‘SNL’ Updates Its Weekend Update
 |
Allie @ Gone Hollywood | Sunday, October 1, 2006 |
Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers are all about good chemistry. The new anchor duo at NBC’s Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, making their debut this weekend (11:30 p.m. live ET/delayed PT), point out that they’re both from New England. Both got their starts as comedians in Chicago. And they’ve already played a team in a popular SNL sketch: Dan and Sally Needler, “the couple that should be divorced.”
“Seth and I have a very familial, dare I say fraternal, relationship,” Poehler says in a joint interview at SNL’s offices. “We have a very similar sensibility.”
Meyers also “writes great jokes,” she adds, “and I’m really looking forward to saying them and getting credit.”
Meyers has other plans. After Poehler snatched the Update anchor slot from him two years ago in an audition face-off, “My vengeance was to get it with her and torpedo her.”
Wisecracks aside, how they gel may be crucial to determining the health of the late-night staple, which begins its 32nd season. Behind the desk, they follow such storied anchors as Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller and Norm MacDonald.
And under the surface, SNL is weathering its biggest shake-up in years. Producer Lorne Michaels, stuck with what he called “massive” budget cuts, trimmed three cast members: Eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell, who joined in 2003.
Two others — Rachel Dratch and head writer and Update anchor Tina Fey — left to work on 30 Rock, Fey’s NBC sitcom, due Oct. 11. It’s about the goings-on backstage at a show suspiciously like SNL.
SNL had its worst ratings yet last season, averaging 6.5 million viewers, a 6% drop from 2004-05. And amid the cutbacks, a new director was named.
“There’s a ton of transition going on,” says Poehler, 35. Though she says she’ll miss her co-stars, “we’re kind of excited about the idea of a slimmer (cast),” she adds brightly. “Skinny is in right now.” source
- Saturday Night Live Fires Parnell, Sanz, and Mitchell
- Kristen Cavallari in GQ Magazine
- Seth Green Spoofs Britney Spears’ Biggest Fan
- Rachel Dratch Still Unemployed
- Brit Hume Giving Up Anchor Chair
- Fall TV Preview: ‘Beauty And The Geek’
- John Larroquette and Tara Summers Join ‘Boston Legal’ Cast
- ‘Dallas’ 30 Year Reunion
- Fall TV Preview: ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Brothers & Sisters’
- Masterson Brothers Shows End
- Michael Jackson Wears PJ’s In Public
- Man Tries To Ram His Way Into Playboy Mansion
- Lindsay Lohan & Samantha Strike Back
- Heath Ledger ‘The Joker’ Action Figure
- Links To Hollywood - #142
- O.J. Simpson’s Daughter Knocks Him Out
- Madonna Has Meltdown Over Mistakes
- Mackenzie Phillips Busted For Drug Possession
- Rapper DMX Drops F-Bomb During Bond Hearing
- Krystal Forscuff Looks Amazing in Ralph Magazine
Comments are Closed
