It took 84 minutes before SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE aired a single franchise sketch tonight.  That’s 84 minutes of non-stop, uninterrupted originality from the writing staff, working without the nets of familiar characters or predetermined catchphrases.  If that’s not a record, it had to be close.  (And even though the last sketch of the night […]

  Jimmy Kimmel’s set got a bit of an upgrade, but other than that there was little visible evidence that the 11:35PM version of JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE will be very different from its midnight incarnation.  Kimmel has never been Mr. High-Concept–he leaves that for Letterman and Conan–and as Jay Leno, still the winner in both […]

          GO ON:  TUESDAYS 9PM ON NBC   WHAT IT’S SAYING:  Chandler Bing… um, Matthew Perry is back!  Still sarcastically quipping to hide his deeper feelings after all these years.   WHAT IT’S REALLY SAYING:  Also back:  Dear John.  With a dash of a (less bizarre) Community, as the oddball grief […]

  Comic crumbs were hard to come by on tonight’s mostly dreadful SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.  It’s a particular disappointment because after two episodes struggling with non-comedy hosts Adam Levine and Justin Bieber, the show had a definite uptick with the slyly funny Christoph Waltz, and this time the host was Kevin Hart, who’s proven his […]

    THE NEW NORMAL:  Tuesdays 9:30PM on NBC   WHAT IT’S SAYING:  A new kind of family sitcom:  gay couple, surrogate mother, her daughter–and her bitchy, bigoted (but, you know, funny) grandmother.  Grandma’s practically Sue Sylvester!  And what a coincidence, Sue’s creator Ryan Murphy is behind this too.

  If The Avengers were an episode of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, it might be something like the first hour of tonight’s show, a veritable all-star brigade of special guests and beloved characters presented for the celebratory return of Host Supreme Justin Timberlake (and the spottier last half-hour had its moments, too). SNL and Timberlake have […]

> We’re not on the tabloid beat at SHOWBUZZDAILY, but when Lindsay Lohan put herself in front of the cameras tonight on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, she made herself fair game.  It would be heartwarming to be able to report that with tonight’s appearance, she’s finally taken the first real step of her professional rehabilitation, but […]

> Another TV year is officially in the books, and the statuettes have been handed out to prove it.  Since the Emmys end at 8PM LA time for the convenience of East Coast eyes, by midnight the main parties are trailing off, and those winners lucky enough to still have jobs for the new season […]