Researching Characters

30 Rock, 5 Characters

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey): Liz Lemon is the protagonist of the series, the head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan. Jack Donaghy accurately describes her as a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, overscheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for...a week."

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin): Jack Donaghy is the decisive, controlling, suave network executive who constantly must deal with and/or causes unusual events at TGS. Donaghy is portrayed as a slick, yet brilliant and scrupulous network executive who directs many overtly backhanded compliments to head writer Liz Lemon. Lemon—whom he always refers to by her last name—and Donaghy are each other's work spouses.

Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan): Tracy Jordan is the loose cannon star of TGS. He is a successful movie star with a reputation for unpredictable, highly erratic behavior. This reputation is well-earned and much of it is an intentional attempt on his part to maintain his "crazy" persona in the eyes of the media. In the pilot episode, Jack Donaghy forces Liz Lemon to hire Tracy as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz and Jenna, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the following episode. Tracy has remained the star of TGS ever since.

Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski): Jenna Maroney is the limelight-seeking co-star of TGS and Liz's best friend. A running gag is her thinking she's doing the right thing for her career, only resulting in her humiliating herself in front of everyone, and never learning from her mistakes. Generally, she fits into the "dumb blonde" stereotype as well as the stereotype of actresses being air headed and self-centered. Off-camera, she is conceited, frequently lies about her age and uses her "sexuality" (i.e., flirting) to get her way with men. She tries to seem smart to her fans and to the general public, even going as far as telling Life and Style magazine her favorite book is the Quran.

Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer): Kenneth Parcell is a cheerful, young, obedient Southern-born NBC page, who "lives for television." There is a reference that has appeared more than once that kenneth is actually super old. In one episode he had mad been talking to tracy's character, they had been laughing and everything was fine but then kenneth had mis heard Tracy and had turned around and said, who told you I've been alive for ever.

Community, 7 Characters

Jeff Winger (Joel McHale): Jeffrey Tobias "Jeff" Winger is a 33-year-old snarky, glib lawyer attending Greendale Community College. He was a lawyer until the Colorado Bar Association found out that he did not get a bachelor's degree from Columbia University but, in fact, got one that was "less than legitimate" and "better than real" from the country of Colombia. Jeff returns to college by attending Greendale Community College as a "deal" with the bar in order to prevent him from being disbarred. He consequently hopes to graduate as quickly as possible.

Britta Perry (Gillian Jacobs): Britta decided to drop out of high school because she thought it would impress Radiohead. After dropping out of school, she started vandalizing billboards around the area where she grew up. During the vandalizing she became friends with other people who liked to vandalize. The friends created a small group of "anarchist billboard vandals". When the group grew larger she was kicked out, due the democratic voting system the anarchists used to vote her out. Soon after her departure, the group developed into a high-end advertising firm. After her fallout she joined the Peace Corps, did some foot modeling, got teargassed at a World Trade rally and took an extended vacation in Africa. Realizing she needed to do something with her life, Britta got her G.E.D. and enrolled at Greendale.

Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi): Abed Nadir is a trilingual (English, Arabic, and Polish) Palestinian/Polish-American pop-culture junkie who aspires to become a director and is currently taking film directing classes at Greendale Community College. His original plan at Greendale was to take business classes to eventually help run his father's falafel stand, but this became his backup plan when Britta inspired him to pursue his true love. While he has emotion and sympathy for his new friends, he speaks with a rather detached and emotionless tone, as well as with a distinct straightforwardness lacking a mental filter, leading some of his friends to suspect he has Asperger's.

Shirley Bennett (Yvette Nicole Brown): Shirley Bennett is a recently divorced mother of two who attends Greendale Community College. Shirley is a devoted Christian and is very sweet but also has thinly-veiled rage issues and gossips compulsively. She is proud to be an African American and a woman but appreciates not being defined by those characteristics. She is very friendly to everyone, but sometimes has problems minding her own business or keeping secrets.

Annie Edison (Alison Brie): Annie Edison is a straight-laced Jewish twenty-year-old who is in her second year at Greendale Community College. She lost her virginity to her high school boyfriend "to Madonna's Erotica on the floor of his walk-in closet", but due to him being a closeted homosexual, he refused to let her see his penis, an organ she has never laid eyes on. She lost her college scholarship and dropped out of high school due to an addiction to Adderall, having a nervous breakdown that culminated in her jumping through a window yelling "Everyone's a robot!" Against the wishes of her mother, she chose to confront the addiction and go to rehab, and is currently estranged from her family.

Troy Barnes (Donald Glover): Troy Barnes is a former high school football star who now attends Greendale Community College. Born and raised in Greendale, Colorado, Troy made a name for himself as the varsity quarterback of his high school football team, and was also prom king. He injured himself during a "keg flip" in high school that cost him a football scholarship, an injury he later revealed to be intentional because he could not take the pressure of a talent scout at a big game. He now plays quarterback for the nonathletic Greendale Human Beings, saying he would rather play football for fun. While he starts off hanging out with Pierce at Greendale, he becomes best friends with Abed who shares his peculiar sense of humor. The two spend most of their time at Greendale together and most episodes end with one of their antics.

Pierce Hawthorne (Chevy Chase): Pierce Hawthorne is a moist towelette tycoon attending Greendale Community College. He claims to be a world traveler, a toastmaster, magician, keyboardist and self-styled hypnotherapist, and considers himself a "quality of life person". He enrolled in Greendale looking for companionship and popularity, but is held back by his clumsiness and his lack of tact. Much older than most Greendale students, he is sometimes disoriented by youth culture while still trying to embrace it. He also unknowingly buys into many sexist and racist stereotypes which often lead him to unintentionally make offensive statements, the nature of which he's completely unaware. Much of this is directed at Shirley, whom he sometimes mistakes for other black women; Abed, whom he suspects being a terrorist because he is Muslim; and Jeff, whom he actively tries to insult in an attempt to be cool, despite his inability to do so with wit.

