Saturday Night Live (season 33)


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.

History

This season also saw the death of the show's very first host: comedian/actor George Carlin. A scheduled rerun of the episode hosted by Ellen Page was replaced with a rerun of the show's very first episode, which had Carlin as host and Janis Ian and Billy Preston as musical guests.

Strike

Because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20, making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth season and the thirteenth season, which had thirteen episodes and were also cut short due to WGA strikes. 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, live on air, with a future episode to follow, featuring Jonah Hill and musical guest Kid Rock. However, on November 7, 2007, SNLs 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.
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 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.
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.

Cast

No changes to the cast happened over the summer and everyone from last season returned. During the strike, longtime cast member Maya Rudolph left the show, as she had no contract with SNL that year. Casey Wilson, an actress who frequently performs at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, was hired in January 2008 to fill the void, but due to the strike, did not appear on the show until they returned on February 23, 2008.

Cast roster

Repertory players
Featured players
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Episodes

Canceled episodes with booked guests

AirdateHostMusical GuestComments
November 10, 2007Dwayne JohnsonAmy WinehouseDwayne "The Rock" Johnson hosted a season 34 episode in March 2009, with musical guest Ray LaMontagne. Winehouse, who died in 2011, never appeared as a musical guest.
November 17, 2007Jonah HillKid RockJonah Hill ended up hosting in March 2008, with musical guest Mariah Carey. Kid Rock has yet to return to the show as musical guest.

Specials