Saturday Night Live

If you've got a hankering to see Will Ferrell's new comedy flick Land of the Lost, you definitely don't want to miss tomorrow night's new episode of Man Vs. Wild (airs Tuesday 6/2 at 10PM ET on Discovery Channel).

The special, dubbed Men Vs. Wild, will feature Ferrell trekking out into the harsh wilderness with host Bear Grylls in what's sure to be a more humorous than informative hour. Exclusive clips from Land of the Lost (it opens this Friday) will play throughout the commercial breaks.

Personally, I'm more excited about this than the movie itself. I love Ferrell, but Land of the Lost just strikes me as a remake that didn't need to be made. However, you have to admit, this is one helluva perfect cross-promotional stunt - anything to see Ferrell cracking jokes while peeing in the Swedish wilderness and wearing a dead animal hide.

Here's a preview - after watching it, I'm pretty sure Ferrell would have a hard time surviving in a supermarket.

NBC has been leaking like a sieve for weeks, so other than a few on-the-bubble cancellations, there aren't any huge surprises in their official upfront announcement. The big change is that they're doing two official seasons. A lot of the networks have been doing this unofficially, but NBC seems to be one of the few that is putting a label on it.

Returning: Heroes, The Biggest Loser, Law & Order: SVU, Saturday Night Live, SNL: Weekend Update Thursday, Parks and Recreation, The Office, Law & Order, Southland, Dateline NBC

Returning mid-season: Chuck, 30 Rock, The Celebrity Apprentice

Gone: Life, Medium, My Name is Earl, Kath & Kim, Kings, Knight Rider

New: Trauma, The Jay Leno Show, Parenthood, Community.

New for mid-season: Day One, 100 Questions, Mercy, The Marriage Ref

Not reflected on the schedule, but will be returning in the summer: America's Got Talent, Friday Night Lights (which will once again be aired first on Direct TV).

Watch this space for more details on the new shows...

More on the schedule and comments after the jump.

Fox may have lost Mad TV last Saturday, but Saturday Night Live lost something worth much, much more to the world of television than Mad TV. And no, I don't mean that the SNL writing staff lost their snack machine.

Announcer Don Pardo, 91, announced in his induction speech to the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame that last Saturday's show will be his last.

Pardo has been the voice of the show since it hit the airwaves in 1975, minus the 7th season in '81 and '82. He has also been an announcer in a number of game shows, movies, commercials and news shows, and holds the distinction of being the first person on television to announce the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

(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).

Those that have even half-paid attention to my Saturday Night Live posts know that I am not a huge fan of featured player Casey Wilson. In fact, I would go so far as to say I actually kind of dislike her on the show. I feel a great deal of familiarity when I watch her on SNL, because she acts the way I probably would if I ever made it onto the program.

Due to my intense, psychologically and emotionally crippling levels of self-loathing, this makes Wilson extra-painful for me to watch. Oh, those poorly timed glances at the camera, they are Casey Wilson's as much as they are mine.

Oh, Justin Timberlake. You know what your audience wants and you give it to them ... uncensored-style. Hot.

In the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg gave everyone and their mom a real treat in the form of the "Motherlover" Digital Short. The video was quickly uploaded onto NBC.com and promptly exploded all over the Internet in a mildly graphic and suggestive way. It was from the actual live airing, though, so audience laughter, bleeped words, and less-than-superb sound quality were inevitable.

(S34E22) Justin Timberlake returned for his third turn as host and it was tough not to keep expectations pretty high. I mean, if an vengeful warlock were to suddenly put a crippling curse on his music career (like they do), Timberlake could definitely fall back on being a professional SNL host. Yes, this would become a real profession, just for him.

As usual, some sketches fell a bit flat, but Timberlake's over-confident, hammy swagger made things a little more interesting. This particular episode also gave us another legendary musical Digital Short with Timberlake and Andy Samberg and a couple of all-around MILFs. It's tough to top a surprise appearance by Leonard effin' Nimoy, but "Motherlover" was certainly the highlight of the evening. Here are some other notable video moments!

