‘Saturday Night Live’s 50th Anniversary Party, ‘White Lotus’ in Thailand, ‘Family Guy’ Takes on ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Last Week Tonight’ Returns

Matt Roush
6 Comments

NBC devotes Sunday night to the long-awaited Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary party, with SNL’s very first episode from 1975 airing on Saturday night. The third season of HBO’s The White Lotus welcomes guests to exotic Thailand. Family Guy returns to anchor a night of Fox animation with a Top Gun parody. John Oliver returns for a 12th season of topical satire on HBO’s Emmy-winning Last Week Tonight.

Bill Hader as Stefon with Seth Meyers on SNL's 'Weekend Update'
Dana Edelson / NBC / Everett Collection

Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special

Special

SUNDAY: Live from New York, as it has been for half a century, Studio 8H welcomes a starry gathering of past and present performers (including original Not Ready for Prime Time players Jane Curtin, Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris) for a live celebration of the late-night comedy show. It’s a homecoming for the likes of Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, Kate McKinnon, Fred Armisen, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon and so many more who became famous on the legendary stage. Expect special appearances from SNL veterans Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Paul McCartney, Scarlett Johansson, Martin Short, John Mulaney, Dave Chappelle, Peyton Manning, Pedro Pascal, Robert De Niro and many more.

As a warm-up, NBC uses Saturday Night Live’s regular Saturday time period (11:30/10:30c, 5:30 pm/PB) to repeat the very first episode from Oct. 11, 1975, with George Carlin as host and Billy Preston and Janice Ian as musical guests, preceded (or on the West Coast, followed) by a repeat of the terrific Ladies & Gentlemen … 50 Years of SNL Music documentary at 8/7c.

Walton Goggins in 'The White Lotus' Season 3
HBO

The White Lotus

Season Premiere

SUNDAY: Forbidden fruit is a house specialty of The White Lotus, where sensual misadventures of the flesh collide with mysteries of the troubled soul in the most exotic season yet of Mike White’s irresistible travel anthology. Thailand provides a lush, thrilling and menacing setting with a backdrop of Buddhist mysticism, though few visitors will enjoy a Zen state for long. The stellar cast includes Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and as longtime friends whose bond begins to fray on a gossipy girls’ trip, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan. Returning from Season 1: Hawaii spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who ought to know by now that no one checks into the White Lotus without juicy personal baggage. (See the full review.)

'Family Guy'
20th Television

Family Guy

Season Premiere

SUNDAY: The nerve! The time period typically reserved for Homer Simpson & Co. has been supplanted until late March by Seth MacFarlane’s jokey cartoon, which opens its 23rd season with an elaborate parody of Top Gun. Peter Griffin (MacFarlane) is the hapless Maverick, wooing Lois, mourning Goose (Patrick Warburton’s Joe) and flying high. Followed by the Season 2 premiere of noir spoof Grimsburg (8:30/7:30c), the Season 5 opener of The Great North (9/8c), where Wolf (Will Forte) participates in an Alaskan survival TV show, and the winter premiere of Krapopolis (9:30/8:30c).

John Oliver on Last Week Tonight
HBO

Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

Season Premiere

SUNDAY: After his surprise cameo with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show earlier this week, John Oliver returns for a 12th season of the topical satire that has won 30 Emmys since its 2014 premiere. Too bad things have been so quiet lately on the geopolitical front.

Callum Woodhouse as Tristan in 'All Creatures Great and Small' Season 5 Episode 4 - 'Uninvited Guests'
Helen Williams / Playground Entertainment and MASTERPIECE

All Creatures Great and Small

SUNDAY: The beloved series ends its regular season (followed by the traditional Christmas special next week) with an episode blending humor with the poignant pain of wartime. While James (Nicholas Ralph) suffers a relapse that triggers nightmares of his military experience, brothers Siegfried (Samuel West) and Tristan (Callum Woodhouse) air their grievances while getting smashed on a long walk home. This leaves poor Mrs. Hall (Anna Madeley) overwhelmed on the home front, with the aristocratic Mrs. Pumphrey lending a hand as they deal with clients, a sick vet, a baby and a vat of strawberry jam. Preceded by the season finale of Miss Scarlet (8/7c), where Eliza (Kate Phillips) treads carefully when hired to snoop into the personal life of Police Commissioner Fitzroy.

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  1. A

    Antonio Montealegre

    With "SNL50" airing tomorrow night, I thought I'd do one more tidbit about the show many of you reading may or not know about: After a five-year absence, when Lorne Michaels took back the show for the 11th season, he had many of his former writers back (some of which had previously returned when his predecessor Dick Ebersol was in charge) but also cleaned house of Ebersol's All-Star cast of the previous season though Lorne had some of that in his new cast as well-Randy Quaid and Anthony Michael Hall who at 17 was the youngest cast member (Eddie Murphy being the second of that since he was 19 when he joined in 1980). There were also some unknowns like Dennis Miller, Nora Dunn, and Jon Lovitz who ended up being the only ones to return the following season but for a while Miller as "Weekend Update" anchor acknowledged the show was in danger of cancellation. Michaels, hoping to recapture his momentum, got Victoria Jackson, Jan Hooks, Phil Hartman, Kevin Nealon, and Dana Carvey with Mike Myers also coming in later added to those returnees and managed to make a true comeback that lasted through the 15th season when Dunn and Lovitz left. It's also after that that the cast number started being oversaturated even with more cast departures. By season 20, it was a mix of show veterans and another round of All-Stars from other shows like Michael McKean and Chris Elliott that made another downhill fall from quality and ratings to make Lorne once again clean house...

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    1. A

      Antonio Montealegre

      ...and then once again bring in unknowns along with some returnees like Norm McDonald, Tim Meadows, David Spade, and Molly Shannon who started near the end of that previous season. That was in 1995 and from then on, when some cast members depart, new ones take place as Featured Players becoming actual cast members after two seasons (Amy Poehler being one of those exceptions during her first season). The show's quality had gone up-and-down since then but not as bad as during season 6, 11, or 20. I've enjoyed each season I've been able to watch even those really bad ones and am very much looking forward to the "SNL50" special tomorrow night! "The More You Know" and "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

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      1. B

        BlueChefHat

        Thank you for taking the time to educate me. You are very generous with your knowledge.

        Should be a very entertaining special SNL Sunday night. I’ll record it for later viewing and rewatching .

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  2. G

    GoldCar

    I'll watch the CBS lineup Sunday night, and then on Monday catch up with the season finales of PBS shows (Miss Scarlet and All Creatures).

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    1. B

      BlueChefHat

      The CBS line up for me as well. I’ll record SNL.

  3. A

    Arben70

    The much-anticipated SNL 50th-anniversary special and, most likely not until Monday, Last Week Tonight.

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