January Jones Hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
January Jones stepping into 30 Rock’s hallowed Studio 8H to host SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE this weekend is all well and good. But the thing that makes us go “Hmmmm,” well, aside from the fact that we have a feeling at around 11:35PM google will find itself inundated with the question “Who is January Jones?” — is the timing of Jones’ hosting gig. After-all, nothing says lets hype Sunday’s phenomenal MAD MEN season finale like hosting SNL… the following Saturday. Oops.
90210’s Shenae Grimes
What started out as an interesting way to handle a poorly conceived character that never really connected with viewers continues to get well less so, after yet another week went by with Shenae Grimes’ Annie Wilson on the outside looking in. Seriously, we can’t recall the last time (if ever) a character that started out the series front-and-center was pushed so far back into the periphery. Hey 90210 EP Rebecca Rand Kirshner, care to explain?
The handling of Barney and Robin
After a season of build-up, anticipation and hype, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER’s Barney and Robin are officially (spoiler alert!) no more. And while disappointment may not be exactly how we’d characterize the relationship that we believe is at least partially to blame for HIMYM’s somewhat less than stellar start to the season, we can’t help but be somewhat surprised that the same writers who gave us the genius that is the ’slap bet,’ ‘Robin Sparkles,’ and one of the cleverest sitcom hooks in recent memory (See: The mystery surrounding the titular mother) handled the pairing up of ‘Robney’ so poorly.
Forget her multi-platinum selling albums and endless string of sold out tour dates. What separates last night’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE host (and musical guest!) Taylor Swift from the seemingly never ending string of “it” girls and overhyped “next big things” that for better or worse SNL loves to hitch its wagon to, is that the artist formerly known as Joe Jonas’ girlfriend did what so many others have tried and failed so-very-miserably to do: Keep this TV Addict awake until 1AM.
No joke.
From her adorable play-to-her-strengths opening musical monologue (see above video), her spot-on Kate Gosselin and Shakira impersonations or her multitude of characters in between (Our personal favorite, “Crazy Roommate” after the jump), Swift not only demonstrated genuine comic chops and like-ability off the charts — but more importantly — that rare ability (Cut to Neil Patrick Harris’ hosting gig waaaaay back in January) to raise the game of every cast member around her (Kenan Thompson actually made us laugh!)
Good News: Sci-fi is thriving on Friday nights. Bad News: Make that Syfy, with the network’s launch of STARGATE UNIVERSE attracting 2.3 million viewers, as SyFy was only-to-quick to point out via press release, bested FOX’s DOLLHOUSE by 200,000 viewers. Ouch! [io9]
Good News: Proving that no politician on either side of the aisle is safe, SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE delivered a scathing (and fairly accurate) assessment of President Obama’s progress (or lack-their of) over his first 10 months in office. Bad News: We’re still waiting for Fred Armisen to deliver a convincing Obama impersonation. [ZonTV]
Good News: Thanks to the tweet heard ’round the world, BONES gets some much deserved publicity. Bad News: All it took was a production shutdown due to a rumoured case of swine flu. [TVMoJoe]
Sad: Maura Tierney officially exits NBC’s PARENTHOOD, citing scheduling conflicts between the show’s production and her treatment for breast cancer. [THR]
Would You Rather: Be fired from SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for being too fat or not funny? That’s the question Casey Wilson is probably pondering this week after her SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE contract was not renewed. [TheWrap]
Full Hearts: FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS will return to October 28 on DirecTV [THO]
Welcome to our new morning round-up of big/interesting TV news that you may have missed over the past 24 hours because unlike us, there’s a fairly good chance that have a life outside of the small screen.
Proof that dreams do come true: Heather Locklear is in talks to reprise her now iconic role as conniving ad executive Amanda Woodward in the CW’s upcoming MELROSE PLACE re-boot. [People]
Lifetime made PROJECT RUNWAY work, with Thursday’s season premiere netting 4.2 million viewers, and a practically unheard of 45% jump from last season’s premiere [The Live Feed]
Reports are flooding in that Megan Fox will open the 35th season of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. In related news, we’ve already got a feeling we know what co-star Andy Samberg’s opening night gift will be! [Life&Style]
Forget sexy, in his third trip to Studio 8H, Justin Timberlake brought something far more important back to SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE: The Funny (with a little help from friends, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson.) All of whom can be seen after the jump.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING: SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHT (11:30PM NBC, Global in Canada)
After two weeks of disappointing installments courtesy of Rosario Dawson and Bradley Cooper, it’s up to SNL MVP Alec Baldwin to show the neophytes how it’s done. Here’s hoping they’re taking notes.
NEW & NOTABLE: BE MY VALENTINE, CHARLIE BROWN (8PM ABC)
I can’t help thinking the world would be a much better place if we all just took an hour out of our lives tonight and spent it with the Peanuts gang.
