Live from whenever the hell they feel like it, it’s Saturday Night! The previously rumored Thursday spinoff of Saturday Night Live‘s news showcase Weekend Update is now official. Heck, it’s not even being given the entire summer off. Gosh, it’s almost as if the world seems a touch batsh*t crazy at the moment.
TV Line reports that a four-episode order for the Michael Che and Colin Jost fronted segment is set for rapid fire jokes starting on August 10. The new landing spot also means a longer format. WU can be watched as a 30-minute offering with the light promise of some familiar SNL faces popping up. Not Victoria Jackson, of course, but others!
“SNL is having its best season in a quarter of a century — how many shows can say that?! — so we didn’t want them to take the summer off,” gushed NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt on the expansion. “We’re thrilled to have Colin Jost and Michael Che continuing their unique brand of news with fresh Weekend Update shows in primetime this August.”
SNL setting up lil’ primetime pop-up shops of boutique Weekend Update runs is nothing new, although this go-around really seems to drive home the value NBC places on the show’s political voice. With Tonight host Jimmy Fallon said to be under ratings pressure to wade into those waters, a half-hour Weekend Update might be a bit of a compromise. Granted, you could always just stay up or record an all-star run from Seth Meyers, but that’s more of a preference thing, we suppose.
The arrival of the latest fleet of standalone Weekend Update episodes is going to be fascinating to monitor. Hosts Che and Jost aren’t everybody’s cup of tea and that’s a lot of time to fill. It’s hard to imagine a Weekend Update where Kate McKinnon doesn’t pop up, but it’s not like SNL is her only iron in the fire. IT’S ALL SO DAMN MYSTERIOUS AND NOT MYSTERIOUS AT THE SAME TIME!
Update is coming to primetime! #SNL Weekend Update premieres August 10 at 9/8c! pic.twitter.com/YG7AB3A1mQ
— Saturday Night Live – SNL (@nbcsnl) March 14, 2017
(Via TV Line)
