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Raquel Welch and Saturday Night Live weren’t a match made in comedy heaven. The actress was assigned a “babysitter” to keep her out of Lorne Michaels’ hair when she hosted in 1976, according to Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. Welch was attempting to make the transition from 1960s sex symbol to Vegas-style dynamo. What could SNL do with a talent like this?

Welch had ideas, like this bizarro, high-kickin’ musical number. SNL viewers must have felt like they were watching a hybrid of a Donny and Marie variety show and a late-night Skinemax movie.

Of course, SNL writers had their own pitches, mostly centered on her cleavage. Chevy Chase had a brilliant idea — every time Welch was on-screen, he wanted the camera to slowly drift from her face to her breasts. Even funnier (to Chase): No one would tell Welch this was happening, though she...

“Look, children, it’s a falling star, make a wish.” It was the one-liner that launched a Saturday Night Live feud we didn’t know was possible. Delivered by David Spade on his recurring Spade in America segment of SNL, the burn was directed at Eddie Murphy, who at that point in 1995 was on a low-light streak with duds like Boomerang, Beverly Hills Cop III and Vampire in Brooklyn. But 30 years on, Spade and Murphy have apparently patched things up, with the two recently meeting up at the SNL50 special.

While Eddie Murphy has been open that David Spade’s joke went too far — especially considering the legacy he had cemented on SNL — the two are apparently cool now. “People asked me if I’m tight with Eddie Murphy. Everything bad has evaporated….There’s absolutely no anything anymore. Everyone was cool. He was in sketches, he was upbeat… walked...

Adam Sandler performed a song that paid tribute to Saturday Night Live’s 50 years on the air during Sunday night’s anniversary special, but not before he was introduced by retired Hollywood veteran Jack Nicholson.

Nicholson introduced the Grown Ups actor before he began his referential track, where he highlighted infamous SNL moments, pondered when Lorne Michaels will retire and quipped about “finding out your favorite musician is antisemitic.”

Sandler kicked off his performance saying, “everyone in this room has something in common,” pointing out that “all of our lives were changed by the show” before poking fun at some lighthearted moments. He questioned who would “take over the show when Lorne retires” in his lyrics before he appeared to joke that Speedy Rosenthal, a longtime member of SNL’s music department, would be the one to take over Michaels’ spot.

The comedian and actor also seemingly threw a jab at Kanye West,...

Near the end of the 50th anniversary Saturday Night Live special on Sunday night, original cast member Garrett Morris sat on a chair at the show’s primary stage (a.k.a. home base) to introduce “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” a 1978 SNL short that imagined an elderly John Belushi as the last survivor of that first group of Not Ready for Primetime Players. Before the film rolled, Morris quipped that when he joined the cast in 1975, “I had no idea I would be required to do so many reunion shows.

Jack Nicholson made a rare appearance at the SNL50 celebration Sunday, appearing in the audience to introduce Adam Sandler, on stage to play and sing a ballad marking the show’s half century mark.

“Let’s hear it for Jack, baby! Jack baby out tonight!” Sandler said when introduced.

On guitar, Sandler sang a five-minute salute to “50 Years.”

Fifty years of your sketch killing it at read-through, and finding out they didn’t pick it because the host didn’t want to take off his shirt.

Some of the lines riffed on those in the audience — such as Steven Spielberg.

Fifty years of writers seeing Spielberg at Lorne’s monitors. Not laughing at one of their sketches that he obviously hated. Fifty years of those same writers then getting wasted at the after party, and loudly telling everybody that Jaws was overrated.

Sandler also paid homage to cast members of the past,...

Adam Sandler’s performance at Sunday night’s “SNL50: Anniversary Special” was one of the most memorable moments of the night — even before it began. The performance was introduced by Jack Nicholson, who received loud applause inside Studio 8H.

“Everyone in this room has something in common. All of our lives were changed by the show,” Sandler, who spent five years on “Saturday Night Live” from 1991 to 1995, began. His song highlighted many behind-the-scenes jokes, including calling out “Drunk Wally” for holding the cue cards upside down and thanking “Nurse Teresa” for the many doses of Pepto Bismol.

“50 years of writers seeing Spielberg at Lorne’s monitors, not laughing at one of their sketches that he obviously hated,” Sandler sang. “50 years of those same writers getting wasted at the after party and loudly telling everybody that ‘Jaws ‘was overrated.”

