TVSquad

For some reason, Showtime's original series have been attempting to reference every major song on the Billboard '70s and '80s rock chart in their episode titles. Last night's Dexter titled "Blinded by the Light" kept sticking in my head and then I remembered why.

Just as the Kids in the Hall were coming to a close in Canada, Lorne Michaels brought a lesser known comedy troupe called The Vacant Lot to the CBC and Comedy Central. It only lasted one season, but one of their very funny inaugural sketches "Blinded by the Light" got stuck in my brain. Thankfully YouTube is required to save every memory ever recorded, and that includes the Vacant Lot's sketches. Enjoy.

(S35E02) After that Jenny Slate f-bomb nonsense and Megan Fox's not terribly original hot girl material from the season premiere, it was exciting to see a really solid episode (and a star-studded one, at that). Ryan Reynolds did a fantastic job as host (snaps for his wavering voice during the porcelain fountains sketch and accent in SYTYCD), though he didn't have any major stand-out roles. Did I miss the memo that Lady Gaga wasn't just musical guest but co-host as well? Such a role is normally left up to Ryan Reynolds' giant biceps.

It's been a while since we've seen such consistently enjoyable writing in an episode. Usually, there's a distinct lull during the course of the 90 minutes, but I didn't feel it this time. Hopefully, this is a good indication of the rest of the season.

For those who missed it (or weren't on the east coast) on Saturday night, new SNLer Jenny Slate managed to do something in her first-ever sketch that hadn't been accomplished on the show in 28 years: she let loose with an f-bomb.

In the sketch, Slate and Kristin Wiig play biker chicks, and instead of saying "friggin'" or "freakin'" or any of the other substitutes they were supposed to use, Slate actually uttered the words "and I fuckin' love you for that." See the video below. The look on her face after she just realizes what she did is even more priceless than the f-bomb itself:

Will Forte is hilarious. Last night, he stole the show from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, which admittedly doesn't seem very hard to do, with non-stop jokes and a mini rock opera. He might not be the most popular comedic actor on Saturday Night Live, but he's definitely one of the funniest. That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to his MacGruber movie.

Yup, a MacGruber movie. Forte told Fallon about a script he wrote for a feature film based on the SNL sketch. "John Solomon, Jorma Taccone, and I just finished writing it. We're gonna make it in Albuquerque. It's me and Kristen Wiig and cast to be determined," he said. Video after the jump.

(S34E22) Justin Timberlake returned for his third turn as host and it was tough not to keep expectations pretty high. I mean, if an vengeful warlock were to suddenly put a crippling curse on his music career (like they do), Timberlake could definitely fall back on being a professional SNL host. Yes, this would become a real profession, just for him.

As usual, some sketches fell a bit flat, but Timberlake's over-confident, hammy swagger made things a little more interesting. This particular episode also gave us another legendary musical Digital Short with Timberlake and Andy Samberg and a couple of all-around MILFs. It's tough to top a surprise appearance by Leonard effin' Nimoy, but "Motherlover" was certainly the highlight of the evening. Here are some other notable video moments!

In what can only be labeled as the "shock of the decade," Richard Huff of the New York Daily News has reported that Tina Fey will return to Saturday Night Live tonight to play Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee.

I've gotta tell ya, as far as the surprise factor is concerned, this ranks right up there with fall of the Berlin Wall and the Challenger explosion. I mean, Fey looks nothing like Palin. That's especially true when she's wearing her glasses; I can't seem to see any resemblance at all between the two at all in that case.

But I guess Lorne Michaels thought that Fey was the best person for the job, and asked her to take some time from knocking out 30 Rock episodes to play this woman. Maybe she'll be able to pull off the impression, though I can't imagine how.

So I've been back from LA for a couple of days, watching Rich and Keith file frantic reports from Comic-Con. It just makes me shake my head in sympathy. Though CC is a different animal from the TCAs, in both structure and in sheer volume of people and activities, I still know exactly how they feel. It all starts to feel like a blur after awhile -- panels, reporter scrums, parties, meeting your favorite (and not-so-favorite) TV stars... When you get back to "normal life," it almost feels like it never happened.

Anyway, now that I have a day or two to reflect, I took a cue from our friends at AOL and came up with a list of things I learned on this press tour. But this list will involve both the network-related things I learned with what I learned about celebrities, my fellow critics, and myself.

Taking a cue from ABC, NBC had Jay Leno pose as a reporter and ask NBC's two-headed entertainment chief, Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff, about when Leno would be leaving and when Conan would be starting. Only, instead of just wearing a baseball cap like Kimmel did, Leno donned a bald cap and beard to make him seem extra stealthy.

Some of the "funny" lines are after the jump, but here's the gist of the news: Leno's last day on the Tonight show will be on May 29, with Conan O'Brien taking over the following Monday, June 1. Conan will do his last Late Night sometime during the first quarter, according to Graboff and Silverman, and Jimmy Fallon will take over the timeslot at an undetermined time during either March or April (that's after starting online, as Lorne Michaels announced yesterday). No word on what will play in Conan's 12:30 slot in the interim period.

Just wanted to post a quick report about yesterday's late-afternoon Saturday Night Live panel. On the panel was (new TCA Career Achievement award winner) Lorne Michaels, Weekend Update anchor and co-head-writer Seth Meyers, and cast members Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Kristin Wiig, Will Forte, and Casey Wilson.

