Saturday Night Live (season 33)

Saturday Night Live
	Season 33
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	12
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 29, 2007 –; May 17, 2008
Season chronology

The thirty-third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2007, and May 17, 2008.

History

This season also saw the death of the show's first host, comedian/actor George Carlin. A scheduled rerun of the episode hosted by Elliot Page was replaced with a rerun of the show's first episode, which had Carlin as host and Janis Ian and Billy Preston as musical guests.

Strike

Because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20 (with 4 consecutive episodes made between February 23 and March 15), making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth (1980–1981) season and the thirteenth (1987–1988) season, which had thirteen episodes and were also cut short due to WGA strikes (the only difference being that the hiatus in season 33 didn't abruptly end the season like it had with seasons 6 and 13. In addition, season six was also cut short due to NBC executives putting Saturday Night Live on hiatus for retooling following Jean Doumanian's termination and the hiring of Dick Ebersol to salvage the show). This is also the only season in SNL history not to have a new Christmas episode, since the WGA strike spanned from November 2007 to February 2008.

On November 5, 2007, after the episode hosted by Brian Williams, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. It was announced that SNL would air its next episode on November 10, 2007 (with host Dwayne Johnson and musical guest Amy Winehouse), live on air, with a future episode to follow, featuring Jonah Hill and musical guest Kid Rock. However, on November 7, 2007, SNL's official website confirmed that those episodes were canceled and reruns would be seen beginning November 10, and would continue during the duration of the strike. The Rock/Winehouse show was canceled, along with the Jonah Hill/Kid Rock episode (though Jonah Hill would get a second opportunity, when he hosted the March 15 episode, with musical guest Mariah Carey (filling in for a flu-stricken Janet Jackson) and The Rock would host next season, with musical guest Ray LaMontagne. Amy Winehouse would never get the chance to be a musical guest, host, or even cameo due to her death in 2011).

During the strike on November 17, 2007, the cast of the show, along with host Michael Cera and musical guest Yo La Tengo performed an "episode" of the show entitled Saturday Night Live - On Strike! at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (co-founded by cast member Amy Poehler) in New York City. Every cast member except for Maya Rudolph appeared, with former cast members Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch and musician Norah Jones making cameo appearances.[1]

On February 12, 2008, the strike was announced to be officially over with a 92.5% vote. Production continued on February 18, 2008 for the February 23, 2008 episode, hosted by former SNL cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood.

Cast

No changes to the cast happened over the summer and everyone from last season returned. During the strike, longtime cast member Maya Rudolph (who had been on the show since 2000) left the show, as she had no contract with SNL that year. Casey Wilson, an actress who frequently performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, was hired in January 2008 to fill the void, but due to the strike, did not appear on the show until they returned on February 23, 2008.

Cast roster

Repertory players

Fred Armisen
Will Forte
Bill Hader
Darrell Hammond
Seth Meyers
Amy Poehler
Maya Rudolph (final episode: November 3, 2007)
Andy Samberg
Jason Sudeikis
Kenan Thompson
Kristen Wiig

Featured players

Casey Wilson (first episode: February 23, 2008)

