September 20, 2008
The season premiere of Saturday Night Live last week saw the so-called greatest Olympian of all time Michael Phelps hosting and, if reviews are to be believed, bombing. Who can blame him, though? Tina Fey's return to Saturday Night Live was nothing short of explosive with critics noting her spot-on resemblance of Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Add Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton and any mediocre hosting job will surely go unnoticed.
While Fey's return to succeeding episodes of SNL is yet to be confirmed, tonight's Saturday Night Live will feature Pineapple Express star James Franco, alongside musical guest Kings of Leon. After playing James Dean in the critically acclaimed TNT biopic, Franco most recently appeared in the stoner comedy Pineapple Express with Seth Rogen. His upcoming works include the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe that will bring Richard Gere and Diane Lane back together and the highly anticipated Milk with Sean Penn.
September 19, 2008
Is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the most important news show in America? That may sound like a cynical question, but think about it. There's so much competing noise these days in the cable news world that The Daily Show probably is, at least on cable, as formidable in the news world as Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olberman. The Daily Show has won the Emmy for Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series for five straight years. There's no reason it won't happen again, but the competition isn't anything to sneeze at either. The Emmys are only two days away, folks. Below we'll take a look at the Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series category, as well as the Best Reality-Competition Series category.
September 13, 2008
Tonight Saturday Night Live returns for yet another season. The long-running sketch comedy series is starting with a risky choice for host, Olympian Michael Phelps. While he certainly is one of the most recognizable faces of the summer, athletes rarely make great hosts for the sake of comedy. But with the presidential election heating up, Saturday Night Live has more than enough material some hilarious entertainment. Sarah Palin alone should provide fodder for several sketches.
I'll be updating as the episode goes. With rumors swirling that Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and even Barack Obama could appear, there should be high hopes.
September 10, 2008
As anticipation builds up for the much-awaited Saturday Night Live hosting of eight-gold-medal Olympian Michael Phelps on Saturday, cast member Kristen Wiig says the swimming champion will need to show some skin for the sketches she's preparing for him, unlike in the Beijing where he was constantly in a body suit.
"I'm excited to meet Michael Phelps! He's gonna be naked in all the sketches I write, for sure," exclaims Wilg. "There are some people that you can just picture with a wig on and it's funny. He's one of those people."
September 6, 2008
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In a move that a critic warned would “spark late-night chaos,” NBC announced that Jay Leno would leave his spot on The Tonight Show on May 29, 2009. On June 1, The Late Show host Conan O'Brien would take over his spot. Previously, O'Brien was promised by NBC that he would soon be moved to the earlier spot once Leno retires for fear of losing him to another network. This, of course, is all grounded on the fact that NBC has historically had the lion's share of ratings during this time slot, rendering the slightest move consequential.
Jimmy Fallon is not worried. The Saturday Night Live alum will take the spot to be vacated by O'Brien next year. At the same time, Saturday Night Live long-time producer Michael Shoemaker will reportedly oversee production on the upcoming Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, after being with Saturday Night Live for 20 years. The two had worked together with SNL, the same show responsible for introducing O'Brien to the world.
September 1, 2008
The relative quality of Saturday Night Live is always in question. The Tina Fey years were the best. No, the Will Ferrell years. No, the Chris Farley years. No, the Eddie Murphy years. No, the John Belushi years. No, after episode one, it was all downhill.
But without a doubt, an easy reference point for the quality of any Saturday Night Live season is: who's sitting at the Weekend Update desk. Chevy Chase was the icon, followed by Dan Aykroyd and "ignorant slut" Jane Curtin. Dennis Miller was more loquacious than Henry Clay on opium. Kevin Nealon perfected the sarcastic tone, while Colin Quinn tried his best to kill the Weekend Update desk. Then, after a long drought, they brought back the duos with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon, and all seemed right with the world.
August 27, 2008
NBC just announced who will be hosting the season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 13. I'll let you take a second and guess who it is. My colleague John Kubicek correctly predicted this, as I'm sure literally thousands of others did. Think about it. The Olympics were just on NBC, breaking ratings records in the process, and who was the biggest star in Beijing? That's right - Michael Phelps, golden god, destroyer of mortals, a man who spits in the face of world records, will be the first host of Saturday Night Live's 34th season. Joining Phelps will be a musical guest whose music Phelps supposedly listens to prior to his races. Yep, that notorious guzzler of cough syrup, rapper Lil' Wayne will be the season premiere's musical guest.
August 22, 2008
Saturday Night Live has a new cast member. You've probably never heard of him, which is the way it usually works out. His name is Bobby Moynihan. He's a veteran of the the improv game, having been a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater for years. Moynihan will likely be the only new cast member for Saturday Night Live, at least this Fall. It was expected that the long-running comedy series would pick up a new female cast member, considering that Amy Poehler is set to leave Saturday Night Live in the middle of the season. Poehler will star in a prime time NBC comedy that is currently being developed by members of The Office writing team. It's possible that a new cast member will be hired mid-season following Poehler's exit. Saturday Night Live auditioned both male and female comedians. Moynihan had his final audition, in front of SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, last weekend.