Saturday Night Live (Season 33)

"Saturday Night Live" aired its thirty-third season, during the 2007-2008 television season on NBC. No new cast members were added to the show at the beginning of the season, and the entire cast from returned for Season 33. The 33rd season started on September 29, 2007 with LeBron James as host and Kanye West as musical guest, and ended on May 17, 2008 with Steve Carell as host and Usher as musical guest.

On November 5, 2007, after the Brian Williams/Feist episode, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. It was announced that "SNL" would air its next episode on November 10, 2007 (with host The Rock 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. The Rock/Winehouse show was canceled, along with the Jonah Hill/Kid Rock episode (though Jonah Hill would get a second opportunity, when he hosted the March 15th episode, with musical guest Mariah Carey).

During the strike on November 18, 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 current 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. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2007/11/18/saturdaynightlive-stage-live.html SNL stages two-hour live theatre show in Manhattan] ] .

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 castmember Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood.

During the strike, long-time castmember Maya Rudolph left the show, as she had no contract with "SNL" that year. Casey Wilson, one of many improv comedians from The Upright Citizen Brigade, was hired in January to fill the void, but due to the strike, did not appear (not even in the stage performances at the UCB Theater) until the Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood episode in February.

Because of the 2007-2008 WGA strike, there are 12 episodes 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 (both of which were cut short due to strikes from the Writers' Guild), which had thirteen episodes.

Cast

Repertory players

*Fred Armisen
*Will Forte
*Bill Hader
*Darrell Hammond
*Seth Meyers
*Amy Poehler
*Maya Rudolph (Final: November 3, 2007)
*Andy Samberg
*Jason Sudeikis
*Kenan Thompson
*Kristen Wiig

Featured Players

*Casey Wilson (First: February 23, 2008)

Listings

Regular Airings

*September 29, 2007: "LeBron James/Kanye West" (33.1, live)
*October 6, 2007: "Seth Rogen/Spoon" (33.2, live)
*October 13, 2007: "Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters" (33.3, live)
*October 20, 2007: "LeBron James/Kanye West" (33.1, repeat)
*October 27, 2007: "Seth Rogen/Spoon" (33.2, repeat)
*November 3, 2007: "Brian Williams/Feist" (33.4, live)
*November 10, 2007: "Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters" (33.3, repeat)
*November 17, 2007: "Brian Williams/Feist" (33.4, repeat)
*November 24, 2007: "SNL Family Thanksgiving Leftovers" (new special)
*December 1, 2007: "Alec Baldwin/Christina Aguilera" (32.5, repeat)
*December 8, 2007: "Jack Black/Neil Young" (31.9, repeat)
*December 15, 2007: "Justin Timberlake" (32.9, repeat)
*December 22, 2007: "Steve Martin/James Taylor" (17.9, repeat)
*December 29, 2007: "John C. Reilly/My Chemical Romance" (32.3, repeat)
*January 5, 2008: "Peyton Manning/Carrie Underwood" (32.16, repeat)
*January 12, 2008: "Jake Gyllenhaal/The Shins" (32.10, repeat)
*January 19, 2008: "The Best of Tracy Morgan" (special, repeat)
*January 26, 2008: "Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters" (33.3, repeat)
*February 2, 2008: "Tom Brady/Beck" (30.17, repeat)
*February 9, 2008: "Brian Williams/Feist" (33.4, repeat)
*February 16, 2008: "LeBron James/Kanye West" (33.1, repeat)
*February 23, 2008: "Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood" (33.5, live)
*March 1, 2008: "Ellen Page/Wilco" (33.6, live)
*March 8, 2008: "Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend" (33.7, live)
*March 15, 2008: "Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey" (33.8, live)
*March 22, 2008: "Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood" (33.5, repeat)
*March 29, 2008: "Ellen Page/Wilco" (33.6, repeat)
*April 5, 2008: "Christopher Walken/Panic at the Disco" (33.9, live)
*"'April 12, 2008: "Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley" (33.10, live)
*April 19, 2008: "Amy Adams/Vampire Weekend" (33.7, repeat)
*April 26, 2008: "Christopher Walken/Panic At The Disco" (33.9, repeat)
*May 3, 2008: "Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey" (33.8, repeat)
*"'May 10, 2008: "Shia LaBeouf/My Morning Jacket" (33.11, live)
*"'May 17, 2008: "Steve Carell/Usher" (33.12, live)
*May 24, 2008: "Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley" (33.10, repeat)
*May 31, 2008: "Shia LaBeouf/My Morning Jacket" (33.11, repeat)
*June 7, 2008: "LeBron James/Kanye West" (33.1, repeat)
*June 14, 2008: "Steve Carell/Usher" (33.12, repeat)
*June 21, 2008: "Tina Fey//Carrie Underwood" (33.5, repeat)
*June 28, 2008: "George Carlin/Billy Preston/Janis Ian" (1.1, repeat) [originally, the episode hosted by Ellen Page with musical guest Wilco was supposed to rerun, but was replaced with this episode due to George Carlin's death]
*July 5, 2008: "Jon Bon Jovi/Foo Fighters" (33.3, repeat)
*July 12, 2008: "Jonah Hill/Mariah Carey" (33.8, repeat)
*July 19, 2008: "Christopher Walken/Panic! At the Disco" (33.9, repeat)
*July 26, 2008: "Rainn Wilson/Arcade Fire" (32.14, repeat)
*August 2, 2008: "Seth Rogen/Spoon" (33.2, repeat)
*August 9, 2008: "Preempted due to the Summer Olympics"
*August 16, 2008: "Preempted due to the Summer Olympics"
*August 23, 2008: "Preempted due to the Summer Olympics"
*August 30, 2008: "Brian Williams/Feist" (33.4, repeat)
*September 6, 2008: "Tina Fey/Carrie Underwood" (33.5, repeat)

Prime-time Airings

*December 8, 2007: "9:30" "The Best of Will Ferrell"
*December 13, 2007: "9:30" "SNL Christmas"
*December 15, 2007: "8:00" "SNL Christmas"
*December 15, 2007: "9:30" "The Best of Chris Farley"
*December 22, 2007: "8:00" "The Best of 2006/2007"
*December 22, 2007: "9:30" "SNL Goes Commercial" ('aka' Best of Commercial Parodies)
*April 22, 2008: "8:30" "The Best of Chris Farley"
*June 15, 2008: "9:00" "The Best of Mike Myers" (updated version)

Episodes

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