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Cecily Strong added to SNL Weekend Update desk

W

WMC2006

SNL castmember Cecily Strong, who just started with the cast last season, will become Seth Myers' co-anchor starting in two weeks when the new season debuts. Seth will be around at least until February when he becomes host of NBC's Late Night and Lorne Michaels hopes he sticks around after that. We'll lose Strong's Update 'Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started A Conversation With' character: http://tvline.com/2013/09/15/saturday-night-live-cecily-weekend-update-co-anchor/

They also add four new castmembers (replacing Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis) including Beck Bennet who does the ATT commercials with the kids. And little used current castmember Tim Robinson leaves the cast for the writing crew:

http://tvline.com/2013/08/23/saturday-night-live-new-castmembers-noel-wells-beck-bennett/

Season 39 debuts on September 28th with Tina Fey as host and Arcade Fire as musical guest. Miley Cyrus (who?) will be host and musical guest on October 5th. Bruce Willis and Katy Perry appear on October 12th.
 
I was wondering if SNL would debut a new (solo) anchor with no previous ties to the cast. The last time there was a new solo anchor was Dennis Miller in 1985. Since then, everyone had either been on the main cast and transitioned to W.U. or Tina Fey, who teamed up with cast member Jimmy Fallon.
 
Tina Fey had previously been on the writing team at SNL when she transitioned to an on-air role at Update.
 
WMC2006 said:
Tina Fey had previously been on the writing team at SNL when she transitioned to an on-air role at Update.
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Besides being in the background during skits, Tina Fey was an unknown person to the SNL viewing audience. That's why I mentioned "main cast."
 
When they added the 10:00 rebroadcast, I started watching and now I watch every week. I had avoided it because it was too long and possibly too dirty, but when I found it was only an hour, I decided I could handle that. Then I found out the truth about the hour-long reruns. It doesn't matter. But Bill Hader was the best cast member they had. Fred Armisen was a close second among men.
 
The first Weekend Update of the season is in the can. It was ok, nothing exceptional. Cecily Strong held her own. I could have used more of Seth and Cecily and a lot less of Bobby Moynihan's "Drunk Uncle" and a "veteran comic" character from one of the newbies. Unlike Seth, who doesn't appear in any sketches, Cecily did appear briefly in a couple of sketches here and there.

There is a cast of thousands this year with 6 featured players and 10 repertory players. All of last year's featured players are part of the main cast now. The 'old-timers' are now Seth (with the show since 2001) and Kenan Thompson who has been around since 2003. Kenan was around quite a bit tonight and may end up being the male version of Kristen Wiig, appearing in practically every sketch. Even with all of those people, exec producer Lorne Michaels still managed to find his way into a sketch.
 
WMC2006 said:
The first Weekend Update of the season is in the can. It was ok, nothing exceptional. Cecily Strong held her own. I could have used more of Seth and Cecily and a lot less of Bobby Moynihan's "Drunk Uncle" and a "veteran comic" character from one of the newbies. Unlike Seth, who doesn't appear in any sketches, Cecily did appear briefly in a couple of sketches here and there.

There is a cast of thousands this year with 6 featured players and 10 repertory players. All of last year's featured players are part of the main cast now. The 'old-timers' are now Seth (with the show since 2001) and Kenan Thompson who has been around since 2003. Kenan was around quite a bit tonight and may end up being the male version of Kristen Wiig, appearing in practically every sketch. Even with all of those people, exec producer Lorne Michaels still managed to find his way into a sketch.
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I started to say I was waiting for the Saturday rerun, but since it's condensed I tape the whole thing. I just haven't watched it yet.
 
I watched part of the show but haven't seen "Weekend Update" yet. When I saw the cast, I realized it was Aidy Bryant I was hoping would be Seth's co-anchor. I don't know anything about Cecily. Aidy and Vanessa Bayer were my two favorite female cast members last season.
 
I finally saw it. I don't like her. Enjoying the humor depends largely on who is reading the story.

I like the new prettier maps but Southern Sudan is still not shown. And Missouri and Oklahoma border each other so they should not be the same color.

The obvious choice for the next new male anchor is the AT&T guy, who I read is now on the show. Although if his delivery is like those commercials, he might be more of a Dan Rather than a Stephen Colbert.
 
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vchimpanzee said:
The obvious choice for the next new male anchor is the AT&T guy, who I read is now on the show.
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Beck Bennett is the AT&T guy. I've never seen him prior to those commercials. He's done some sketch work. To me, anyone could do the AT&T job; the kids are the star. However Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby were able to make faces which enhanced the comedy. Bennett's dead pan look and voice isn't funny.
 
Now that I've seen him in sketches, he's probably not right for Weekend Update. Seth is always smiling, especially when talking with someone else. That's essential. We're not looking for Dan Rather.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Now that I've seen him in sketches, he's probably not right for Weekend Update. Seth is always smiling, especially when talking with someone else. That's essential. We're not looking for Dan Rather.
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Interesting that you mentioned Seth smiling, because that's what Jimmy Fallon also did/does.

So far, Seth has done most of the W.E. 'heavy lifting' and giving the generic stories to Cecily. There are going to need another strong(!) anchor to play off Cecily.
 
It's only been 3 weeks and Seth doesn't leave until February although Lorne Michaels has mentioned he hopes Seth could possibly stay since Late Night will have a 4 day taping schedule (no taping on Fridays). There's still time for her to gel although I like her WU work so far. And, she is still appearing in sketches unlike Seth who doesn't.
 
vchimpanzee said:
He seems funny to me. He may be "too" professional to be the Weekend Update guy.
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He wasn't funny this past weekend. He does better when playing stright man to the kids or being angry.

Rather than search for the appropriate thread, I'll just say here that the Halloween special reinforced the point that without Bill Hader and Fred Armisen the show just isn't as good.

I loved the gag where Kerry Washington had to be all the black women. I figured Kenan would be Oprah, but no ...

That talk show where nothing Obama did would make blacks stop supporting him was hilarious.
 
Okay, AT&T Guy was really funny this week. A young billionaire who behaved like a baby.

Cecily is not "awesome" but I do like when she says that because her character just doesn't care.
 
I was so sorry to see Seth for the last time. I've only been watching the show since they started airing reruns (or reruns part of the show) in prime time a year ago.
 
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