day 291

snl loses some lol

saturday night live will be just a little less funny when the new season premieres september 26th. two of the comedy staple's newest editions - casey wilson and michaela watkins - have been let go by head honcho lorne michaels. wilson was brought in at the end of the season before last in a last ditch effort to replace maya rudolph who exited the show unexpectedly. i never really got used to casey and she never got any of her own characters (or, if she did, they didn't take off because i can't recall any of them). plus casey will fare just fine in hollywood - she's already an accredited screen writer, having written january's bride wars and worked on julie & julia. watkins was brought in last season alongside abby elliott to give the show an even larger female comedic force, mostly because amy poehler exited the series half-way through the season in order to have her baby and start production on one of the lamest sitcoms on the air right now, parks and recreation. watkins was the only new cast member who really got to do a lot and it looked like she would be with the series for a long, long time. the fact that she was kicked to the curb is really surprising to me and almost disheartening. in an interview with entertainment weekly, michaela says the firing was unexpected and came with little explanation. the silver lining in her being axed was a backhanded complement lorne michaels gave to her - basically, lorne said he believed michaela was too talented to be stuck in the snl routine and should really have her own show, not be a secondary player on his. while that's all well and good, aren't a lot of snl's power players good enough for their own shows? that's why tina fey and amy poehler have sitcoms on the peacock network. i know i'll miss watkins later this month when the show launches its 35th season, especially if that means the 4th hour today show/kathie lee and hoda skit has died and gone to the big sketch show in the sky. check out one of michaela's funnier today show skits above. lorne has hired two new female players to take wilson and watkins places - jenny slate and nasim pedrad - but we have to wait and see if they're anywhere near as funny. from googling nasim, she could easily take on hoda kotb, but it just won't be the same. plus, i find it hard to believe its so hard to find a black comedian who could really fill the void left by maya rudolph for things like a michelle obama impression or even hoda kotb. hopefully they'll find some way to get the show back to its maya-amy-kristin glory of just a few years ago; and, if kristin wiig ever exits the show, i might not even have a reason to tune in anymore. the 35th season kicks off with host megan fox and musical guest u2.