Sandler joked about how each cast feels they’re the best,...

For 50 years, Saturday Night Live introduced the world to some of the funniest people on the planet. As the years have gone on, several beloved cast members who shaped the show's legacy have passed away.

Countless comedians became household names thanks to Saturday Night Live. Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Kenan Thompson are just some of the names who audiences felt like they knew because of SNL.

That connection between the audience and the cast also means it especially hurts when a former SNL cast member passes away. Here's the complete list of the 15 Saturday Night Live cast members who have died.

Peter Aykroyd

Peter Aykroyd was the younger brother of original Saturday Night Live cast member Dan Aykroyd. The younger Aykroyd also got his start with Second City in Toronto.

Peter Aykroyd joined Saturday Night Live as a writer and cast member for season five...

“Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels is the subject of Susan Morrison’s upcoming biography “Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live,” a lengthy excerpt from which was published by The New Yorker and reveals Michaels’ hot and cold relationship with the ever-changing cast over the years. Michaels may be the boss of “SNL,” but he wasn’t always a loving paternal figure.

Alec Baldwin, who has hosted “SNL” 17 times and had a stint playing Donald Trump, told Morrison that Michaels is “Darwinian” in his management style in that “Lorne just stands back and lets them cannibalize each other.” But Morrison writes that Michaels “is flexible about the talent-management aspect of his producer role. Different personalities, he believes, require different approaches.”

“To some, Michaels will bark, ‘Don’t fuck it up,'” Morrison continues. “Bill Hader, who is prone to anxiety attacks, remembers Michaels coming to his dressing room when he hosted and snapping,...

Mike Myers was a mainstay on Saturday Night Live from 1989 to 1995, creating such memorable characters as Dieter, host of the avant-garde German variety show Sprockets, the mundane superhero Middle Aged Man, and, of course, Wayne Campbell, whose public-access show Wayne's World became a sensation, spawning the catchphrase "party on!" and two theatrical films in the 1990s. Myers's stint on SNL led to a long career in comedy, with the actor appearing in the Austin Powers and Shrek movies, to name just a couple of his achievements. With so much comedic gold to offer viewers, it may come as a surprise that Myers wasn't always so sure of himself.

In an appearance on Vulture's Good One podcast (via Entertainment Weekly), Myers revealed that when he first arrived at SNL, he was completely blown away by the talent surrounding him.

"When I got to Saturday Night Live and saw how f---ing good these guys were,...

Mike Myers has admitted he was “scared s***less” when he first met his Saturday Night Live co-stars. The Wayne’s World actor was a cast member on SNL from 1989 to 1995.

Myers may have become one of the most successful comedians to come out of SNL, but he came from humble beginnings in the Second City comedy troupe’s touring company. He has reflected on moving from the smaller-scale Canadian improv scene to a starring role at 30 Rock in an interview with the Good One podcast. “When I got to Saturday Night Live and saw how f***ing good these guys were, I was scared s***less. I had an anxiety attack,” he remembered.

Mike Myers Reveals He Was Intimidated by SNL Co-Stars

Wayne's World Returns for the Super Bowl

Mike Myers and Dana Carvey's Wayne's World has reunited for by Uber Eats for a special Super Bowl ad,...

Mike Myers is comedy gold, and he’s known for his characters on Saturday Night Live (SNL), as well as roles in movies like Wayne’s World and Austin Powers. Today, he’s cemented his legacy as a successful comedic force, but even someone of his caliber wasn’t immune to self-doubt.

Mike Myers | GQ / YouTube

That’s right, nerves got the best of Myers as well when he first stepped into the spotlight of SNL. He recently shared anecdotes about how he felt anxiety in the initial stages. So, let’s look at the time when the comedian got jitters, but still powered through!

Mike Myers opens up about his anxiety in his initial days of Saturday Night Live Mike Myers on SNL | Saturday Night Live / YouTube

In a candid conversation on Vulture’s Good One podcast, Myers spoke about what he experienced during his days at Saturday Night Live.

“Saturday Night Live” legend Mike Myers wasn’t always the totally excellent leading man he is today.

On a recent episode of Vulture’s “Good One” podcast (via EW), Myers explained that when he first joined the prolific late-night sketch show, he was “scared shitless” after seeing the talent of his fellow cast members.

