Saturday Night Live

With the Great "SNL" Exodus of Spring 2013, the long-running late-night sketch show was expected to return for Season 39 with a few new cast members. As the revamped opening credits during Saturday's (Sept. 28) premiere made clear, there were several new faces to look out for during the episode. Also made clear? Lorne Michaels has a diversity problem. Let's take a look at the names of the newbies: Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien, Noel Wells and Brooks Wheelan. Yeah -- six new cast members, all white, only one woman. (In case you were wondering, with a few of those names being a bit unisex, Wells is the female. She, along with Bennett, Mooney and Milhiser are photographed above.) While "SNL" has never been especially diverse, this season's crop of newbies feels especially jarring. Perhaps it's just because of the surprising high number of additions that makes the white-wash that much more... //blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/09/saturday-night-live-season-39-six-new-cast-members-introduced-reflecting-a-startling-lack-of-diversi.html

Season 39 of "Saturday Night Live" only just got underway on Saturday (Sept. 28), but the surprises have already started coming.During the cold opening of the season premiere, which featured Jay Pharoah's President Obama addressing the nation, hoping to explain Obamacare to a confused country before the law goes into effect. Opting to bring out regular Americans to explain how the new law will help them, Obama brought a familiar face: Jesse from New Mexico.Arriving to explosive applause, Aaron Paul took the podium in full Jesse Pinkman form, he began, "I had this friend and he got sick, like, cancer-sick. But because there wasn't Obamacare, he couldn't afford the treatments, so he was like, backed into a corner, you know what I mean? So he did what any of us would've done. He started cooking meth."As a horrified Obama rushed to get Jesse off-stage at the mention of murder, the visiting druggie asked, "But, wait,... //blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/09/saturday-night-live-premiere-aaron-paul-shows-up-as-breaking-bads-jesse-for-cold-open.html

"Saturday Night Live" is kicking off its 39th season Saturday, Sept. 28 with a return from former cast member and head writer Tina Fey. Creator Lorne Michaels says it's going to be an excellent show. "Every time Tina has come back, the show's been great," Michaels tells the AP. Fey adds, "I'm always happy to play the straight person, so, hopefully, the cast will get to do more than when they have other kinds of hosts. You might get to see those new guys more. Although I'm not promising their parents anything."Michaels adds of the new cast members, "The intent is always to go slowly and not put anyone out there unless you can feel they score.""SNL" is debuting six new faces after the recent departures of Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis. It's a big overhaul for the show, but that's generally how it goes with "SNL.""It's always been... //blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/09/lorne-michaels-and-tina-fey-talk-saturday-night-live-premiere.html