Saturday Night Live season 33

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Saturday Night Live
Season 33
The title card for the thirty-third season of Saturday Night Live.
No. of episodes12
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseSeptember 29, 2007 (2007-09-29) –
May 17, 2008 (2008-05-17)
Season chronology
← Previous
season 32
Next →
season 34
List of episodes

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.

Strike[edit]

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.

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 longtime former SNL cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood.

Cast[edit]

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 for nine seasons since 2000, left the show, as she had no further contract with SNL that year. Casey Wilson, a comedian and writer who frequently performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, was hired in January 2008 to fill the void and succeed Rudolph. However, due to the strike, Wilson did not appear on SNL until the show returned on February 23, 2008.

Cast roster[edit]

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers[edit]

Episodes[edit]

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)

6306Elliot 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)

Canceled episodes with booked guests[edit]

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 never appeared as a musical guest prior to her death in 2011.
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).
December 1, 2007 Ben Affleck Not announced Ben Affleck ended up hosting for the fourth time on the November 1, 2008 broadcast with musical guest David Cook.
December 8, 2007 Edie Falco Not announced Edie Falco has yet to host an episode of Saturday Night Live.
December 15, 2007 Tom Hanks Not announced Tom Hanks would have hosted a Christmas episode of SNL to coincide with the premiere of the movie Charlie Wilson's War.
January 12, 2008 Alec Baldwin The Killers & Lou Reed Alec Baldwin hosted a season 34 episode in February 2009, with musical guest Jonas Brothers. In addition, Brandon Flowers has said in an interview that The Killers and Lou Reed were going to appear on the show and perform "Tranquilize" but the show was canceled due to the strike. This fact has not been confirmed by NBC. The Killers, without Reed, appeared on October 4, 2008.
January 19, 2008 Dakota Fanning Ghostland Observatory It was tapped during the writer's strike.

Specials[edit]

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.

References[edit]

  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.