TVSquad

Landing a film like Bollywood Hero in the wake of the aftershocks that Slumdog Millionaire left on moviegoers and Oscar voters might seem like perfect timing on a scale that only a NASA pilot could coordinate.

Executive producers Ted Skillman and Belisa Balaban said the idea isn't just right for its time. It was also ahead of its time, four years ahead of time to be exact.

"The project was initially conceived of four years ago, but the script was written before we'd seen ever Slumdog," Balaban said. "When we first came up with the idea, very few people were talking about Hindi cinema and we got a lot of blank stares at first."

Now audiences across the country will get a re-education on the Bollywood machine when their three part miniseries starring Saturday Night Live alum Chris Kattan airs at 10 p.m. Pacific/Eastern on Aug. 6, 7 and 8 on IFC.

The folks at our sister site Cinematical are working hard to give you news and reviews of the best -- and worst -- the silver screen has to offer. Here are some of their musings on the latest blockbusters, indies, and everything in between:

• Land of the Lost, the new Will Ferrell movie, opened in theaters this weekend. I'm kind of undecided about whether or not I want to see it, but Cinematical's interview with director Brad Silberling is pretty interesting.
• The Summer of '91: Truth or Dare, Boyz n the Hood, Thelma & Louise, and Point Break. It was a good time. Relive it with Cinematical.
• Although I'm not so sure about John Krasinski's beard in this film, I do like the idea of he and Maya Rudolph playing a couple. Plus, Away We Go is directed by Sam Mendes, who helmed American Beauty. I'm so there.
• In honor of this weekend's release of The Hangover, Cinematical Seven looks at Wicked Hangovers on Film.
• Wow. This is probably the greatest wedding invitation in the history of the world. Cinematical gets away with posting this by calling it a "short film," so I'm totally going to link to it too. The video is four minutes long, but it's amazing.

(S34E23) Wow. Way to go, Will Ferrell. Maybe they should just bring back Saturday Night Live alumni for season finales from now on, because this episode was spectacular. Ferrell brought back some old favorites and a slew of famous faces, from the familiar to the inexplicable, including Amy Poehler, Tom Hanks, Anne Hathaway and Artie Lange. Here are some video highlights from the evening (Hulu vids are US only. Sorry, kids... you can also watch these videos at NBC's website).

It seems that there has never been a period of time when critics (and the masses) didn't chide Saturday Night Live, claiming the show to be in a "creative slump," or even going as far as calling it - get this - "Saturday Night Dead."

But for stalwart fans like myself who tend to consider every nuance and minor detail of the show's sketches, the sentiment is either only partially true or not true at all. Sure, the show saw a spike in viewership thanks to Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression, leading critics to praise SNL's "creative resurgence." But the buzz was just as strong when Will Ferrell played George W. Bush nine years ago. (And, furthermore, it wasn't as if the show didn't have its culturally resonant hits in recent years, not limited to Maya Rudolph's Donatella Versace impression or Andy Samberg's fusion of Internet humor into the mix).

So to those who say SNL is back, I say, have you ever seen Molly Shannon's Jeannie Darcy? Because it is, by far, one of the most brilliantly executed, underrated characters to ever appear on the show. (Or maybe I just have a thing for mullets and bolo ties. Same difference.) See what I mean in the video after the jump.

(S34E11) Can you hear the ladies and British comedy fans screaming? It's Hugh Laurie! The writing this week was stronger than usual, but I could not help but feel like they didn't use Hugh Laurie enough. When you get someone like that on the show, you better make sure the audience is sick of seeing him by the end of the episode. That said, Mr. Laurie did beautifully with what he was given and he's well on his way to becoming a regular host. Check out these video highlights from the episode.

(S34E06) I'm not one of the hardcore Mad Men fans out there, but from what I've seen, the show is slick as hell. Never would I have expected Don Draper to be so funny, so I was absolutely thrilled that Jon Hamm did such a beautiful job hosting. He and Anne Hathaway have been stand-out hosts this season, and hopefully they'll be back for more, if only to show other hosts that it is entirely possible to read from cue cards with some degree of naturalism. Actually, some players could take notes, too. Mr. Hamm even managed to do some impressions without making me cringe out of my seat, which was a super-extra-bonus. It was a strange night, certainly, what with the Fingers in Butts and Amy Poehler being MIA to have her baby (I hope the baby will have Amy's eyes and Will Arnett's voice), but Mr. Hamm's performance managed to carry the show and help everyone deliver a solid episode.

