The Hilarious Sitcom Cameo You Forgot Ina Garten Had
If you were a fan of "30 Rock" during its prime, then you know there were some hysterical moments throughout the show's run. But one of the best people to continually be brought up throughout the show's duration was the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten. Apparently, in "30 Rock," Tina Fey's character, Liz Lemon, loves "three things," and one of them is Garten (via HuffPost).
In an earlier episode, Lemon tells Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donaghy, about how she's like the Barefoot Contessa. "I'm like that woman on the Food Network whose husband only comes home on the weekends, and spends the rest of the time eating and drinking with her gay friends," she quipped. Donaghy replies, "her name is Barefoot Contessa, Lemon, and you will never be like her, starting with the 'barefoot' part." The joke continues when Lemon sits down and watches part of a "Barefoot Contessa" episode with her boyfriend. But that isn't Garten's truly shining moment.
This was the scene when she finally showed up
Garten's real "30 Rock" cameo comes much later in the show's run. According to Insider, Garten shows up in the Season 5 finale episode, "Respawn." It's in this episode that Lemon finally attempts to make her dream of bumping into Garten in the Hamptons a reality. And while Lemon had always hoped she'd be neighbors to the celebrity chef who appears to have everything together, it doesn't go exactly as planned.
While Lemon does finally rent a beach house in the Hamptons, the star of her television show, Tracy Morgan, rents the house next to her. Crushing her dream, Lemon only sees Garten in her daydream and instead gets to deal with Morgan as a neighbor all summer.
While Lemon doesn't see Garten in her real-life summer, it's in her daydream that Garten pops up for her cameo. It was a moment that so many fans of the show loved, and was well-worth the build up to season five.