The same year that "30 Rock" started airing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), another show set behind the scenes of a fictional Saturday Night Live (1975)-type show, also premiered. Even though there were many differences between them (including "30 Rock" being a half-hour sitcom while "Studio 60" was an hour-long drama), many critics compared the two shows and engaged in speculation about which one would survive. "Studio 60" was canceled after one season. This is why, when Aaron Sorkin lists some of his most famous movie and TV credits and Liz adds "Studio 60," Sorkin tells her to shut up.
While Liz is talking to Aaron Sorkin about TV writing, he complains, "Our craft is dying while people are playing "Angry Birds" and poking each other on Facebook. What is poking anyway? Why won't anybody do it to me? I'm cool." Sorkin won a 2011 Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Oscar for the script of The Social Network (2010), a movie about the founding of Facebook.com.
In her 2011 book, "Bossypants," Tina Fey said that she first met Aaron Sorkin while she was an undergraduate theater major at the University of Virginia. Sorkin, then best known as a playwright, came to UVA to be an artist in residence.
When Liz first starts to talk to Aaron Sorkin he says "walk with me" and they finish the conversation while walking around. Sorkin famously created the "walk and talk" where television characters talk while walking around.
The director of "Transformers 5" is Nick Bernardone, a writer for the show, and its producer, Jerry Kupfer, is a producer for the show.