| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 33 | |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 29, 2007 – May 17, 2008 |
| Season chronology | |
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.
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 former SNL cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood.
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Repertory players
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Featured players
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bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
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Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 33 |
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Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes |
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest | Original air date | |
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| 625 | 1 | LeBron James | Kanye West | September 29, 2007 | |
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| 626 | 2 | Seth Rogen | Spoon | October 6, 2007 | |
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| 627 | 3 | Jon Bon Jovi | Foo Fighters | October 13, 2007 | |
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| 628 | 4 | Brian Williams | Feist | November 3, 2007 | |
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| 629 | 5 | Tina Fey | Carrie Underwood | February 23, 2008 | |
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| 630 | 6 | Elliot Page | Wilco | March 1, 2008 | |
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| 631 | 7 | Amy Adams | Vampire Weekend | March 8, 2008 | |
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| 632 | 8 | Jonah Hill | Mariah Carey | March 15, 2008 | |
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| 633 | 9 | Christopher Walken | Panic! at the Disco | April 5, 2008 | |
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| 634 | 10 | Ashton Kutcher | Gnarls Barkley | April 12, 2008 | |
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| 635 | 11 | Shia LaBeouf | My Morning Jacket | May 10, 2008 | |
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| 636 | 12 | Steve Carell | Usher | May 17, 2008 | |
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| 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, due 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. |
| Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|
| "SNL Family Thanksgiving Leftovers" | November 24, 2007 | |
| 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 | |
| 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. | ||