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Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday
	; The Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday title card
Genre	Comedy; Satire; News Parody
Created by	Lorne Michaels
Written by	Seth Meyers (head writer)
Directed by	Don Roy King
Starring	Fred Armisen; Abby Elliott (season 2); Will Forte; Bill Hader; Darrell Hammond (season 1); Seth Meyers; Bobby Moynihan; Nasim Pedrad (season 2); Amy Poehler (season 1); Andy Samberg; Jenny Slate (season 2); Jason Sudeikis; Kenan Thompson; Kristen Wiig; Casey Wilson (season 1)
Narrated by	Don Pardo
Theme music composer	Jeff Richmond
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	9
Production
Executive producer(s)	Lorne Michaels
Producer(s)	Steve Higgins; Marci Klein; Ken Aymong (supervising)
Location(s)	GE Building, New York City, New York, USA
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 9, 2008 – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Saturday Night Live
Related shows	Spin-off of Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday is an American limited-run series broadcast on NBC. It is a political satire news show spin-off from Saturday Night Live, featuring that show's "Weekend Update" segment. It initially ran for three 30-minute episodes in October 2008, during the lead-up to the 2008 United States presidential election.

[edit] 2008 presidential run

It premiered on Thursday, October 9, 2008, at 9:30 p.m. ET, after The Office. The remaining episodes aired in the same timeslot on October 16 and 23.^[2]

The format consists of a topical cold open sketch similar to most episodes of SNL, followed by an extended Weekend Update for the remaining time. The series is essentially a continuation of the short-form "primetime extra" specials which have aired intermittently since the 2000–2001 season, when NBC needed to fill time following "supersized" 40-minute episodes of Friends.

Several former Saturday Night Live alumni returned to this show: Will Ferrell reprised his role as President George W. Bush, while Tina Fey appeared as Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in a continuation of her much-publicized appearances on the regular show. During the first show, Bill Murray appeared as himself, one of the undecided voters at the second presidential debate sketch. Chris Parnell appeared in the first two episodes as the moderators of the debates, Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer.

[edit] Fall 2009 return

Although originally intended to be a limited run series, NBC announced on May 4, 2009 that they ordered six new episodes of the show, thus, as it turned out, being the only show NBC introduced at the beginning of the 2008–2009 fall season to survive into a second term.^{[citation needed]}

Darrell Hammond made guest appearances in the first three episodes, despite no longer being an SNL cast member. Former cast member Amy Poehler also returned as a special guest to co-anchor the first two episodes of the season.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1: 2008

Episode Number	Date	Special guests	Summary
1	October 9, 2008	Bill Murray Chris Parnell	Parody of the second presidential debate of the 2008 presidential election. The characters of Oscar Rogers (Kenan Thompson) and Hall & Oates (Will Forte and Fred Armisen, respectively) appear on Weekend Update.
2	October 16, 2008	Chris Parnell	Parody of the third and final presidential debate of the 2008 presidential election. The characters of "Crazy McCain Rally Lady" (Kristin Wiig) and Rev. Jesse Jackson (Darrell Hammond) appear on Weekend Update. A new segment named "We Liked It" debuts.
3	October 23, 2008	Will Ferrell Tina Fey	The opening skit features President Bush's (Will Ferrell) endorsement of a proud Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and rather reluctant John McCain (Darrell Hammond). The Oscar Rogers character returns. Fred Armisen parodies CNN's "Magic Map". Andy Samberg made a report on voter registration. A new "Really with Seth and Amy" was shown, focusing on AIG

[edit] Season 2: 2009/2010

Lorne Michaels said that 3 episodes would be airing in Fall 2009, then another 3 in early 2010, and another 3 in Spring 2010. ^[3]

