The banner year of SNL’s forty-second season culminated with an experiment that saw its final four episodes airing live on the west coast. Now, even as Season 43 loses some familiar faces, creator Lorne Michaels confirms SNL will be keeping its new format.
SNL will have missed out on a lifetime of news by the time Season 43 premieres this fall, but Weekend Update is doing its best to catch up. And who better to sum things up than beloved former anchor Tina Fey, who drops by to stress-eat over the weekend’s events, and scream into some cake?
Just when we thought the twists of cancellation season were at an end, NBC is making history. Despite officially declining to order a second season of Timeless this past week, the network has apparently changed its mind and greenlit Season 2 after all.
It wasn’t any surprise to hear that NBC was mulling a full Will and Grace revival after the surprise election special, though star Debra Messing certainly pumped the brakes on claims the deal was done. Someone may have been doing a bit of fibbing, as NBC now confirms a 10-episode revival in the works.
The initial shock of Donald Trump’s election left it unclear if SNL would continually call on Alec Baldwin for such an extended commitment, but the 30 Rock alum and ranking host has soldiered on, much to the real Trump’s enjoyable chagrin. Baldwin may even follow in Will Ferrell’s “Dubya” footsteps, apparently taking the role to “other venues.”
Considering the ease with which Will & Grace revived its brand for a short election-themed “episode,” it wasn’t any surprise that NBC would look into an official revival. Word has been vague since then, though star Leslie Jordan says the new series is “absolutely” happening, and has already picked out a shoot date.
The year’s final SNL host Casey Affleck poked fun at the seeming oddity of his own presence as the final guest of 2016, but if anyone seemed more appropriate, it’d be Rogue One star Felicity Jones. Thankfully, the erstwhile Jyn Erso will get her chance as the first host of 2017.
Dave Chappelle practically quit show-business over the endless association with his viral Chappelle’s Show characters, to the point few presumed we’d ever see them again. Well, it seems we owe The Walking Dead’s frustrating cliffhanger a debt of gratitude, as Chappelle took his SNL hosting as a chance to revive a number of Chappelle’s Show favorites … at least to kill one off.
SNL had a taxing October with a full four hosts for Season 42, but November will get really Strange. Benedict Cumberbatch himself will host the first November SNL, the very weekend that Marvel’s Doctor Strange hits theaters.
It might surprise you to learn that Amy Poehler had never won an Emmy before last night, but less so that she’d make history doing it. Ahead of the full ceremony next Sunday, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey both took home Emmy awards for their SNL hosting, and made history in the process.
You may have heard an old anecdote around The Walking Dead, that initial network notes for the undead drama questioned whether the series needed zombies at all, but it seems AMC’s flagship hit was practically almost iZombie. Producer Gale Ann Hurd reveals that NBC wanted to tweak the premise into a police procedural solving zombie-related cases.