Molly Shannon-related stories
Posted May 9th 2009 12:50PM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Reality-Free
Radner.
Louis-Dreyfus.
Poehler.
Fey.
Shannon.
Suffice it to say, the number of women who became famous on
Saturday Night Live before graduating to solo success is few and far between. Sure, Gilda Radner can be considered a pioneer in the art of sketch comedy. And
Julia Louis-Dreyfus undoubtedly honed her comedic skills before becoming a sitcom icon on
Seinfeld. And, yes,
Tina Fey can easily be considered a heroine to comedy nerds everywhere who have witnessed her climb from
Weekend Update anchor to
Mean Girls scribe to single-handedly decimating the vice presidential chances of one certain gun-wieldin', six-pack-totin' Alaskan governor.
But, sadly, the number of men who left Studio 8 for the superstardom of Planet Hollywood (not the theme restaurant) easily outnumbers the ladies. For every
Amy Poehler, there's a
Will Ferrell. And a Bill Murray. And a
Mike Myers and
Eddie Murphy and
Adam Sandler (although, to be fair, there's also a
David Gary Kroeger, A. Whitney Brown, and Charles Rocket for every Melanie Hutsell, too). (And for the record, no, you shouldn't recognize those names.)
Continue reading Why isn't Jan Hooks famous?
Posted Jan 8th 2009 6:01PM by Eliot Glazer
Filed under: Late Night, OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Video, Watercooler Talk, Retro Squad, Reality-Free
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.
Continue reading Jeannie Darcy: SNL's most underrated character? - VIDEO
Posted Oct 10th 2008 2:09AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E01) We're friends here, aren't we? So, I can be honest with you. I mean, some of you have been utterly, brutally honest with me to the point I cry into my pillow at nights. The least you can let me do is allow some truthiness spill over to you. Okay? Okay.
I went in blind to the premiere of Kath & Kim. Not blind in the sense that I didn't know who the stars were. My late 20s and early 30s were spent watching Molly Shannon on Saturday Night Live and I had knowledge of Selma Blair's work over the last few years. What I'm talking about is that I knew nothing about this NBC comedy or the Australian hit it was based on. The upside to this was that I was coming into the show like any other viewer. The downside was that I was coming into the show like any other viewer.
I probably should have come in a little more knowledgeable.
Continue reading Kath & Kim: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 10:28PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Sports, TCA Press Tour, Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle, Reality-Free
Today was the very last day of the press tour here in Beverly Hills. It was "TCA Day," with members of the association (including me) going to the Warner Brothers lot to visit the sets of
ER, Pushing Daisies, and
Chuck, where we spoke to cast members and producers (Oh, we went to the set of
America's Best Dance Crew, but let's just forget I mentioned that one). Then we bused it over to the Fox lot, where Joss Whedon showed us around the set of
Dollhouse, and the entire cast of
King of the Hill gave a table read of their 250th episode. All this fun will be in upcoming posts later this summer.
Despite some of the griping you may have seen from me, it's been lots of fun. It's just a very tiring experience. Case in point: On Monday, NBC decided to close out the press conference portion of the tour by having us sit through ten panels, five of them after lunch. Here's a wrap-up post that goes over some of what went on yesterday that I haven't already covered.
Continue reading NBC wrap-up: Slater's split personality, and Selma Blair's a wise-ass - TCA Report
Posted Jun 30th 2008 12:22PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
It looks like NBC thinks they have something worth giving a little more love to. Already airing in the cushy post-
The Office slot when it premieres October 9th, now
NBC has upped the order to thirteen on Molly Shannon and Selma Blair's Kath & Kim. In an era where shows can be yanked after one airing and episode commitments can never grow beyond six, this is a good sign for a new series.
K&K just finished filming their first episode, which tells me that someone must have liked what they saw. Personally, I think Molly Shannon is incredibly funny, in the right situation. Some of her bits on
Saturday Night Live were classically brilliant while others were not so much. But her turn on
Pushing Daisies last season was nothing short of brilliant. Blair, however, has a more limited TV resume, though she's done some awesome work in film. I'm guessing, based on her more dramatic background, that she's being set up as the straight (wo)man to Shannon's wackiness.
Continue reading NBC shows confidence in Kath & Kim
Posted Jan 22nd 2008 3:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Casting
With
casting finally complete, NBC can begin to think about how nice it would be to start work on
Kath & Kim if they had any writers. Based on an Australian hit by the same name, the series focuses on the relationship problems between a mother (Molly Shannon as "Kath") and her daughter (Selma Blair as "Kim"). The series was originally picked up a year ago but languished due to casting concerns. It was deemed that the main characters had to be cast perfectly for this to work.
Meanwhile, Molly Shannon has stayed busy with a brilliant turn on
Pushing Daisies while Selma Blair wowed geeks across the world as Liz Sherman in
Hellboy, a role she will reprise in the sequel. Now they'll be able to come together and try to be the most delightfully dysfunctional mother-daughter duo since Lorelai and Rory Gilmore. Hell, if it can get half the critical acclaim that
Gilmore Girls did,
Kath & Kim will be off to a great start.
Continue reading Molly Shannon and Selma Blair are Kath & Kim
Posted Dec 12th 2007 11:02PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Pushing Daisies
(S01E09) "There is an unpleasant chill in the air." - The NarratorAnd we have arrived: this week's episode was the last completed-before-the-strike episode of ABC's
Pushing Daisies. The quote I put under the picture may not have been the most important one said in the episode (the bombshell quote is a tad too shocking to put up front) but it does highlight the mood and tone of the episode: chilly. "Corpsicle" is not my favorite
Pushing Daisies episode but it offered good reveals, some fantastic lines from Emerson and Olive, and it finally gave the aunts (at least one of them) a real purpose in the series.
