TVSquad

OK, so everyone has made the observation that new Vice President nominee Sarah Palin looks a lot like Tina Fey (and to a lesser extent, Megan Mullally). So we're all wondering who is going to play Palin when the new season of Saturday Night Live bows this weekend. Fey is no longer on the show, so will they have to find someone else on the show to play Palin, perhaps Amy Poehler or Kristin Wiig?

There could be a subtle clue in this New York profile of 24 year-old humorist and SNL writer Simon Rich. After all the talk about his new book and the talk about how he desperately needs an ending to the novel he's writing, the interviewer asks him if Fey is indeed going to play Palin this weekend. The answer?

In another display of confidence in a show that isn't exactly lighting the ratings world on fire (see also Friday Night Lights, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), NBC has given a full season to the Tina Fey sitcom 30 Rock. At first is looked like they were just ordering a few more scripts, but they gave the green light for a full season this afternoon.

But this move is actually ratings-oriented, because the show got its best ratings to date last night, in its new Thursday slot between Scrubs and ER. It was up 25% from last week.

So now we'll get full seasons of two shows about the behind-the-scenes goings on at a late night comedy show. Three if you count Saturday Night Live, and four if you count the possible web showings of the SNL Friday night rehearsal. I still think Studio 60 is the better show. 30 Rock isn't bad (and Alec Baldwin is funny as hell), it just isn't incredibly funny, which stands out when you're a straight-ahead comedy. But I do watch it every Thursday night, and it's not really fair to compare a half hour comedy with a one hour comedy/drama, even if they are about the same thing.