on "30 Rock" we don't know. She played a fairly large role in the pilot shown to critics, but, apparently, that may change.
"Well, Rachel is definitely going to be part of the show," Fey said. "But I think what we sort of learned from the pilot is I want to change her role a little bit. I feel like she was sort of pigeonholed into a less interesting part. . . . What we have for her is hopefully going to be more fun for her to do as well."
Whatever that means.
IF "SNL" ISN'T GOOD this season, Lorne Michaels knows exactly where the blame will lie.
"I think this year — and I think it's probably companywide at NBC — there's just massive cuts. Budget cuts," he said. "So that makes some decisions simpler or clearer."
Sort of an interesting response . . . sort of. And Michaels isn't predicting that the upcoming season of "SNL" won't be good.
He said it's "always been a strength of the show" that one cast has transitioned into the next, "from when Chevy Chase left, and we had a really tough transition with Bill Murray because the audience wasn't there and the critical establishment wasn't there. But people rise to the occasion. And no matter how you felt going into the season, by the end of the season, you go, 'Hey, so-and-so did amazing work,' and they're the person people are talking about.
"So I think that Tina disappearing is a huge hole in the writing staff . . . and I think people will have to step up. And I think we will hopefully find our way in those first October shows. And you reassess every week."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com