Given the comedy star power on stage, the panel was strangely unfunny. That's probably because Michaels answered most of the questions. Anyway, two pieces of news came out of this panel:

• SNL will run live 30-minute Thursday election specials in primetime starting October 9 and running until the election. The specials will feature Weekend Update but may also have sketches. There will also be a primetime "Presidential Bash" episode the night before the election.
• Michaels mentioned that Jimmy Fallon will air his show online for "five or six months" before it airs in Conan O'Brien's old timeslot, in order to give it a headstart in finding its creative legs. "We learned with Conan how brutal it was to find a show when it was on the air," he said.

Tonight, the members of the Television Critics Association (including me) gathered at the Beverly Hilton to give out its annual awards. The membership voted on the awards in the month leading up to the press tour; we were given a number of candidates to choose from in various categories. The membership was also asked to choose recipients for an individual Career Achievement award and the Heritage Award, which recognizes a past show that had a big impact artistically and on the industry.

The members didn't reach back too far for the Heritage Award: it was given to The Wire. As for current shows, the members gave Mad Men a bushel of awards: Program of the Year, Outstanding New Program, and Outstanding Achievement in Drama. 30 Rock won for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy, and Tina Fey won the Individual Achievement in Comedy award for her performance. John Adams won the mini-series award; its star, Paul Giamatti, won the Individual Achievement in Drama award. Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live received the Career Achievement award.

A complete list of winners is after the jump.

There's no doubt that one of the biggest benefactors of the explosion of YouTube has been Saturday Night Live. Not only did the video of the SNL sketch "Lazy Sunday" put the service on the map, but YT has repaid the show in spades by popularizing other SNL sketches and Digital Shorts, most notably the Justin Timberlake/Andy Samberg classic "Dick in a Box" from last Christmas.

But, since NBC struck a deal with Fox to create a video site designed to be a "YouTube killer," NBC's lawyers have been going after all YT clips of the show that weren't uploaded by NBC to the channel it maintains on the site. Michaels discusses the issue with the New York Observer and makes no bones about how he feels about the site: "YouTube has been great for us," he told writer Felix Gillette.

A few days ago I wrote about Rachel Sklar's Saturday Night Live piece in The Village Voice. Being that she had full access to the cast members as well as to executive producer Lorne Michaels, she gathered plenty of information, much of it not included in her Village Voice article.

So, rather than tossing it in the trash, Sklar took those remnants and posted them at The Huffington Post, where she is editor as well as contributor. There's some pretty good stuff here. For example, Michaels says 40 to 50 sketches are read and written during the normal show week, with only 10 to 15 of those making it to air on Saturday night. Also of interest is that cast member Jason Sudeikis' uncle is George Wendt, the happy-go-lucky alcoholic Norm from Cheers.

As Sklar says, a lot of this information is for the committed comedy wonk. So, if you aren't into the behind-the-scenes stuff this may not be for you. However, if you want to know about the "Really Important Things That SNL Staff, Cast & Writers Should Know" bulletin board, click here.

There has been plenty of press lately on the "new era", slimmed down, Tiny Fey-less Saturday Night Live. Some promising, others pretty dismal. On the somewhat positive (yet neutral) side we have Rachel Sklar's piece on SNL in a recent The Village Voice.

Rachel was pretty much given full access to rehearsals, two full shows, cast members, and Lorne Michaels himself for the piece. And, from what she sees, this cast is much different from ones that had previously graced the stage at Studio 8H. Gone are the days of booze, drugs and over-sized egos. In its place is a troupe of more responsible performers who want to sit back and catch up with each other rather than face-off on how much better they are. It's actually harder to do that these days because, as Sklar points out, everyone is being given more face time due to the loss of actors such as Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz.

The Sundance Channel will launch season two of Iconoclasts on the 26th with the help of Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder and surfing legend Laird Hamilton. According to Executive Producer Robert Redford, "Iconoclasts explores the intersection where two great talents meet - and where creativity comes alive." That's a pretty way to say they point a camera at a pair of people we wouldn't normally get to see together and watch what happens. It can go either way, but when it works, it makes for a very interesting show.

The rest of the slate for season two has some other intriguing pairings, including Mikhail Baryshnikov & Alice Waters, Quentin Tarentino & Fiona Apple, Isabella Rosselini & Dean Kamen, Paul Simon & Lorne Michaels, and Dave Chapelle & Maya Angelou. I'm really looking forward to the Tarentino & Apple episode. Two interesting careers, and they both have just enough of the crazy in them that it could be fantastic television. The website has bios for everyone and promises video is "coming soon."

Everyone - including us - reported that one of the many changes happening at Saturday Night Live this fall would be Tina Fey and Amy Poehler being replaced on Weekend Update (Fey because of her role on 30 Rock, Poehler because Lorne Michaels wanted a change). But now comes word - from Poehler herself - that she is still going to be an anchor on Weekend Update. It's just that she's going to be paired with a new partner.

The more interesting thing is that she tells TV Guide's Michael Ausiello (scroll down) that she doesn't know who she will be partnered with yet. It was reported last week that the new WU anchor would be Jason Sudeikis. Hmmm...

Related:

Four SNLers are history, says Lorne Michaels
Update: Sanz, Parnell, and Thompson off SNL
Horatio Sanz says he's still on SNL -- UPDATE