“When I got to ‘Saturday Night Live’ and saw how fucking good these guys were, I was scared shitless. I had an anxiety attack,” Myers said.

Myers went on to name which castmates he admired most: “Phil Hartman. I mean, Dana Carvey. [Kevin] Nealon, Jan Hooks, who I also worship. You know, it was unbelievable.”

While soaring to international fame on the “SNL” stage, Myers’ iconic Wayne Campbell character first rose to prominence with the renowned Chicago improv troupe Second City.

Recalling one of his debut performances as Wayne Campbell at Second City, Myers said he “came...

You think Pete Davidson was young when he started on Saturday Night Live? He was 20, practically a grizzled veteran. So was been-there-done-that Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Eddie Murphy was 19 years old, but that still made him an experienced pro compared to Anthony Michael Hall, who got a job on SNL in 1985 before he was old enough to vote. The show was on practically past his bedtime.

“How do you get on Saturday Night Live at 17?” wondered Dana Carvey this week on the Fly on the Wall podcast. “Beat Eddie Murphy by two years!”

As it turns out, Hall didn’t even have to audition. “Eddie was a hero of mine, and I was literally in my mother’s apartment two years before watching him every weekend. I loved it,” Hall told Carvey and David Spade. Then the young actor killed it in John Hughes' comedies Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club. “After I had done those films,...

On Friday nights — and special occasions! — IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: Appointment Viewing for “Stoners, Seekers, Archivists, and Drinkers”

It took more than 1,700 miles and an honest-to-God movie theater for me to discover that the livestream I’ve been wanting my entire adult life tapes weekly just ten minutes down the street in LA. Yes, I had to fly all the way to New Orleans, Louisiana for The 2024 Overlook Film Festival to stumble onto the genius that is Museum of Home Video.

The found-footage livestream with a semi-hallucinogenic feel — described by its creators as “college radio for the...

Futurama and The Simpsons share a number of voice actors, with Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Jan Hooks, Hank Azaria, Kevin Michael Richardson, Tress MacNeille, Frank Welker, and Maurice Lamarche all contributing to both shows. Several cast members from The Simpsons have made guest appearances on Futurama, including Dan Castellaneta as The Robot Devil, Nancy Cartwright as a Bart Simpson doll, and Jan Hooks as both Manjula and Angleyne. The crossover between the two shows goes beyond voice actors, with numerous guest stars appearing as themselves on both Futurama and The Simpsons, and even some fictional characters from The Simpsons being depicted on Futurama.

When Matt Groening launched Futurama in 1999, it was very much viewed as his follow-up to The Simpsons. The show opted to stay away from comparisons to The Simpsons in some ways such as avoiding Halloween specials and embracing a new animation style that would enhance its hand-drawn...

Hillary Clinton wasn’t impressed by Julia Sweeney’s 1993 “Saturday Night Live” impression of her then-teenage daughter, Chelsea Clinton.

Sweeney, 63, recalled the sketch while appearing on Wednesday’s episode of fellow “SNL” alums Dana Carvey and David Spade’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast during a conversation about the show’s lack of female representation in the early ’90s. The group discussed how political figures, like Hilary and Sarah Palin, presented the show an opportunity to include women in sketches.

Spade then jogged Sweeney’s memory, recounting that she once played Chelsea, who was 13 years old at the time, stressing that her portrayal “rubbed somebody wrong.”

Read More: ‘SNL’ Star Julia Sweeney Reveals She Still ‘Gets A Lot Of S**t’ For ‘Pat’ Impression

“Yeah, Hillary,” Sweeney replied, revealing that the politician and former secretary of state “wrote a letter” to “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels, criticizing the sketch.

“People were...

Former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Julia Sweeney revealed on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s “Fly on the Wall” podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) that Hillary Clinton was so upset over the show’s portrayal of her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, that she personally “wrote a letter” to showrunner Lorne Michaels. Sweeney played a teenage Chelsea in a January 1993 episode, with Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks playing Bill and Hillary, respectively (see photo above).

“People were saying how unattractively I was playing Chelsea, and all I did was not wear makeup and put braces on,” Sweeney said. “If you say that, you’re saying I’m unattractive!”

Sweeney maintained that she “wasn’t trying to play [Chelsea] unattractive,” but that doesn’t mean targeting someone’s child on national television was a smart idea. Clinton’s letter expressed her disapproval over the sketch, the cast member said. Variety has reached out to Clinton’s representative for comment.

