I gave up watching Tina Fey’s 30 Rock for a little over a year. I decided that Liz Lemon was too self-deprecating: she could never keep a man even though she’s played by the veritable hottie, Tina Fey; she watches too many infomercials for a successful woman; she needs Jack Donaghy’s advice a little too often. I traded in 30 Rock for shows in which the characters are a little nicer to each other like Modern Family and where the lead character’s feminism holds water in any storm like Parks and Recreation.

But I shouldn’t have forsaken Tina Fey. In the past few weeks, I have used 30 Rock as my primary TV outlet in between grad school applications. Watching the fifth season that I’d missed and moving backwards in seasons, I remembered why I loved 30 Rock in the first place. Here are some reasons why:

--Liz Lemon likes herself and her life. I turned off 30 Rock in its fourth season because I thought Liz hated herself and her life. She was 40, but had never married. She didn’t have children. She put a wedding dress on top of her rarely used treadmill. But re-watching the show, Liz likes her life. She has a great job, she gets quite a few boyfriends, she doesn’t bemoan her body or her addiction to potato chips. Yes, the show can disparage Liz too much (particularly Jack), but Liz, although self-deprecating about her missing spouse and children, is happy.

--Kenneth the page. Droopy eyed, chinless Kenneth is probably the most lovable character on the show. He may seem rather one-note, but his morals and care for his friends and co-workers is complex and admirable.

--Jack Donaghy needs Liz Lemon as much as Liz Lemon needs Jack Donaghy. One could look at the relationship between the two and say that Liz is Jack’s mentee. That is true, but Jack is Liz’s mentee, as well. He mentors her on how to invest in real estate; she mentors him on how to stop caring so much if his big shot corporate friends know that he cares for one of his subordinates. They both care for one another deeply, and it’s one of the only male-female friendships on television in which neither character is secretly lusting after the other.

--Liz and Jenna are real friends. I was primarily turned off by 30 Rock because I didn’t think that it portrayed women who were truly friends. Liz babies Jenna, and Jenna trash talks Liz to her face. But watching the show again, Jenna tries to help Liz even though it means that she’ll lose the cover of a magazine, and they have conversations that don’t revolve on beauty or looks or men. They might not be as caring or important to each other as are Amy Poehler’s Leslie Knope and Rashida Jones’ Ann Perkins, but they are friends nonetheless.