saturday night live

[MacGuffin]

Shuffling the cast at 'Saturday Night'
The NBC comedy institution may be losing veterans Parnell, Sanz and Thompson on top of other defections.
Source: Los Angeles Times

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" will return for its 32nd season next month minus several familiar faces.

Longtime cast members Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Kenan Thompson will likely exit the late-night comedy staple, according to a source close to the show. Still inconclusive are talks to bring back Darrell Hammond, famed for his impersonations of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and other celebrities. Hammond joined the cast in 1995 and has had the longest tenure of any performer in the show's history.

Meanwhile, "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels is expected to hand the reins of the signature fake-news segment "Weekend Update" — recently co-hosted by writer-performer Tina Fey and Amy Poehler — to a newer cast member, Jason Sudeikis.

An NBC spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.

The cast shuffle comes in the wake of some previously announced departures. Fey is leaving along with cast member Rachel Dratch; the pair will work on Fey's NBC comedy "30 Rock," a parody of an "SNL"-style show.

"SNL" could be headed for one of its biggest makeovers in years — and not by choice. During a press conference last month in Pasadena, Michaels told reporters that the late-night fixture is facing massive budget cuts from NBC. Cast members are typically signed to multiyear deals that pay about $8,000 per episode, agents say. Many former cast members, such as Eddie Murphy and Will Ferrell, have gone on to movie stardom.

[matt35mm]

Longtime cast [member]... Kenan Thompson

Huh.

[Ravi]

Huh.

I know, right?

[Bethie]

they should lose them all

[modage]

oh snap! 

cinephile, a rebuttal?

[Ravi]

They should give the show to Cinephile.

[grand theft sparrow]

They should give Cinephile to the show.

[MacGuffin]

Cook Hosts Saturday Night Live Premiere

"Saturday Night Live" continues its extraordinary run and returns for its 32nd season on September 30 (NBC, 11:30 p.m. 1:00 a.m. ET).

The season premiere will be hosted by red-hot standup comedian Dane Cook, who returns for his second hosting stint. An inventive and electric performer, Cook will soon be seen starring opposite Jessica Simpson in the comedy Employee of the Month. The comedian has built an impressive following through relentless touring (as chronicled on HBO's "Tourgasm" and standup special "Vicious Circle" and his pervasive online presence on both his own website and MySpace.com (where he has over one million "friends.") Cook continues to enjoy the success of his certified platinum comedy album "Retaliation," which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, making him the highest-charting comedian in 25 years. Future projects for Cook include the features Dan in Real Life with Steve Carell and Good Luck Chuck opposite Jessica Alba.

Also returning to "SNL" are The Killers, performing from their eagerly awaited sophomore release "Sam's Town." The new album is the follow-up to the band's five million-selling debut "Hot Fuss," which garnered four hit singles and seven Grammy nominations. Named "Band of the Year" by Spin magazine in 2004, the Killers' record was the longest-running rock record to remain in the Top 50 for the same year and their new single "When You Were Young" is already Top Five at alternative radio and one of the most played videos on MTV.

Returning to the SNL repertory cast are Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and Kristen Wiig. Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Finesse Mitchell are not part of the line-up.

Amy Poehler will return to the "Weekend Update" desk with a new partner to be announced later. Also returning, Seth Meyers returns for his second season as head writer, sharing the position with Emmy winners Andrew Steele and Paula Pell.

Another new addition to the show is director Don Roy King. The Emmy Award-winning live television veteran takes the helm of "SNL "with a wide range of credits running the gamut, from 14 years at CBS' "The Early Show," six years at "Good Morning America" and the first four live "Survivor" finales to "The Mike Douglas Show" and numerous Broadway productions for television.

"Saturday Night Live," which premiered on October 11, 1975, is from SNL Studios in association with Broadway Video. The creator and executive producer is Lorne Michaels. Steve Higgins produces. Marci Klein and Mike Shoemaker are producers. Head writers are Seth Meyers, Paula Pell and Andrew Steele. Don Roy King directs.

[matt35mm]

Wow!  There's no way this can't be good!

Yup.  No way in hell this could possibly not be an outstanding episode.  It's just got everything going for it.  EMMY-winning writers!  A new director with a wide range of experience!  That guy must totally know what he's doing.  I think it could be a new benchmark for television comedy.

[SiliasRuby]

This makes me very very happy! 

[grand theft sparrow]

OK, we're about due for some new cast member(s) to come and light up the show.  Every 5 or 6 years, someone comes to bring the show back from the brink of shit.  Eddie Murphy, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Poehler... it's about that time.  Unfortunately, I don't see any of the current cast members doing it, although I think that Will Forte needs his own show.  If that Falconer skit with Spacey is any indication of what he's reining in, he needs to go on HBO or something immediately. 

[polkablues]

OK, we're about due for some new cast member(s) to come and light up the show.

I predict next season will be a big one for Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis (and probably Bill Hader too, especially if Darrell Hammond doesn't come back).

I'm telling you...

Not that they're going to hit superstar heights like Myers, Sandler, and Ferrell, but they can make with the funny, and that's all that matters.

[grand theft sparrow]

You really think Kristen Wiig is that good?  She'd better crank it up from last season because I didn't like her.  The only thing I remember her being funny in is the 2 A-holes skit which is still not as funny as the show ought to be.

Sudekis is funny (that "TACO TOWN!!!" shout he gives at the end of that commercial cracks me up every time) but they need more than just someone to bring the funny, because it's obvious that everyone they've ever hired can be funny (85-86 cast aside).  The problem is that there's no anchor, no one to rally around.  They haven't had one since Will Ferrell.  Myers, Sandler, and Farley were great but that was because Hartman was their rock; without him, the show would have been a lot shakier back then (and as I recall, a lot of critics declared the show dead when they were at their peak).  Same went for the late 90s cast and Ferrell.  Tina Fey was the closest they had to a rock, as she was the first head writer to not perform in regular skits to get some sort of notoriety.  But especially now that she's gone, someone has to take center stage, and not someone of the Jimmy Fallon/frat boy ilk, or the show is going to continue to be scattershot like it has been.

[polkablues]

The thing they haven't really had since Will Ferrell was someone who could be funny at any time, in any sketch, and even make a bad sketch funny just by being in it.  The closest they have now is Will Forte, who I could see really coming into his own this season, as long as the writers are smart enough to recognize what he's capable of.

And I actually like Kristen Wiig a lot.  For one, she's the best female impressionist (not to be confused with a female impersonator) the show's ever had, and two, she has the same sort of versatility that Cheri Oteri had, although maybe not as inherently funny as Oteri was.

But in the long run, it all comes down to the writing.  If they write good sketches, it'll be a good season.  Otherwise...

[MacGuffin]

Workin' on the 'Weekend'
EW Exclusive! ''Saturday Night Live'' fans, meet your new ''Weekend Update'' team... 

They've played ''the couple that should be divorced,'' but now they're stuck sitting next to each other for an entire TV season. Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels has tapped Seth Meyers to join Amy Poehler in anchoring Saturday Night Live's ''Weekend Update,'' filling the void left by Tina Fey.

Meyers — who's also taking Fey's spot as a head writer on the show — feels like the gig was tailor-made for him. ''I'm one of the few people in show business who wanted a job where I had to wear a tie,'' he says. ''My goal is to be a slightly less handsome Brian Williams.'' While the new gig means no more sketches, he's happy to be spending time catching up on the (real) news. ''Have you heard about the Middle East?'' he laughs. ''Man, that place is nuts.''