Jenna Fischer: This is one of those "I've arrived!" moments. Seriously. There's, like, little milestones... Like, being on David Letterman for the first time and then, like, being in Vanity Fair.
Chelsea Handler: ... I knew I arrived when I got my period.
Everyone: [groans and laughter]

Yeah, I know how most of our male readers are. They like their ladies funny, smart, and painfully out of their league. Well, start lurking around the magazine stands, boys, because the upcoming Vanity Fair has a new Annie Leibovitz photo spread featuring some of the funniest ladies on the scene. The impressive list boasts Sandra Bernhard, Susie Essman, Tina Fey, Jenna Fischer, Chelsea Handler, Leslie Mann, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Wanda Sykes, and Kristen Wiig, each of them doing very typical "Hollywood bad girl" things. I especially love Maya Rudolph's hair and how Silverman manages to do Amy Winehouse better than Amy Winehouse.

(S33E03) "Amy Poehler: 1986": I thought that this was a great choice for a cold open! A young, big-haired Amy Poehler being visited by a magical poster version of Jon Bon Jovi? Fantastic. In general, it was really cute and made me feel a little better about Bon Jovi's hosting abilities. I mean, not that it really mattered because he barely appeared in this episode, not counting the musical performances. Hey, whatever it takes to promote an album, right?

(S19E02) Mr. Burns: My boy, you are a star!

Homer: Whoo-Hoo!

Burns: An opera star!

Homer: Oh.

We're back to the silly in this week's episode of The Simpsons as another bodily injury gives Homer an advantage in life. I'm surprised that this is the second Homer-centric episode in a row. Usually, the producers are good at going around the Simpsons circuit to focus on another family member or the group as a whole from one week to the next. Maybe my surprise is due to the fact that I haven't been a regular on the Simpsons boat for the last few seasons.

Contrary to many, many reports that have been circulating this past week (including one from TV Guide's Michael Ausiello a few days ago), Maya Rudolph has indeed left Saturday Night Live. The news is confirmed by NBC.

This is too bad. Rudolph really grew on me over the years, and I loved many characters she did, including Oprah, Whitney Houston, Donatella, and one half of those Bronx women who host a local cable show. Funny, I always thought that Amy Poehler would be next to leave, following Tina Fey to a career in movies and her own TV show. But Rudolph has been on the show for several seasons and good for her with going on to the next thing in her life.

SNL's season premiere is this Saturday, with guests Lebron James and Kanye West.

Update: Actually, she changed her mind and is now staying.

A sketch has surfaced over at FunnyorDie.com starring Conan O'Brien. It appears to be a sketch from the Saturday Night Live episode that he hosted in 2001. The sketch was cut from the live airing of the show and hasn't been seen until now.

While watching the sketch you get the feeling that it was something that he always wanted to do on his own show but could never fit it in. The premise is pure Late Night but the sketch is way too long and too involved to have worked on a talk show.

Boy, $13,500 per month really doesn't buy much in New York these days, does it? After SNLer Maya Rudolph and her husband, director Paul Thomas Anderson moved into a 3rd floor luxury loft in New York's Soho section, they found that they and their daughter were getting bitten by bedbugs. Bedbugs!

What's worse, they couldn't leave their apartment to escape the critters because the elevator was broken for six of the first eleven days they were in the apartment (what, they couldn't use the stairs?). After an exterminator told them to leave the apartment for a few weeks for the sake of their baby, they decided to never come back. Now they're suing the landlord, Francis Feeney, and the broker, Halstead Property, LLC, for $450,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

Jeez, for $13.5k a month, I'd expect a hermetically-sealed apartment that lets in nothing but hibiscus-scented air. But that's just me.

A little over a week ago, we gave you folks an opportunity to select the Saturday Night Live cast members that you thought might be leaving at the end of this season, based on a remark Lorne Michaels gave to The New York Times. We let you choose more than one person, since it looks like more than one person is going to leave.

So, who did you think was going to go? Well, there's no surprise here: Darrell Hammond and Horatio Sanz received the most votes, with the still-on-maternity-leave Maya Rudolph coming in third. It makes sense; Hammond's been on the show for eons and is basically down to doing impressions of Chris Matthews and Donald Trump, and Sanz is... well, let's just say he's not the most popular member of the cast. The surprise was the lack of votes for Seth Myers, even though his name has been coming up quite a bit in the rumors surrounding Michaels' pronouncement.

Full poll results are after the jump.