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest	Original air date
625	1	LeBron James	Kanye West	September 29, 2007 (2007-09-29)
Kanye West performs a medley of "Stronger" and "Good Life" and a medley of "Champion" and "Everything I Am". After rapping part of "Everything I Am" using the original lyrics, Kanye West freestyles, notably saying "I meant to mess up" and expressing surprise that NBC would have him back on the air after his comments directed towards George W. Bush during "A Concert for Hurricane Relief". Additionally, West appears in the 106 & Park sketch. Adam Levine and Jake Gyllenhaal appear in the SNL Digital Short. Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell again voice the title characters in The Ambiguously Gay Duo sketch. A microphone problem blocked the beginning of Don Pardo's introductions.
626	2	Seth Rogen	Spoon	October 6, 2007 (2007-10-06)
Spoon performs "The Underdog" and "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb". Chevy Chase appears during Weekend Update.
627	3	Jon Bon Jovi	Foo Fighters	October 13, 2007 (2007-10-13)
Foo Fighters perform "The Pretender". Additionally, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins appear in the SNL Digital Short. Bon Jovi performs "Lost Highway" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home". Bon Jovi's former bandmate Richie Sambora appears in the monologue. Jack Nicholson introduces Bon Jovi's second performance during the goodnights.
628	4	Brian Williams	Feist	November 3, 2007 (2007-11-03)
Feist performs "1234" and "I Feel It All". Barack Obama and Horatio Sanz appear during the cold open. Additionally, Sanz appears during the "Democratic Debate" sketch, in both cases reprising his impersonation of Bill Richardson. Bono, Al Roker, and Matt Lauer appear in the SNL Digital Short. Maya Rudolph's final episode as a cast member.
629	5	Tina Fey	Carrie Underwood	February 23, 2008 (2008-02-23)
Carrie Underwood performs "All-American Girl" and "Flat on the Floor". Amber Lee Ettinger appears as Obama Girl during the cold open. Steve Martin appears during the opening monologue. Former Arkansas Governor (and candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential primary) Mike Huckabee appears during Weekend Update. Don Pardo makes a rare on-screen appearance during the good nights in celebration of his 90th birthday, which had been celebrated the previous day. Casey Wilson's first episode as a cast member.
630	6	Elliot Page	Wilco	March 1, 2008 (2008-03-01)
Wilco performs "Hate It Here" and "Walken". Vincent D'Onofrio (as his character of Robert Goren from Law & Order: Criminal Intent) and New York Senator (and candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary) Hillary Clinton appear during the cold open. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani appears during "Weekend Update".
631	7	Amy Adams	Vampire Weekend	March 8, 2008 (2008-03-08)
Vampire Weekend performs "A-Punk" and "M79".
632	8	Jonah Hill	Mariah Carey	March 15, 2008 (2008-03-15)
Mariah Carey performs "Touch My Body" and "Migrate", the latter with T-Pain. Writer Jim Downey appears during the SNL Digital Short. Tracy Morgan appears during Weekend Update. Janet Jackson was originally confirmed to be the musical guest, but she had the flu and declined on the Tuesday before the live show.[2]
633	9	Christopher Walken	Panic! at the Disco	April 5, 2008 (2008-04-05)
Panic! at the Disco performs "Nine in the Afternoon" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd appears during the SNL Digital Short. Tina Fey appears during the "Annuale" sketch commercial, a repeat from the episode she hosted.
634	10	Ashton Kutcher	Gnarls Barkley	April 12, 2008 (2008-04-12)
Gnarls Barkley performs "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" and "Who's Gonna Save My Soul". Kutcher's then-wife, Demi Moore, appears in the opening monologue. Cameron Diaz appears during "The Cougar Den" sketch. The three-part pre-taped sketch "Death By Chocolate" is directed by Jason Reitman.
635	11	Shia LaBeouf	My Morning Jacket	May 10, 2008 (2008-05-10)
My Morning Jacket performs "I'm Amazed" and "Evil Urges".
636	12	Steve Carell	Usher	May 17, 2008 (2008-05-17)
Usher performs "This Ain't Sex" and "Love in This Club" (the latter with Young Jeezy) and appears during the "CPR Training" sketch. Carell's wife Nancy Walls (herself a former SNL cast member) appears during the opening monologue. Ricky Gervais appears during the SNL Digital Short. Writer and future cast member Colin Jost appears in the cold opening, as Harry Charles Wombus. Arizona Senator (and candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential primary) John McCain appears in the "McCain 2008" sketch and during "Weekend Update".

Canceled episodes with booked guests

Airdate	Host	Musical Guest	Comments
November 10, 2007	Dwayne Johnson	Amy Winehouse	Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hosted a season 34 episode in March 2009, with musical guest Ray LaMontagne. Winehouse, who died in 2011, never appeared as a musical guest.
November 17, 2007	Jonah Hill	Kid Rock	Jonah Hill ended up hosting in March 2008, with musical guest Mariah Carey (originally, it was Janet Jackson, but she cancelled due to the flu). Kid Rock has yet to return to the show as musical guest (the last time he appeared was on the season 25 finale hosted by Jackie Chan).

Specials

Title	Original air date
"SNL Family Thanksgiving Leftovers"	November 24, 2007 (2007-11-24)
This special featured Thanksgiving and family-themed moments from SNL. Sketches in the special were "Debbie Downer" from the season 30 episode hosted by Luke Wilson, "Paul's Monologue Worries", "The Ladies' Man", "The Bird Family" from the season 25 episode hosted by Juliana Marguiles, "Adam Sandler's Turkey Song", "Martha Stewart Living", "Nikey Turkey", "Big Kids", "Fuzzy Memories", "Ed Grimley's Thanksgiving", "Dysfunctional Family Dinner", "Jarret's Room", "Swerski's Super Fans' Thanksgiving", "The Loud Family", and "Greetings from Tonto, Tarzan, and Frankenstein".
"The Best of Mike Myers"	June 15, 2008 (2008-06-15)
The special featured an updated version of his "best of" which included new material. The new material featured Myers and the current cast talking about him and the studio. Sketches included: "Wayne's World Meets Aerosmith", "Coffee Talk with Barbra Streisand", "Simon", "Lothar of the Hill People" and more. This special also featured Myers' personal favorite sketches that he performed with Phil Hartman and Chris Farley.

References

"SNL stages two-hour live theatre show in Manhattan". Canadian Broadcasting Centre. November 18, 2007. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.
Kreps, Daniel (March 12, 2008). "Janet Jackson Cancels "SNL" Appearance, Blames Flu". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 30, 2012.

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[1] "SNL stages two-hour live theatre show in Manhattan". Canadian Broadcasting Centre. November 18, 2007. Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.

[2] Kreps, Daniel (March 12, 2008). "Janet Jackson Cancels "SNL" Appearance, Blames Flu". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 30, 2012.