Parks and Recreation, 6 Characters

Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler): Leslie is a "mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation Department of Pawnee, Indiana" who hopes to advance her career and improve her town, while working towards her goal of becoming the first female President. Initially, she is shown to carry romantic feelings for her co-worker Mark due to a one-night stand they had six years ago. She is desperate to impress her mother Marlene, who is a well-known politician in the Pawnee government.

Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman): Ronald "Ron" Swanson is Leslie's deadpan superior as the head of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department. He possesses strong anti-governmental beliefs, and wishes to privatize the parks department, saying at one point that if he becomes Pawnee's City Manager he will aim to eliminate the entire department. He is usually non-confrontational and gives Leslie a lot of leeway when running the department. He jokingly keeps a claymore and a sawed off shotgun on his desk, so people who ask for things have to stare down the barrel. Swanson lives a double life as a jazz musician using the stage name Duke Silver, which he keeps from his coworkers. He has been married twice; both marriages were to women named Tammy and ended badly. His mother's name is also Tammy.

Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari): Thomas "Tom" Haverford is a sarcastic, underachieving government official for the city of Pawnee. He is Leslie Knope's right hand man in most situations. Tom's given name is Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani; which he deems unappealing for a career in politics. He is often selected to go on field projects with Leslie. He lacks seriousness about his work at the Parks Department, often playing online Scrabble with Ron. He frequently abuses his small amount of public power for self-benefit and constantly pursues women, including visits to strip clubs, hitting on Ann, and judging the Miss Pawnee pageant. He engages in these activities while married to Wendy, his Canadian born college friend, who he protected from deportation through their marriage.

April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza): April Ludgate is an apathetic college student, who was an intern employed by the Pawnee Department of Parks and Recreation. April is somewhat rebellious and is often annoyed by her fellow parks department workers. Her ex-boyfriend, Derek, is openly gay (or possibly bisexual) and dates a fellow college student named Ben (whom April dislikes). April is of mixed English and Puerto Rican descent, which she claims makes her "lively and colorful"; she also speaks and understands Spanish fairly well. She currently lives with her parents and has a sister named Natalie who has low self-esteem and enjoys taking Ritalin.

Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones): Ann Perkins is a nurse, Mark Brendanawicz's former girlfriend, and a good friend of Leslie. She and Leslie met while working on a project to turn an abandoned construction pit behind her house into a public park. Her ex-boyfriend Andy fell into the pit, making Ann an advocate for its filling. She and Andy broke up when it was revealed that he had been keeping his cast on to continue having Ann at his beck-and-call. She began dating Mark Brendanawicz after he confessed he liked her. They broke up towards the end of the second season because Ann felt the relationship was boring and wasn't going anywhere, despite the fact that Mark was planning to propose. She is usually seen at the Parks and Recreation department, often participating in its duties, while she is not at work.

Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt): Andrew "Andy" Dwyer is Ann Perkins' former boyfriend, an unsuccessful musician, and a Shoe-Shiner at Pawnee City Hall. Andy broke both of his legs upon falling into a large pit near his house while extremely intoxicated. His ex-girlfriend Ann, with whom he was living at the time, became an avid supporter of efforts to fill in the pit. After his injuries healed, he persuaded the doctor not to remove the cast so that he could continue to lounge at home and have Ann at his beck and call. Upon discovering this, Ann dumped him. Andy moved into a tent pitched in the pit and watched Ann, claiming to protect her.

The Office, 4 Characters

Michael Scott (Steve Carrell): Michael Gary Scott (born March 15, 1964 in Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA) was a fictional character on NBC's The Office and based on David Brent from the original British version. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager (formerly co-manager) of the Scranton branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc.

Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer): Pam Halpert is one of the office employees at the Scranton branch of the fictitious paper-distributor Dunder Mifflin. Many episodes of the series revolve around her desire to be more assertive and have an artistic career, as well as her relationship with co-worker and husband Jim Halpert. The office pranks she and Jim play on his deskmate Dwight Schrute are a cornerstone of the series, as are the often bizarre tasks, assignments, and advice questions given to her by the branch's boss Michael Scott. At the beginning of the series, she was engaged to warehouse worker Roy Anderson, leading to several story arcs of "will they or won't they" tension between her and Jim. Pam is portrayed as a friendly and generally amicable employee of Dunder Mifflin.

Jim Halpert (John Krasinski): Jim Halpert is a salesman (formerly co-manager and Assistant Regional Manager) at the Scranton branch of office supply distributor Dunder Mifflin (now a division of Sabre). He was voluntarily demoted back to salesperson as he would make more in sales than management as Sabre doesn't cap sales commissions. He spends much of his time conspiring with fellow salesperson, and wife, Pam Halpert, to engineer pranks on his overbearing deskmate Dwight Schrute.

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson): Dwight is a former volunteer sheriff deputy and has been trained in surveillance. Dwight lives on his family's 60-acre beet farm, in a nine bedroom farmhouse (with one outhouse), with his cousin Mose, where they grow table beets. Dwight also likes paintball, ping pong, survivalism, Goju Ryu karate and weapons. He drives a red 1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. At the end of season 5 Dwight introduces his best friend, Rolf. He says that they met in a shoe store when he overheard him asking for a shoe that could increase his speed, and not leave any tracks.