Hillary Clinton was not pleased with how Saturday Night Live depicted daughter Chelsea in 1993, as revealed by former cast member Julia Sweeney during an interview on Dana Carvey and David Spade’s Fly on the Wall podcast.

Sweeney and the hosts recalled how after she played a teenaged Chelsea in a skit alongside Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks, Clinton “wrote a letter” to SNL creator Lorne Michaels to express her disapproval.

“People were saying how unattractively I was playing Chelsea, and all I did was not wear makeup and put braces on,...

I remember her hands trembling. They did not tremble. She was not afraid. She was too fired up, too righteous, too right to know fear in that moment.

My memory is tainted by the ensuing smear campaign, a campaign that did not end until today, when Sinéad O'Connor died at the infuriatingly young age of 56 -- and I'm probably a fool to believe this denigration will cease just because she's not around to defend herself anymore. I've never seen a popular musician face such unremitting scorn. Not even close. But O'Connor -- contrary to the narrative seared into our psyches by a media that could not bear her scorched-earth declaration that the Catholic Church is, charitable works be damned, a factory of institutionally abetted child abuse -- never stopped speaking her truth. That continues to be our truth and our shame.

That she did so with a shaved head, which...

If you're a fan of the late comedian Chris Farley, you've most likely seen his famous "Saturday Night Live" sketch "Chippendales Audition." It first aired on October 27, 1990, and was the first to feature Farley in a lead role. It's probably his most famous sketch, though it's not without controversy. 

In the scene, host Patrick Swayze ("Dirty Dancing") plays Adrian and Farley plays Barney, two dancers auditioning to become part of the famous Chippendales dancers. Jan Hooks ("3rd Rock from the Sun"), Kevin Nealon ("Weeds"), and Mike Myers are there to judge them as they dance to "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy. The two of them dance together on the stage, with Swayze doing all the expert moves you'd expect and Farley honestly working just as hard. He was one of the kings of physical comedy, after all. Once the dancers finish their routines, they wait backstage and give each other pep talks.

In Mike Myers’ new six-part Netflix series, “The Pentaverate,” the Canadian comedy legend plays eight new characters. Add them to a repertoire that includes such beloved weirdos as Wayne Campbell, Austin Powers, Dieter, Dr. Evil and Shrek, and the streamer seems eager to tout their partnership with the actor, pairing him with director David O. Russell for an hour-long mutual-appreciation session at the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival.

Asked by Russell to describe the idea that inspired the new show, Myers — who showed up, despite having lost his voice to seasonal allergies — flashed back to his 1993 feature “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” in which he played both main character Charlie Mackenzie and his dad, a cuckoo conspiracy nut who ranted about a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world who run everything.

“In the last six years, just seeing the rise of all the weird...

Garth: What do you do if every time you see this one incredible woman, you think you’re gonna hurl?

Wayne: I say hurl. If you blow chunks and she comes back, she’s yours. But if you spew and she bolts, it was never meant to be.

Sage advice from two legends. Really, this line from the original Penelope Spheeris-helmed Wayne’s World (1992) sort of encapsulates a lot about what makes that film so great: its strength is its expert ability to elucidate intelligent truths, covertly bundled in the ramblings of airheads.

That movie was released 30 (!) years ago today, February 14th, 1992. It’s time for a most excellent look back at the classic blockbuster comedy, for those of us who don’t want to live in the now. Party on.

First developed by star Mike Myers as a precocious preteen in the Canadian suburb of Scarborough, Ontario, the Wayne...

Undoubtedly, composer Marc Shaiman has had a hand in something in pop culture that you love dearly. “The American President,” “Hairspray,” “Smash,” “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” “Sister Act,” “The First Wives Club,” “Beaches,” the list goes on and on — and in every medium to boot. He needs one Oscar to go Egot, and is the go-to when you need some tuneful punch-up on awards ceremonies, anniversary shows and late-night mainstays. But even he gets surprised by some of the attention he gets.

Case in point: Shaiman was tapped to write a funny, highly meta credits song for “Soundtrack of Our Lives,” a limited-time-only June 2020 YouTube benefit for MusicCares’ Covid-19 relief fund. It was simply called “The End Titles,” and he not only wrote it, but sang it as well, super-imposed over an insanely starry mega-roll while posing queries such as “What is a best boy? Isn’t there a best girl?...

