PASADENA, California – Tina Fey is leaving the anchor chair at "Saturday Night Live." Fey says she's quitting the show after six seasons as head writer and co-anchor of the "Weekend Update" fake news segment to focus on her new NBC prime-time series, "30 Rock."
"The new show's going to take a lot of time," Fey said while appearing on Friday night's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
"I wanted to stop doing 'Saturday Night Live' so I could spend more time with Star Jones," she joked, referring to last month's dramatic departure of "The View" co-hostess.
Fey, 36, first joined "Saturday Night Live" as a writer in 1997 and became head writer in 1999.
In 2000, she first appeared on camera on "Weekend Update" alongside co-anchor Jimmy Fallon, who was replaced by Amy Poehler two years ago.
Fey plays the head writer of a fictional late-night sketch show in "30 Rock," a show she developed for NBC that also stars Alec Baldwin.
"This is the big leap I'm making, it's a show about working at a late-night comedy show," she told Leno. "I'm very creative."
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