GREY’S ANATOMY/PRIVATE PRACTICE (9PM ABC)
In case you didn’t catch it Thursday night. Or on ABC.com. Or iTunes. Or if you thought this “crossover event” was so big, it’s worth seeing again. Whatever the case, your friends at ABC have got you covered.
COPS (8PM FOX)
Holy crap, this show is still on? I’d have thought by now they’d have caught everyone!
LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT (8PM NBC)
Five words, people: Special Guest Star Joan Jett. Oh, fine, six: Rerun.
Good News: President Obama is big on change. Bad News: He’s also big on addressing the nation and continually reminding us that we’re screwed. Which by the way, we already get. So how about cutting us a little slack by allowing us to drown our sorrows in television instead of bumping new episodes of HOUSE, CHUCK and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER to next week and pushing THE BIG BANG THEORY back to 9:30PM? [Source]
Good News: Zac Efron is getting set to host SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE on April 11. Bad News: Vanessa Hudgens is still waiting on that callback for an Arby’s commercial. Awkward. [Source]
Good News: It’s official! Rob Thomas will pitch Warner Bros. Studio on the highly anticipated VERONICA MARS movie next week. Bad News: For actor Michael Muhney. RIP Sherrif Lamb. [Source]
At what point does a spoiler stop becoming a spoiler? I was talking to someone recently about NIP/TUCK and why I was disappointed in the big season three reveal concerning the identity of The Carver. The person I was chatting with suddenly got so upset, I could only assume I had been wildly gesticulating — you know, to better illustrate my point — and somehow severed one of their primary arteries. “I haven’t seen that yet! I just got season one from Netflix!” they said, as if I should somehow have been aware that they were drinking from a water cooler nobody had been chatting around in five years. Another friend of mine was taken to task for having “revealed” the identity of a major character who dies in the Harry Potter series. (I’m not being vague out of fear that I might spoil a surprise for you, gentle readers, but because, um, it’s been SO long since I read the book in question or saw the movie it spawned that I can’t remember!) Sure, it’s one thing if you taped, TiVo’s, DVR’d or are planning to watch something on-line that aired a few days ago. But after a week or two, doesn’t a spoiler become, well, literally yesterday’s news? Is the world supposed to speak of the adventures of P. Sawyer and B. Davis in hushed tones because I’m only now watching season two of ONE TREE HILL?
I’d like to get excited about the fact that ONE TREE HILL creator Mark Schwahn is in negotiations to head up the new incarnation of MELROSE PLACE… but let’s not forget that it wasn’t all that long ago that VERONICA MARS mastermind Rob Thomas was being talked about as the man who would update 90210. Wonder if that show would be better if he’d actually stuck around that zip code? In any case, I’m of two minds where the Schwahn/MP talk is concerned. On the one hand, TREE HILL is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, which is pretty much all I want out of a new versionof MELROSE PLACE. On the other hand, um, doesn’t the fact that TREE HILL is so great kind of negate the need for MELROSE? Especially since Schwahn would, like Thomas, only have him penning the initial script before handing the whole thing over to someone else. And by “someone else” we mean people far less talented. Like those writing 90210 now.
So AMERICAN IDOL is pulling the plug on IDOL GIVES BACK because the economy is in the toilet? Isn’t that rather like not feeding a bulimic because they’ll just vomit it up anyway? Oh, and don’t worry about those pesky rumors that the judges will be nicer this season. Executive producer Ken Warwick tells USA TODAY the comments of the judges (read: Simon) won’t be softened. “If they’re mean, they’re mean.” When the producer says he will “do his best to offset” the drop in ratings, why do I hear, “Simon will be meaner, we’ll feature more folks who can’t sing and don’t be surprised if we do a special tribute to Paula’s dead stalker!”
Good News: ONE TREE HILL creator Mark Schwahn has been tapped to write the pilot script for the CW’s MELROSE PLACE reboot. Bad News: Cementing the CW’s status as the one network that can’t seem to develop a television show that isn’t based on a book, movie and/or already established franchise. [Source]
Good News: Sci Fi has announced that Robert Carlyle (24: REDEMPTION) has signed on to lead the new STARGATE UNIVERSE. Bad News: For Robert Carlyle’s career. I mean correct us if we’re wrong, but is STARGATE not where careers go to die? [Source]
Good News: Saturday marked Amy Poehler’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE swan song. Bad News: For SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, who just lost the only cast member worth staying up to 11:30 for.
January Jones Hosting SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
90210’s Shenae Grimes
The handling of Barney and Robin
Sad: Maura Tierney officially exits NBC’s PARENTHOOD, citing scheduling conflicts between the show’s production and her treatment for breast cancer. 
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