Maya Rudolph is one of six creative leaders in comedy honored for Variety‘s 2021 Power of Women. For more, click here.

When Maya Rudolph was a kid, she’d stage one-girl musicals in her living room and play make believe in empty corners of her mother’s recording studios, creating makeshift stages anywhere she could to satisfy her performing itch. Some 40 years later, though, she has so many platforms to choose from that it’s become genuinely overwhelming.

“Before any thoughts of quarantine, I was feeling very burned out,” she admits. “I was weirdly well on my way to retooling, and I think I’m still there. I feel less ashamed to admit that I would like to go a bit slower.”

Before the pandemic hit, Rudolph was booked solid. She had once again become an “SNL” mainstay to play then-Senator Kamala Harris, while her portrayal of a goofy, almighty...

Alec Baldwin and 11 Other Actors Who’ve Played Donald Trump on Screen (Photos)

Phil Hartman, “Saturday Night Live” (1988-1990)

Long before Alec Baldwin donned a blond wig, the late Phil Hartman played Donald Trump in a series of sketches. The first mocked Donald and Ivana Trump (Jan Hooks) as out-of-touch rich people at Christmas-time, while later skits depicted the couple’s tabloid divorce.

Darrell Hammond, “Saturday Night Live” (1999-2011)

Before Baldwin, Hammond was the go-to impersonator of Trump, starting with two sketches in 1989 and then off and on in multiple sketches over the next decade. He even returned to don a too-long red tie when Trump was guest host in 2015.

Louis Ferreira, “Trump Unauthorized” (2005)

The Portugese-born actor — best known for his work on TV series like “Stargate Universe,” “Breaking Bad” and “S.W.A.T.” — starred as the real estate mogul-turned reality star in a 2005 ABC movie.

Jason Sudeikis, “Saturday Night Live” (2012)

In...

Rick Ludwin, an NBC stalwart of three decades who proved his value to the network both as a trusted liaison to Johnny Carson and an early champion of Jerry Seinfeld, died Sunday in Los Angeles, according to the network. He was 71.

Ludwin launched his show-biz odyssey with one legendary funnyman — the future executive did some joke-writing for Bob Hope — and later cemented his legacy with another comedy icon by supporting the game-changing Seinfeld when other executives at NBC were skeptical of airing a show that was infamously “about nothing.”

Seinfled (1989-1998) became one of the most lucrative primetime ventures in television history but Ludwin’s primary focus at NBC was guiding the network’s specials and late-night programming. Taking over the speciality in 1989, Ludwin held the high-profile post through 2011. That 22-year tenure made him a linchpin figure for Saturday Night Live — it also put him in the crossfire of the...

Hulu has acquired classic 90s sitcom Designing Women and will launch all seven seasons of the Linda Bloodworth-Thomason-created show on August 26, Women’s Equality Day.

The digital platform will air all 163 episodes of the series, which was produced by Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association with Columbia Pictures Television for CBS, after striking a deal with Sony Pictures Television.

The series, which ran from September 29, 1986, until May 24, 1993, centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an Atlanta interior design firm. Designing Women starred Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks and Judith Ivey.

The pick up comes after a reboot of the show, written by original creator Bloodworth-Thomason, was developed last year by ABC.

Hulu’s head of originals Craig Erwich said that the show was “ahead of its time” when it launched. “We saw...

NBC will honor Luke Perry, who died this week after suffering a stroke, by airing the episode of “Saturday Night Live” that he hosted back in 1993.

The episode, which included Mick Jagger as the musical guest, will air as part of “SNL’s” classic set of shows at 10 p.m. Et/Pt on Saturday nights. Each week, “SNL” picks an old episode to air alongside its new episodes. In the eastern and central time zones, it will air prior to the new “SNL” Saturday, while in the mountain and pacific time zones, it will air after.

“SNL” has been airing live coast-to-coast for the past 2 seasons, meaning that it starts at 8:30 p.m. on the West Coast.

Also Read: 'Riverdale' Honors Luke Perry With 'In Memoriam' Tribute on First Episode to Air Since His Death

Perry hosted the 12th episode of season 18 on Feb. 6, 1993. This was Dana Carvey...

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, the Hills on Fox’s “King of the Hill” did their one-stop shopping at the fake Mega Lo Mart. Soon, the Harts on Fox’s “Bless the Harts” will too.

