TVSquad

(S01E01) I'm not quite sure what to make of this show. It's hard to decide what I like and don't like considering that the show is really not that unique. For example, I've always been a fan of Chris Parnell but his work on Miss Guided pales in comparison to the stuff he does on 30 Rock. The same goes for Brooke Burns but if I had to choose, I'd rather see her in those jeans she wore on Dog Eat Dog.

Judy Greer is super funny. Her guest spot on Two and a half Men was brilliant in my opinion. So when she got her own show, I was interested to say the least.

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.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Chris Parnell is moving up in the television world from guest-star/recurring character to prime-time regular. He has just been picked to star in ABC's mid-season comedy Miss/Guided.

Guided stars Judy Greer as a former high school wallflower who returns to her alma mater as a guidance counselor. Parnell will play a fellow counselor. Whether he'll be a friend, enemy, lover, sprout horns, or channel Tom Brokaw (one of the characters he played on SNL) is unknown. What is known is that he'll be joining other cast members Brooke Burns and Kristoffer Polaha.

Parnell was part of SNL for nine years and was let go in 2006 during the semi-purge of the cast. This past season he had a recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC comedy 30 Rock, where he shared the screen with former SNL buddies Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan.

Zap2It is reporting that Horatio Sanz, Chris Parnell and Finesse Mitchell will not be returning to Saturday Night Live next season, and we'll assume that's true, though the only one we can be absolutely sure about is Sanz, who left a message on his MySpace page yesterday saying he would be leaving the show:

Hi my Dear fans and friends alike,
I have decided to not return to Saturday Night Live this season. I wish the best to everyone at the show and expect them to have a great season. It's been a wonderful eight years and I am grateful for all the friends I was able to make and all the great people I had the pleasure of working with. I want to give a big thank you to all my fans for your kind comments and well wishes. I look forward to making you laugh in the future, and hopefully not behind the counter at Burger King. Goodnight my dears!
XO,
H

Whether "I decided to not return" means he did this of his own volition or was coaxed to leave is for anyone to surmise, but the bottom line is that he ain't gonna be on the show no more.

• Cronkite to introduce Couric; Schieffer to sing some folk.
• K-Fed to try to act on CSI.
• Here is the new version of Megatron.
• John Mayer will also be on CSI.
• Bob Evans might sue Entourage.
• Racially-divided Survivor ticks off NYC officials.
• Forest Whitaker will do a guest stint on ER.
• Taylor Hicks suing over the iTunes release of pre-Idol material.
• Patty Hearst to guest on Veronica Mars.
• Horatio Sanz thinks he'll remain on SNL.
• Others aren't so sure: rumor is Sanz, Parnell and Thompson are out.
• All we really know is that four SNLers are out.
• Here is the new Survivor cast; teams to be divided by race.
• USA renews The 4400 for a fourth season.
• Jimmy Kimmel to host game show.
• ABC News specials now on iTunes.
• Cuomo named news anchor at GMA
• ABC moves up premiere of Men In Trees.
• Study finds that there are not enough gay characters on TV.
• Zach Braff thinks this is last season on Scrubs.
• Stargate SG-1 cancelled.
• Music video banned by MTV for blatant product placement.
• Here's (snicker) Kevin Federline (chuckle) rapping (heh) at the Teen Choice awards.
• Giamatti to play John Adams in HBO miniseries.
  

• Did The Colbert Report rip off a web show?
• Keith gives a "State of TV Squad" address.
• Is there a possibility Stargate SG-1 will live on?
• What shows should be cancelled immediately?
• Can you find any clues in the Lost season three poster?
• Enter our latest contest by telling us which show will get sacked first.
  

• Awesome TV jerks.
• Reasons why I don't care about the Emmys.
• Five interviews with cool dead guys.
  

• I call out a phony press release about the "new" Sci Fi Channel.
• We catch you up on The 4400 before the finale.
• I'm worried about The Daily Show after Corddry's departure.
• Here's a look at the press kit for Standoff.
• Joss Whedon lists TV's best characters.
• An early review of Dexter.
• Bob doesn't like MSNBC's new graphics.

• Sports Night: "Sally"
• The Simpsons: "Lisa's Wedding"
• Angel: "The Prodigal"
• Seinfeld: "The Boyfriend"
• The Prisoner: "Living in Harmony"
• Futurama: "When Aliens Attack"
• The X-Files: "Lazarus"

• Monk: "Mr. Monk Goes to a Rock Concert"
• Stargate Atlantis: "Common Ground"
• Psych: "Shawn vs. The Red Phantom"
• Stargate SG-1: "Counter Strike"
• Rock Star: Supernova: Week 8 Elimination
• Rescue Me: "Hell"
• Eureka: "Dr. Nobel"
• Vanished: "Pilot"
• Kyle XY: "Overheard"
• The Closer: "Borderline"
• Prison Break: "Manhunt"
• The Venture Bros.: "Love-Bheits"
• Entourage: "What About Bob?"

(S31E19) This is one of those shows that no matter what I write in the following paragraphs, people are going to disagree with me. I really do think that as this season has progressed, it's gotten stronger. Early episodes in this season weren't as good and as readers have pointed out, I was far more critical of those earlier episodes. Well, there's a reason for that. I think they've steadily gotten better, save for the crappy sketch here and there and or the few horrible episodes we did get this season (Dane Cook was a huge disappointment). Last night's episode with Elaine... er, I mean Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a perfect example of what I'm trying to say here. This was a solid episode with a few huge errors, the biggest in my opinion being a "Weekend Update" that ran in at just over 14 minutes. That's way too long.

After the unbelievable buzz that the "Lazy Sunday" video created, SNL had a lot riding on this, the first new episode of 2006. Save for the few mediocre sketches that we've come to expect, this was pretty good episode. Scarlett Johansson hosted (while she didn't mention it in her monologue, she's obviously promoting her new film Match Point) and she had some extremely funny moments. And just to clear it up now (for those of you who didn't see it) there was no Digital Short. But that's good because like anything on this show, if they overuse it then it gets old fast.

Cold Open - Interesting story about this. A good friend of mine works at NBC and every few weeks he gets to help with the audience duties at SNL. He was there last night and in case you couldn't figure it out, that Pat Robertson thing (while funny) wasn't supposed to open the show. He said there was a Hardball sketch which included Sudeikis as Tom Delay and Forte as Zell Miller but it died during the dress rehearsal so they cut it. The Robertson cartoon was supposed to be part of the "Darwin" bit that aired later but they squeezed it out and put it at the front of the show. Hard to believe that Hardball was that unfunny, but Pat Robertson claiming that Fred The Baker was killed because he desecrated bread and filled it with Bavarian creme was hilarious.