SNL

The rumors are true: SNL is taking Weekend Update out for a primetime spin once more. Seeing as today’s news is never not in need of incisive comedy, Colin Jost and Michael Che will end their summer breaks early to bring new half-hour Weekend Update episodes to NBC.

SNL has been piecemealing through 2017 with two shows a month, and our first April show is now confirmed to follow Scarlett Johansson. Comedian Louis C.K. will return to SNL for the first April 2017 show, joined by a first-time musical guest.

It was around the time that SNL favorites Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah confirmed new Showtime series, that we learned the pair hadn’t been invited back for Season 42. In Pharoah’s case, at least, the Jamie Foxx-produced White Famous was picked up to series, though Showtime now confirms Taran Killam’s dating scene comedy Mating wasn’t so fortunate.

This coming Saturday will mark Scarlett Johansson’s fifth SNL hosting, enough that you’d think the Ghost in the Shell star had it down by now. Not so, according to her first 2017 promos, as Johansson undergoes rigorous training, while another cast member makes their return.

SNL’s schedule has been on and off this year, airing only two episodes each month, though fans might have noticed young star Pete Davidson notably absent in recent weeks. Davidson’s social media had also been threadbare before today, wherein the comedian announced he’d taken time off to concentrate on a newfound sobriety.

In the election’s immediate aftermath, we had to wonder if Alec Baldwin had the SNL commitment to keep playing Trump as necessary for such a weekly target. Baldwin’s been a sport since November, even pivoting the impression into other mediums, but may hang up the wig before long . “I don’t [know] how much more people can take it.”

It’s about that time of the season when SNL starts sketching out its final weeks, and with it tends to come a bit of turnover. Speculation most frequently points to senior cast member Kenan Thompson, but a new CBS pilot suggests that Bobby Moynihan may actually leave Studio 8H after Season 42.

It wasn’t terribly long ago we learned Alec Baldwin’s Trump impression would expand from SNL to “other venues,” but where Will Ferrell’s “W.” went to Broadway, Baldwin is going to print. He and Kurt Andersen will develop a satirical memoir of Trump’s “Really Tremendous” first 100 days, with Baldwin reading the audiobook.

We’ve had a few weeks off from SNL, and considering Hidden Figures star Octavia Spencer will make her hosting debut this weekend, we’d forgive some unfamiliarity with the 30 Rockefeller Plaza studios. So it is with Spencer’s first promos, which bring a familiar face behind the desk from SNL’s Weekend Update glory days.

SNL didn’t quite have its ducks in a row with the announcement that Hidden Figures star Octavia Spencer would lead the first March show; lacking a musical guest to accompany. Now, not only has NBC filled out the March 4 dance card, but so too will Scarlett Johannson make a return appearance the following week.