Episode Number	Date	Special guests	Summary
1	September 17, 2009	Amy Poehler, Darrell Hammond	Amy Poehler returned as a special guest to co-anchor Update alongside Seth Meyers. Opening sketch parodying the events that led to Congressman Joe Wilson's (Will Forte) outburst during Obama's Healthcare speech. Update featured a commentary by James Carville (Bill Hader), an appearance by Madonna (Kristen Wiig) parodying her VMA speech, as well as a debate between Former President Jimmy Carter (Darrell Hammond) and RNC chairman Michael Steele (Kenan Thompson). The show ended with the return of "Really" with Seth and Amy.
2	September 24, 2009	Amy Poehler, Megan Fox, Darrell Hammond	Amy Poehler once again returns as a special guest to co-anchor Update alongside Seth Meyers. The cold open mocks Obama's media blitz of the Sunday Morning News Programs which occurred the Sunday before the SNL broadcast. Former President Bill Clinton (Darrell Hammond) appears to talk about the tapes of coversations during his presidency as well as his wish to meet Megan Fox. Governor David Paterson (Fred Armisen) appears to talk about President Obama's calls for him not to stand for re-election as the Governor of New York. Megan Fox appears to parody the finale of the soap opera Guiding Light. Shep (Andy Samberg) appears and talks about how he avoided catching swine flu while at college.
3	October 1, 2009	Darrell Hammond, Maya Rudolph	First Weekend Update Thursday not to have a cold open. Darrell Hammond appeared as Dennis Franz. Maya Rudolph appeared as Oprah Winfrey. Kristen Wiig appeared as Suzie Orman. Bill Hader appeared as John Malkovich. Fred Armisen & Will Forte appeared as Hall & Oates.

[edit] Nielsen ratings

#	Air Date	18-49	Viewers (in millions)
Season One
1	October 9, 2008	5.1/12^[4]	10.9^[4]
2	October 16, 2008	4.2/10^[5]	8.8^[5]
3	October 23, 2008	4.0/9^[6]	8.8^[6]
Season Two
4	September 17, 2009	2.0	5.7
5	September 24, 2009	1.8/5	4.66
6	October 1, 2009	1.8/5	5.08

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Emmy Nominee Amy Poehler to Guest-star in First Two Episodes of NBC'S New 'Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday' on September 17 and 24 a July 30, 2009 press release from the NBC Universal website
^ "'Heroes' Back in a Big Way This Fall". 2008-05-23. http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-nbcfall08premieredates,0,5315624.story. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
^ [1]
^ ^a ^b NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-14). "SNL Weekend Update Thursday, The Office and Sunday Night Football Pace NBC's Week Of October 6–12". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081014000000-039snlweekendup.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
^ ^a ^b NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-21). "NBC Primetime Results For The Week Of October 13–19". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081021000000-nbcprimetimeresult.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
^ ^a ^b NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-28). "NBC Primetime Results For The Week Of 20–26". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081028000000-nbcprimetimeresult.html. Retrieved 2009-02-25.

[edit] External links

This article about a television show originating in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[nbcuv09-0] Emmy Nominee Amy Poehler to Guest-star in First Two Episodes of NBC'S New 'Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday' on September 17 and 24 a July 30, 2009 press release from the NBC Universal website

[1] "'Heroes' Back in a Big Way This Fall". 2008-05-23. http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-nbcfall08premieredates,0,5315624.story. Retrieved 2008-05-28.

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[ep1ratings-3] NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-14). "SNL Weekend Update Thursday, The Office and Sunday Night Football Pace NBC's Week Of October 6–12". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081014000000-039snlweekendup.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21.

[ep2ratings-4] NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-21). "NBC Primetime Results For The Week Of October 13–19". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081021000000-nbcprimetimeresult.html. Retrieved 2008-10-21.

[ep3ratings-5] NBC Universal Media Village (2008-10-28). "NBC Primetime Results For The Week Of 20–26". Press release. http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/entertainment-20081028000000-nbcprimetimeresult.html. Retrieved 2009-02-25.

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