Would you still watch '30 Rock' without Alec Baldwin?

Could 30 Rock survive without Alec Baldwin? Yep, we’re at it again, even though we’ve wondered the same thing before. Uh, twice. Baldwin gave another interview where he said he wants to quit acting and that 30 Rock is “pretty much it” for him. His contract, you may recall, is up in 2012.

Look, I love Baldwin as Jack Donaghy, and I find 30 Rock to the most consistent comedy pleasure in my week. Change is generally difficult and upsetting, and I would never want 30 Rock to hang on past its good days. But come 2012, if the show’s still good, I really think TGS and the faux NBC could survive without Baldwin.

If the real NBC can go through a changing of the guard (with another one possibly on the way), why not the fictional one? Some people like Rebecca more than Diane, right?

I could see another majestically smarmy fellow taking over — ah, if only Steve Martin hadn’t already had a guest spot! — but I think it would be more interesting to see, oh, Candice Bergen or Jane Curtin take the reins.

Doth Alec Baldwin protest too much, PopWatchers? Do you think he’d really leave 30 Rock before the show was done — and could 30 Rock continue without him?