Saturday Night Live (season 33)

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.

Saturday Night Live
Season 33
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes12
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 29, 2007 (2007-09-29) –
May 17, 2008 (2008-05-17)
Season chronology

History

This season also saw the death of the show's very first host: comedian/actor George Carlin. A scheduled rerun of the episode hosted by Ellen Page was replaced with a rerun of the show's very 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

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 33

Episodes
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guestOriginal air date
6251LeBron JamesKanye WestSeptember 29, 2007 (2007-09-29)

6262Seth RogenSpoonOctober 6, 2007 (2007-10-06)

6273Jon Bon JoviFoo FightersOctober 13, 2007 (2007-10-13)

6284Brian WilliamsFeistNovember 3, 2007 (2007-11-03)

6295Tina FeyCarrie UnderwoodFebruary 23, 2008 (2008-02-23)

6306Ellen PageWilcoMarch 1, 2008 (2008-03-01)

6317Amy AdamsVampire WeekendMarch 8, 2008 (2008-03-08)

  • Vampire Weekend performs "A-Punk" and "M79".
6328Jonah HillMariah CareyMarch 15, 2008 (2008-03-15)

6339Christopher WalkenPanic! at the DiscoApril 5, 2008 (2008-04-05)

63410Ashton KutcherGnarls BarkleyApril 12, 2008 (2008-04-12)

63511Shia LaBeoufMy Morning JacketMay 10, 2008 (2008-05-10)

  • My Morning Jacket performs "I'm Amazed" and "Evil Urges".
63612Steve CarellUsherMay 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
TitleOriginal 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.
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References
  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.
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