Continue reading Pushing Daisies: Corpsicle
Posted Nov 28th 2007 11:26PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Pushing Daisies
(S01E08) "Am I your boyfriend?" - Ned
"Yes." - ChuckIt was
announced about two months ago that Molly Shannon would guest star on ABC's
Pushing Daisies and the day, err... evening, has come. I've read a lot of comments from fans saying that they were somewhat scared after hearing she would guest star mostly because they thought her acting wasn't good enough for the show. In retrospect, her acting wasn't that great but it wasn't that bad either since
Daisies is over the top at times.
Continue reading Pushing Daisies: Bitter Sweets
Posted Sep 19th 2007 6:02PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Celebrities, Casting, Pushing Daisies
Actress/comedian Molly Shannon, best known for her work on NBC's
Saturday Night Live, will join ABC's new series
Pushing Daisies for a multi-episode arc set to air late this Fall.
The series stars
Wonderfalls'
Lee Pace as man who can revive the dead (and send them back to Heaven or Hell) just by touching them. He uses his power to find out the killers and collect rewards.
Small spoilers ahead!Continue reading Molly Shannon to appear on Pushing Daisies
Posted May 13th 2007 12:20PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Episode Reviews
(S32E19) Cold Open: Bill Hader's Ryan Seacrest impression isn't that accurate. Has the impressions master finally met his match?! I knew Mary Katherine Gallagher would make an appearance at some point in the episode. It wouldn't be a Molly Shannon episode if she didn't. Although I'm not a fan of that character, it was a pleasant moment, if only for the nostalgia. And either Molly Shannon has lost a lot of weight or they couldn't find a top that fit her.
Continue reading Saturday Night Live: Molly Shannon/Linkin Park - VIDEOS
Posted May 11th 2007 12:23PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Celebrities
With a new
Scrubs contract in hand and a movie to promote, you know that Zach Braff will be on the interview circuit very soon. But part of that circuit will be
hosting the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 19, with musical guest Maroon 5.
Braff is going to be promoting his movie
The Ex, which co-stars Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, and
SNL cast member Amy Poehler (she's been in a lot of movies lately, hasn't she?). It's the first time Braff has hosted
SNL, and I think he'll do well. As all
Scrubs fans know, he's good at goofy physical comedy, and I don't think he'll be fazed by the live setting, the cue cards, and everything else that trip up other hosts. By then, he should also know the fate of
Scrubs, so we may see a very happy Zach on stage next week.
Continue reading Zach Braff to host season finale of Saturday Night Live
Posted Mar 5th 2007 9:00AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: TV on DVD, Animation, Contests and Giveaways, Sci Fi
Gather 'round, folks! It's time for a giveaway. This one is all about Sci-Fi's all-new
The Amazing Screw-On Head DVD. We've got five (5) copies that need a new home, so come and give it a try.
All you need to do is reply to this post stating your favorite thing about this show. Yessir, it's just as easy as that. But don't forget to check your e-mail to confirm the comment! From the comments, we will randomly select five winners.
Be sure to enter by 11:59PM Eastern time, March 5th, 2007, because the drawing will take place tomorrow.
Join quickly! America is depending on you. And by "America", I mean "the world". Godspeed.
Full rules are after the jump.Continue reading TV Squad's The Amazing Screw-On Head giveaway
Posted Feb 22nd 2007 2:39PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, ABC, NBC, Industry, Pickups and Renewals
TV viewers -- or anyone for that matter -- haven't heard from Molly Shannon in a while. Though
her IMDb profile has shown that she's been busy, the last time I saw her in anything was in a memorable guest role on
Scrubs three years ago. Her absence was kind of surprising, given how funny she was on
Saturday Night Live. But it looks like Shannon is on her way back, in an NBC comedy pilot called
The Mastersons of Manhattan.
The Hollywood Reporter, in
an article that contains a ton of casting news, reports that Shannon will star with Natasha Richardson in the serialized soap. The two play socialite sisters, the younger of whom (Shannon) is on trial for murder. Yes, I
did say earlier that it was a comedy, if you want to check.
Continue reading Casting news: Shannon in NBC comedy, Rhames in Football Wives
Posted Jul 15th 2006 6:47PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Cable, Programming, OpEd, Animation, Web
I've been on a comic-book kick lately, waiting for the next issue of
Y: The Last Man (good stuff), so I checked out the online premiere of Sci-Fi's
The Amazing Screw-On Head. The 22-minute pilot episode features the voice talents of Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce, Patton Oswalt, and Molly Shannon.
The combination of comedy and adventure reminds me of
The Venture Bros., but while
VB is an acquired taste for some,
Screw-On Head seems like it could easily appeal to a larger audience. A lot of the story is taken straight from the comic, but since it was a one-shot (a stand-alone story) there have been a few well-done changes to allow the show room to grow to a full series. I'd love to see this on a regular basis! I definitely recommend it...
Watch the pilot now, or
read a little more about the comic and then
watch it (seriously,
watch it). Remember to fill out
the survey after you see it so that SciFi can decide whether or not to pursue the series.
Emperor Zombie: Patience, darling? Do I have the permission to let Head stake you if it means world domination?
Patience, his vampiress: Yes, my love!
[whispers to Head] ... Nooooo.
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