TVSquad

One of the more interesting things to come out of the Silverman-Graboff executive session (which I promise will be up later today ... probably this evening) is that, though Amy Poehler has been signed to be in a show produced by The Office's Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, that show will not be an Office spin-off. It'll have the same comic sensibility and style as The Office, but the characters won't be part of the Office universe. However, a real Office spin-off is still in play, and there's potential for Rashida Jones to be a part of it.

Got that? Neither did the critics, who repeatedly asked mostly Silverman to clarify the situation during both the panel and the scrum that followed.

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.

Yesterday we reported that Amy Poehler had been offered the lead on The Office spinoff (or not-spinoff, as the case may be). Today, Poehler herself is confirming the rumor. She tells the AP, "I can kind of confirm that I will be working in some capacity on that show," but goes on to say that "I don't really have any other details yet."

Poehler has been a castmember on Saturday Night Live since 2001and is currently the co-host of Weekend Update. She will remain on SNL through the fall, but with her baby due in October and now this new show, her role in the second half of the season is up in the air.

It's been a big week for Poehler, who in addition to the new job offer, also received an Emmy nomination this morning for outstanding actress in a comedy series for her work on SNL. Her husband, Will Arnett, also scored an Emmy nod, for his guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock.

Need more Emmys scoop? Get reactions to the biggest Emmys snubs and surprises and see which celebrities sparkled on the Emmys red carpet last year.

According to popular rumor, SNL star Amy Poehler is in talks to star in the spin-off series from NBC's The Office. If this is true, she'll be joining fellow SNL alumnus (and former Weekend Update co-anchor and co-star of the movie Baby Mama) Tina Fey as part of NBC's comedy prime-time line-up. No word yet on how Poehler's real-life pregnancy would affect this situation.

All I can say is: wow, what a fantastic choice. I've always been impressed with Poehler's work since she co-founded the Upright Citizen's Brigade (which is still going strong on both coasts). I've had the pleasure of seeing her perform comedy improv a few times and noticed how she is leaps and bounds more talented than most of the other people on the stage.

If anybody can lead a sitcom, it's Amy Poehler. If this news is true, I very much look forward to this spin-off and think it may be one of those rare cases in which the spin-off equals or is even greater than the original.

Here come two more lists of the ten actors and actresses that are finalists for Emmy nominations in the supporting comedy categories. As with the other awards, there are some surprises on the list, and some notable omissions. For the ladies, the headline is that last year's winner, Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), didn't make the cut. Surprise finalists include Conchata Ferrell (Two And A Half Men) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live). I don't mind seeing Conchata on the list because she is consistently funny on the show, but I don't know that there is enough to her role for her to actually garner a nomination when you consider the competition.

On the other side of the coin, the defending champ, Jeremy Piven (Entourage), is back. None of the boys over at SNL managed to make the leap from Variety to Comedy that Poehler did.

Do not adjust your web browser. You are now entering the Retro Squad, where we are reviewing past episodes of classic TV shows.

(S02E13) Originally aired March 13th, 2005 -- There are way too many great episodes of Arrested Development. I can't think of any other sitcom that has as much replay value as this show does. Maybe Seinfeld, but c'mon - Jerry, Kramer, George, and Elaine had a lot of stinkers. I don't think the Bluths ever disappointed. When we nominated Arrested Development to get the "Retro Squad" treatment, "Motherboy XXX" immediately popped into my head. It's one of my favorites because it blends so many different stories together and it includes what I think is quite possibly the funniest, and most important, inside joke ever featured on the show.

(S33E12) To ensure a strong season finale, Saturday Night Live made a very smart choice to go with Steve Carell. He is an incredible comedic performer and his first hosting stint went pretty well, so I wasn't surprised to see him pull it off again this time around. Actually, this picture is from the first time Carell hosted. Is it weird that I've had it sitting on my desktop since then? Yes, probably. Anyway, the material was better than some of the other episodes', with a few spectacular highlights, including the hilarious digital short.

(S33E11) I honestly was not worried about Shia LaBeouf delivering a less than stellar performance, as his first stint on Saturday Night Live showed that he works well with the cast and is naturally very goofy. With a funny guy like this, one can only pray that the writers use him as much as possible and work super-hard to give him embarrassingly crazy sketches. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Again. The writing was okay, but it did not do LaBeouf justice. Also, there seemed to be a strange flow to the episode, as the energy of sketches would start dying halfway through and eventually end on a really weird line. Let's hope the writers aren't already losing steam. They still have a season finale!

I'm not here to argue for or against the comedic talents of current box-office champs Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. No, what I'm here to ask is: why do people dislike them so much? I'm not talking about people who just say that the two of them aren't funny; I'm talking about people who think that the two of them were the worst thing to happen to SNL, the comedy genre, and the entertainment world in general.

