Don't worry, 30 Rock will totally deal with Kim Jong-Il's passing

After North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il died December 18 from "great physical and mental strain," the initial reaction of many Americans was not, "Omigod, how will this affect an already volatile Asian market?" but rather, "Omigod, how will this affect the already volatile relationship of Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) and Avery Jessup (Elizabeth Banks, above), who was forcibly married off to Kim Jong-Il's son at the end of 30 Rock last season?" Well, those of you who are more concerned with TV People than Real World People need not worry, because 30 Rock producer Richard Carlock assures us that the show will deal with the passing of the dictator (played by Margaret Cho) when it returns January 12.

"Jack's love life is pretty complicated and it just got more complicated because I think, technically, Avery is the First Lady of North Korea," Carlock hinted to Us Weekly. Although the show had already shot eight or nine episodes before the dictator's passing, Carlock said that fortunately, none of the episodes explicitly referred to Kim Jong-Il by name, which made it easier to develop the storyline for the rest of the season. "We can't go back and address the changes there, but the fun puzzle is turning around and figuring how to get her out of there and how to continue things," he said. 

There you have it, TV People: unlike the writing staff of most sitcoms, the people behind 30 Rock actually read the newspapers, and the fate of Avery Jessup will not be left up in the air next season. Maybe Dennis Duffy will abandon his basement coffee-machine business venture and go in there after her?