Molly Shannon’s latest role isn’t an independent movie, or even a self referential commercial, it’s as spokesperson for Life Insurance Awareness Month…. Shannon will be featured in videos all month, ’sharing her story of loss and financial struggle in the hopes of getting more Americans to take stock of their life insurance needs.’ I guess what they say about insurance companies having deep pockets is true……

Shannon was last seen in Year of the Dog, and just finished filming a Lifetime movie of the week titled More of Me.

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Last night brought the return of Molly Shannon to Saturday Night Live, there to plug Year of the Dog(creepy movie!). While at times the show was entertaining, it also showcased its current weaknesses. Every generation has that SNL group that they’re biased about and love, Shannon’s crew is mine. I grew up with SNL in the 90’s and actually made last weeks special appointment TV. Shannon, O’Teri, Gasteyer, Ferrell; that’s the SNL crew I loved as a kid.

Right off the bat, the show screwed up by opening with Mary Catherine Gallagher, something they should have hinted at and saved.Gallagher was the highlight, followed by a pre-recorded 90’s homage to Molly and Lorne Michaels’ secret love affair. They also brought back Jeannie Darcy and Sally O’Malley(with camel toe!) but it was unfortunate that some of Shannon’s best sketches requireAna Gasteyer(Delicious Dish) and Will Farrell(Dog Show).

Weekend Update continued to be awful, using stale jokes that wouldn’t make the Leno monologue. Amy Poehler brought back Kaitlin, but that character has worn me down. Frankly, Kaitlin annoys the hell out of me. It was still a delight to have Shannon back and it was the first time in years that I actually made an effort to watch Saturday Night Liveon Saturday night. However, Saturday Night Live just isn’t the same show it once was, and there’s nothing Shannon could do to help that.

Here’s Jeannie Darcy:

and Sally O’Malley:

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The LA Times is reporting that Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Kenan Thompson are getting the axe before Sept comes. I feel bad for Kenan, I mean he can fly motherfucking airplanes full of snakes to safety! Dude has got my respect. The other two I don’t care about.

Another interesting fact is that it looks like Amy Poeler is being taken off of weekend update. Probably because she’s worse than Norm McDonald at keeping a straight face. She’ll be replaced by newer writer/performer Jason Sudeikis.

Apparently the non A-list cast members of SNL make $8,000 an episode. Now I did some math on my trusty calculator…..cellphone and at 24 episodes a year the’re pulling in just under $200,000($192,000 to be exact). That to me doesn’t sound like much considering SNL has long been a cash cow for NBC. I wonder how much Lorne Michaels pockets every week for standing there and smirking.

Finally rumours have it that Seth Meyers will become head writer this season.

That’s the nail in the coffin for me. Meyers has always annoyed the hell out of me. Looks like SNL will become a YouTube only event from now on. Not that I’ll admit to watching it in the past 5 years…

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