“I talked to Mike Judge about using Mega Lo Mart for the Walmart big-box store on the show,” “Bless the Harts” creator Emily Spivey said Wednesday at the Television Critics Association press tour. “He was so sweet, he said yes.”

“I really feel like ‘King of the Hill’ and ‘Bless the Harts’ exist in the same world,” she added. “So Mega Lo Mart will be back on [TV].”

Also Read: 'The Simpsons' Renewed for Seasons 31 and 32 on Fox

Native North Carolinian Spivey cited “King of the Hill” as one of her own show’s predecessors that got making jokes about the South right.

“The gold standard for me was ‘The Andy Griffith Show...

Here’s a scorchingly hot take: Matt Damon is really good at hosting Saturday Night Live.

Fine, perhaps that isn’t too controversial a position. But the 16-year gap between hosting appearances seems fairly nuts when watching how easily he slips into the ensemble of the show. Whereas his season premiere appearance as Brett Kavanaugh felt like an outsized cameo, this week’s performance displayed a comedic skillset that blended into whatever sketch the show threw at him. It’s incorrect to call the performance revelatory, given the depth and breadth of Damon’s career.

ABC is designing something exciting. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has greenlit a sequel to the '80s TV show Designing Women.

From Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the original comedy centered on an Atlanta-based interior design business and the four women who run it. The cast included Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Meschach Taylor, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Alice Ghostley, Jan Hooks, and Judith Ivey. The series ran on CBS from 1986 to 1993.

Read More…...

ABC is rolling out the red carpet — or at least hanging up the red drapes — for the Designing Women. A sequel of the Emmy Award-winning comedy, which ran from 1986 to 1993 on CBS, has received a script commitment from the Alphabet Network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Original series creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason and executive producer Harry Thomason are behind the new multi-cam series, which will “follow the next generation of Sugarbakers with a crop of new, young, female designers at an Atlanta interior design firm.”

“I’m very excited to be working with ABC,” Bloodworth Thomason tells THR. “And Sony...

ABC has given a script commitment to what is described as a “sequel” to the classic 1990s sitcom Designing Women, with the series’ original creator Linda Bloodworth Thomason heading the new iteration, Deadline has confirmed. The previously announced project had been in the works at original series producer Sony Pictures TV, which also is producing the new version.

The series, which ran from September 29, 1986, until May 24, 1993, centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an Atlanta interior design firm. Designing Women starred Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks and Judith Ivey.

Written by Bloodworth Thomason, the sequel will follow the next generation of Sugarbakers with a crop of new, young, female designers at an Atlanta interior design firm, but still with the same razor-sharp dialogue and ability to cut through the political, cultural, and social...

Twenty-five years after the original series wrapped its seven-season run on CBS, a revival of the classic 1990s sitcom Designing Women[/link] is in the works at Sony Pictures TV, with the series’ original creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason heading the new iteration, Deadline has confirmed.

The series, which ran from September 29, 1986, until May 24, 1993, centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an Atlanta interior design firm. Designing Women starred Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks and Judith Ivey.

This is the latest revival to come out of Sony Pictures TV. The studio also is behind the revival of One Day at a Time, a reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom, at Netflix. Deadline recently reported Sony is in the very early stages of a reboot of the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life, with Appian Way,...

Sony’s got Georgia on its mind. TVLine has learned exclusively that the studio is developing a reboot of the classic ’90s sitcom Designing Women, with the series’ original creator, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, shepherding the update. The project is expected to be taken out to the marketplace soon.

The news comes roughly one month before CBS is set to launch a revival of Designing Women‘s former time slot companion, Murphy Brown.

Designing Women debuted on September 29, 1986 and ran for seven seasons, before concluding on May 24, 1993. It centered on the lives of four women (played by Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts...

David Letterman’s new Netflix series, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction,” has proven to be a format well-suited to bringing out candid self-reflection in his long-form interview subjects — which came to the forefront in his latest sit-down with Tina Fey.

In between a trip to Chicago for music and local cuisine, Fey and Letterman had a revelatory conversation about her family life and her love of comedy — including Letterman himself introducing the topic of women in comedy.

However, he opened by acknowledging the fact that for years, former “Late Night” writer Nell Scovell and many others have criticized the lack of women in his writers’ rooms. “[People would ask] why don’t you have women writers? And the best I could come up with was ‘I don’t know.’ I didn’t know why there weren’t women writers. There was no policy against women writers. I always thought, ‘Well, geez, if...

