Long-time writer, performer leaving to focus on new show

Tina Fey is writing for and starring in a new prime-time series on NBC this fall, so she's leaving the other show for which she writes and performs.

Fey told Jay Leno on Friday's "Tonight Show" that she'll be stepping down from "Saturday Night Live," where she's spent nine seasons, to focus on "30 Rock," an NBC comedy that will air on Wednesday nights in the fall.

"I'm not going to do 'Saturday Night Live' any more. I wish I could," she told Leno. "I wanted to stop doing 'Saturday Night Live' so I could spend more time with Star Jones."

Lorne Michaels, who produces both "SNL" and "30 Rock," says he's sorry to lose Fey from the former, but "it was time for Tina to do her own show now," he told reporters Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour.

In "30 Rock," Fey stars as the head writer of a sketch-comedy series called "The Girlie Show" who butts heads with a new network executive played by Alec Baldwin. The show also features Rachel Dratch, who's also departing "SNL," and Tracy Morgan, a regular on the late-night institution from 1996-2003.

Fey also wrote the pilot for "30 Rock" and will serve as an executive producer.

Michaels says "Saturday Night Live" hasn't yet decided who will take Fey's spot on "Weekend Update," which she's co-anchored with Amy Poehler for the past two seasons. He says he'll do a series of tests with various cast members, both solo and in teams, before deciding who fronts the fake newscast.