Fey full of confidence

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A year ago at this time, NBC had two shows set behind the scenes of sort of a fictionalized "Saturday Night Live" program. And most people were betting that Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" stood a better chance of still being on NBC's schedule this fall than Tina Fey's "30 Rock."

Everybody but Fey, who insists that she was "100 percent" sure hers would be the show that succeeded.

"I have a nasty 'SNL' competitive streak in me, so I'm going to say 150 percent," she amended.

"Yeah," agreed executive producer Lorne Michaels. "She's not lying."

The show will evolve somewhat from what it was the first season. The truth is that "30 Rock" (Thursdays, 8:30 p.m., Ch. 5) has to build its ratings or it won't be back for a third season. It will, apparently, remain outrageous. Just, apparently, somewhat less outrageous.

"We want the characters to be believable enough that you still care about them but still be able to do crazy jokes with them," Fey said. "So I think we learned that as the year went. And I think we, this year, are going to try to maybe do a little less, because the shows were so dense that sometimes we worried that it was almost going by too quickly for the audience. So we're hoping to let things breathe a little bit."

It's not that the characters won't remain sort of bigger than life, just maybe a little less enormous. "I think you can make them pretty big, but I think it would be better if you believe that that they're actual human beings," Fey said.

IN THE WAKE OF his embarrassing phone-mail message to his daughter, Alec Baldwin announced back in April that he wanted to quit "30 Rock" — a request that was denied by NBC, which has Baldwin under contract.

Fey said she hasn't talked to him about it. "No, I've never even met Alec," she said. "We shoot everything directionally."

Michaels, on the other hand, has talked to Baldwin. "I think he's such an important part of the show, and I think he loves the show," Michaels said. "And I think he'll be back."

He is indeed under contract, and NBC Entertainment co-chairman Marc Graboff said there is "no issue" with his contract. And Michaels said Baldwin is clearly planning to be there when "30 Rock" goes back into production.

"I see him often, so there was no one moment where we made eye contact and discussed it — whether he would be coming back to the show," Michaels said.

"Did you wrestle over a gun?" Fey asked.