Holiday Buying Guide 2008

Before (and after) she rode the Palin phenomenon like a dog sled of buzz, Tina Fey was parodying herself: or, rather, inventing an alternate life as comedy writer-producer Liz Lemon, in this backstage sendup that really hit its stride in its second season. Over 15 episodes (the season was shortened by the writers' strike), the show offered a spoof of the Bush administration in the season-ending "Cooter" episode, a dead-on Redd Foxx imitation by costar Alec Baldwin and guest appearances including Star Wars' Carrie Fisher as a radical comedy writer who latches on to Liz. ("Help me, Liz Lemon, you're my only hope!") A slew of brilliant supporting and recurring characters — like Tracy Morgan as a perpetually out-of-control comedic star — prove that TV laughs best when it laughs at itself.

—James Poniewozik