Alec Baldwin is hosting Saturday Night Live for the 17th time this weekend, after guest starring all season playing President Donald Trump.

While fans are no doubt excited to see how Baldwin lampoons the president when he gets a chance to host, the momentous occasion has us feeling nostalgic for all the great comedy the Golden Globe winner has brought to the show since his first time hosting back in October 1990.

Watch: Alec Baldwin Gets Nostalgic About His History with 'SNL' in Hilarious New Promo

Over the past 26 years, Baldwin's career has taken a lot of twists and turns (as has SNL), but his comedic timing and spot-on impressions have never faltered. There's a reason he's hosted more than anyone else in the show's history.

In celebration of his illustrious past with the long-running sketch series, let's take a look at some of Baldwin's best appearances (in no particular order).

1. NPR’s Delicious Dish with...

A version of this article originally appeared on Time.com.

In just a few weeks, Alec Baldwin will return to Saturday Night Live to host for the 17th time, though he’s made waves this season with his ripe parody of Donald Trump, another broad-shouldered New Yorker who also doesn’t mince words.

Every time SNL’s host with the most drops in, the guy’s a total pro. The thing that makes the Baldwin, 58, effect reliably funny isn’t just his self-assured stature: he’s an experimental team player, and everyone around him is funnier for it.

Whenever he...

Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton impression has been widely praised this election year.  The comedian did her first Saturday Night Live impersonation of Clinton in 2013, but it really took off for her in the past year as Clinton became the Democratic nominee and the presidential election took center stage. McKinnon follows in the footsteps of SNL Hillary Clinton impersonators Amy Poehler, Vanessa Bayer, Jan Hooks and Ana Gasteyer. McKinnon's Clinton uses a plethora of facial expressions to emulate Clinton, mixing in robotic gestures, awkward narration of her attempts to be natural and a dash of desperately wanting to appeal to millennials.

read more...

Move over, Girls. Forget Sex and the City. The original female quartet, Designing Women, debuted on CBS 30 years ago today.Created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the sitcom centered on four women and one man who worked at an interior design studio in Atlanta, Ga. The cast included Dixie Carter, Jean Smart, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Meshach Taylor, and Jan Hooks.Read More…...

Frequent Saturday Night Live host Alec Baldwin will portray Donald Trump throughout the election season on the long-running sketch comedy series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cast members Taran Killam and Darrell Hammond most recently portrayed the Gop's presidential nominee.

Baldwin will debut his Trump impression on the show's October 1st season premiere and will continue playing the part throughout the season. Former cast member Hammond portrayed Trump last season following his return in 2014 as the show's announcer. Killam had played Trump prior, but his contract was not renewed for the upcoming 42nd season.

John McLaughlin, the conservative talk-show host and pop-culture lightning rod who helmed the long-running roundtable TV show The McLaughlin Group, has died. He was 89.

The McLaughlin Group Facebook page reported the news. "Earlier this morning, a beloved friend and mentor, Dr. John McLaughlin, passed away peacefully at the age of 89," the statement read. "As a former Jesuit priest, teacher, pundit and news host, John touched many lives. For 34 years, The McLaughlin Group informed millions of Americans. Now he has said bye bye for the last time, to rejoin his beloved dog,...

This weekend, presidential candidate and world champion comedy bait Donald Trump was once again a target of Saturday Night Lives' gleeful mockery.

The NBC favorite has made a sport of parodying Trump's narcissism and extravagance over the years, skewering everything from his marriage and subsequent divorce to his other marriage and subsequent divorce.

While we witnessed Trump's evolution from buffoonish business mogul to shockingly effective vote hustler, SNL has been there to offer satirization of the already cartoon-esque billionaire. Now, as we become closer and closer to the election, we're taking a peek back at the candidate's decades-long relationship with the show.

I'm sick of Donald Trump's "SNL" hosting appearance and it's still a few days away. There are organized protests, casual musings about how and if he'll be "funny," and a lingering sense that Trump truly believes this will make him look cool. Fortunately we have an "SNL" alum offering her perspective on the presidential hopeful, and it's not a rosy one. Nora Dunn, the five-season "SNL" alumna who played one half of the Sweeney Sisters with the late Jan Hooks, weighed in on Trump's upcoming appearance with a HuffPost column about how "SNL" has changed and why the Donald won't be the first or last time the show is disappointing.    There have been many incredible moments and big laughs and eye-popping craziness on Saturday Night Live. And that will continue, I hope. The show is part of our collective conscious. Trumps' appearance will not be a shining moment, but...

