What’s Worth Watching: SNL Welcomes the Cookie Monster

Saturday Night Live, Saturday, April 11, 11:30/10:30c, NBC

Boo Boo Kitty had better watch her back. Taraji P. Henson, better known these days as the outrageous Cookie Lyon on Fox’s blockbuster hit Empire (now sadly on a long between-seasons hiatus), is on the prowl, leveraging her new high-profile success into her first hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. (Henson seems to have been keeping busy in New York. She’ll also be returning to her previous gig on CBS’s Person of Interest next Tuesday—albeit in flashbacks, as her character of Det. Joss Carter is still very much dead.)

From the moment Henson’s Cookie barked, “Get my shoe, Porsha!” through her final catfight smackdown with Boo Boo Kitty (aka arch-nemesis Anika), she has had us in a state of astonished delight as the season’s breakout diva. It was just a matter of time before she’d be tapped to strut her stuff on SNL. Let’s hope their costume budget can handle it. (The musical guest is pretty impressive as well: Mumford & Sons, making a second appearance on the show.)