Do you remember the short films that SNL broadcast through the years? It started, I think, with Mr. Bill during the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players era and currently involves the Lonely Island songs. This could explain why SNL has chosen Lonely Island and SNL member Andy Samberg to host a special broadcast of the SNL short films on May 17 at 9PM.

I'm not sure which short is my favorite. There was an old one involving children's addiction to arcade video games and a doctor would use shock therapy via a Ms. Pac Man joystick to keep kids away from them. Eddie Murphy's "White Like Me" sketch is a classic. But I was laughing just as hard at the concept of Natalie Portman as a gangster rapper. Sadly, I wasn't as impressed by "Lazy Sunday" as apparently the rest of the Internet community.

So which SNL short film was your favorite?

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.)

It looks like NBC is going to expand Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment with more half-hour specials, most likely on Thursday nights. Judging by the success of SNL and its Thursday night election specials during the campaign season, this move isn't too surprising. Plus, this is a progressive step in reaching the network's ultimate goal, which seems to be filling the airwaves with as many former SNL employees as possible. Actually, the next season of Celebrity Apprentice is probably just going to be all the early-90s players that aren't doing movies right now. And Rob Schneider. That guy isn't doing anything.

There weren't a lot of surprises at NBC's "In Front" presentation this morning. As already leaked, Parks & Recreation, Heroes, and Southland have been renewed, joining the already announced 30 Rock, The Office, The Celebrity Apprentice, Friday Night Lights, The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

There's still no word on Law & Order's bid for a 20th season, nor did they clarify the fate of Chuck, though insiders feel confident both will be back. Back on the bubble is Medium, which was leaked as renewed last night, along with My Name Is Earl. Their fates are a bit more murky, especially Earl considering NBC is giving Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" a prime-time berth, apparently launching NBC's Thursday night.

Bill Hader and Seth Meyers (the latter of whom is the head writer for Saturday Night Live) will be writing Spider-Man ... the comic book, not the next movie. Their single-issue story is called "The Short Halloween" (which I presume is a parody of a Batman comic story called "The Long Halloween") and will be in finer comic book shops on May 13.

This isn't the first time a comedy writer has written a comic book. I recall Gilbert Gotfried helping out with an issue of Superboy and Patton Oswalt writing a one-shot Justice League special, among others. While I don't think this will get the same level of publicity as Barack Obama being on a Spider-Man cover, it's kind of cool to hear about. I wonder if Spider-Man will sing his own rendition of "Dick In A Box".

In short, comedians are huge nerds. But this is nothing you didn't know before.

[via ComicMix]

Believe it or not (and like it or not), there are only two episodes left in the 34th season of Saturday Night Live. It looks like no one from my "Nine people who must host SNL next season" wish list actually did it, but that's okay because there were some great stand-outs anyway, including Anne Hathaway and Jon Hamm.

The show seems determined to end with a bang, bringing in two sure-to-deliver performers. May 9th will bring in Justin Timberlake (and musical guest Ciara) and season finale duties will be left up to former SNL player Will Ferrell.

(S34E21) When it came to everything unrelated to jazz hands, my expectations for Zac Efron were pretty low. Then again, there was part of me that kept thinking back to Justin Timberlake's first time hosting; he was just another song-and-dance good guy but the enthusiasm and craziness he brought to his performances blew everyone away. Okay, so Efron didn't do as well as Timberlake, but as the evening progressed, Efron seemed to get a little more comfortable and delivered a not-too-cingeworthy performance. Consider that a massive victory.

Here are some video highlights from the evening.

At one point or another during this latest season of Saturday Night Live, every viewer has wondered, "Who is this new guy, and why does he wear so many giant cat costumes?"

While I can't answer the second part of this question (it will remain one of the great mysteries of the late night universe), I can offer a little more information on SNL's resident new guy and rising star, Bobby Moynihan. Despite appearing as a featured player in only twenty episodes so far, Moynihan is fast becoming one of my favorite cast members on the show, right up there with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.

Fellow Moynihan fans, prepare to love him even more!