In many ways, it seems only right that both Saturday Night Live and Bill and Hillary Clinton are celebrating their 40th anniversaries on Oct. 11.

After all, both have become American institutions over the years, and they've become intrinsically intertwined since before President Clinton even stepped into the Oval Office. In fact, SNL has even become a key stop on Hillary's campaign trail.

In fact, it doesn't seem right that we celebrate one milestone without including the other – after all, where would SNL be without the Clintons and vice versa? – so to celebrate, we've rounded up every single Clinton impression...

The Emmy Awards are just one "whyyyyy?" after another. Nothing about this award show makes a lick of sense. Why does it take itself so seriously? Why are the categories so random? (As host Andy Samberg said, "Orange Is the New Black is now officially a drama and Louie is officially jazz.") Why didn't Broad City get nominated? Did the voters get their wisdom teeth pulled every day this year? Peg me gently with a chainsaw! In our golden age for award shows, not to mention for TV, why are...

“Live from New York!” purports to be a look at four decades of the late-night comedy institution “Saturday Night Live,” but it’s basically a puff piece on the show’s longtime producer Lorne Michaels. How do we know this? For starters, the years where Michael took a hiatus from producing (1980-1985) are blipped right over, apart from an interview with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and a few mentions of Eddie Murphy. Then the movie pretends that Michaels returned triumphantly, with the rise of Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks and Phil Hartman, conveniently omitting almost any notice of the infamous 1985-86 season under Michaels’ tutelage,...

Hillary Clinton is much more than even a 2016 presidential candidate. She's a pop culture touchstone and the "Saturday Night Live" legacy of Hillary impersonations proves it: Clinton has been imitated by nine different performers going all the way back to Jan Hooks. To celebrate this indelible sketch character, let's rank all nine portrayals of the former New York senator and pick the ultimate "SNL" Hillary.  Honorable mentions: Drew Barrymore and Rachel Dratch Both Drew Barrymore and Rachel Dratch played Clinton in very brief moments on "SNL." Barrymore played a young Clinton during a 2004 hosting stint and Dratch chimed in with a space-age Hillary in a "State of the Galaxy" sketch from 2006. While they are fun anomalous versions of the former Secretary of State, they aren't representative enough to factor in on this list.  7. Janeane Garofalo During the infamous '94-'95 season of "SNL," Michael McKean and Janeane Garofalo took turns as Bill and Hillary.

Ever since the start, "Saturday Night Live" has given us bold, weird character actresses who seesawed between deadly one-liners and powerful impersonations. Gilda Radner charmed you with insanity. Jane Curtin jarred you with sarcasm. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nora Dunn, and Jan Hooks balanced goofy caricatures with serious thespian chops. But when Molly Shannon joined "SNL" 20 years ago in February of 1995, a new wave of female characterizations began on Lorne Michaels' revue: Suddenly women could be the zaniest, ballsiest performers in the entire telecast -- and with the biggest grins on their face, to boot. Shannon was joined in the cast by Groundlings loon Cheri Oteri later in 1995; Northwestern alum and onetime violin prodigy Ana Gasteyer came in '96. The trio found inventive ways to mock new distaff phenomena in pop culture like "The View" and Lilith Fair while injecting carnality, cool intelligence, and even scariness into familiar "SNL" roles for women.

We spent the weekend enjoying the hell out of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," the new Netflix series from "30 Rock" royalty Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. Starring "Office" and "Bridesmaids" vet Ellie Kemper, it chronicles the life of a woman who escapes from an apocalyptic cult and builds a new life in New York City. It is a scream. Here are seven major things to appreciate about it.   1. Veteran TV actresses get tons to do.  "30 Rock" provided a wonderful showcase for veteran comic actors, and we can thank the Fey/Carlock mothership for giving Elaine Stritch, Jan Hooks, Anita Gillette, Tim Conway, Alan Alda, and many, many more such fun and weird roles. "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is off to a great start in this area: Regular cast members Carol Kane and Jane Krakowski rack up some of the biggest laughs every episode as they notch another hit in their incredible TV careers,...