Case in point: this somewhat obtuse essay praising Poehler on Slate.com. In the process of reviewing Poehler's cartoon, The Mighty B!, writer Troy Patterson goes through some verbal gymnastics, like calling the ASSSCAT show she puts on at the UCB Theater "a Dadaist party trick," among other head-scratching terms. But what's interesting is the virulent reaction his review gets in the comments section.

File this one under "perfect freakin' timing."

Following a stellar weekend at the box office for the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler comedy Baby Mama (it won the weekend), comes word that Poehler is actually pregnant. According to People, Poehler and husband Will Arnett are due this fall. They've been hitched since 2003. In Hollywood, that's like being married for an eternity. Good for them.

Seriously, though, could this announcement have come at a better time? People are already buzzing about Baby Mama and now this. Her PR reps and agents must be salivating at the news. Maybe I'm jaded or overly negative, but I find it hard to believe that this wasn't a wee bit planned - the news, not the kid. I mean, c'mon. She's pregnant and she's in a movie where she's pregnant. If it tanks, announce the good news whenever you feel like it. But if it does well, which it did, then you've got one hell of a push for the film's marketing campaign.

[via AOL]

While Amy Poehler has had steady work both on and off the stage of Saturday Night Live over the last few years it looks like she may be moving up to "big time" status along with former SNL cast mate Tina Fey. And, it might all begin this weekend. Not only is she starring with Fey in the movie Baby Mama, which is being released today (and is expected to be the box office champ, despite mixed reviews), Poehler also has a new cartoon premiering on Nickelodeon.

The Mighty B, which premieres Saturday at 10:30 AM, features Amy as the voice of Bessie Higgenbottom. Bessie is world's most ambitious Honeybee scout in the known universe. She wears her uniform all of the time, leads her troop with a military-like zeal, and has the most badges than any other Honeybee in history. But, she wants to earn all of the Honeybee badges, and she's determined to earn them. Sometimes she imagines herself as the superheroine The Mighty B, to help her through the tasks that will earn her another badge.

I've always been amazed at how analysts can project who's won the box office for the weekend before that weekend even ends. But I've never seen a box office champ predicted before the movie is even released. Apparently, though, that seems to be the case with the new movie from two of the funniest women on TV.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the movie Baby Mama, which stars SNL's Amy Poehler and 30 Rock's Tina Fey, will likely win the box office race this weekend. The film, which is being released today, has been garnering a lot of pre-release interest among 12-to-16 year-old girls, according to tracking surveys taken over the last few weeks. Huh? Didn't know stories about surrogacy were big with teenage girls. Is there something someone isn't telling me?

If you haven't heard, 30 Rock and Scrubs are switching time slots starting this Thursday. 30 Rock will now be seen at 9:30 for the rest of the season while Scrubs moves to the 8:30 slot.

A lot of people (including myself) assumed that this was because of the rent "MILF Island" episode of the show. NBC received a lot of complaints about the episode, saying it was too raunchy for the "family hour," the 8pm to 9pm time that has always (sort of) been for family viewing (NBC even touted a "family hour" when they announced their new lineup a few weeks ago). Now comes word from the network that the switch isn't happening because of the controversy. But the real reason is just as interesting.

They're moving the show to 9:30 so it has a better lead-in (The Office) and can give the show more exposure as Tina Fey's new movie Baby Mama opens. The network does say, however, that when the fall rolls around the show will be back in its regular 8:30 time slot after My Name Is Earl.

(S33E10) Considering the fact that Ashton Kutcher has hosted the show two times previous to this, I expected a lot more sketches that would let him cut loose and go crazy. We already know that he can be a decent host, and I felt like they didn't use him to his full potential. I also fully understand that I'm simultaneously talking about the importance of range and Ashton Kutcher of That 70s Show and Punk'd.

That said, this episode was mediocre, but at least it was consistently chuckle-worthy. There were only one or two sketches that were a bit painful to get through.

(S33E09) The weird thing about Christopher Walken's legendary Saturday Night Live performances is that they all suck. Seriously, think about it. His delivery is jaunty and weird, and when he's not awkwardly staring into the middle distance, he's just glaring directly at the cue cards. All these elements combined should throw him in the realm of the crappiest hosts.

... And yet he consistently pulls it off and makes even the worst sketches absolutely brilliant. How is that? Walken is just inherently awesome, I suppose. It's really the only logical explanation. This episode in particular was very poorly written; I'm sure most of the sketches look absolutely pathetic transcribed on paper. However, Walken's aforementioned jaunty awesomeness made it one of the best episodes of the season. He's done it again, folks. I expect a second "SNL: Best of Christopher Walken" DVD is in the works.