'Saturday Night Live' Replacing Cecily Strong with Michael Che as New 'Weekend Update' Anchor For Fall 2014 Season

 

'Saturday Night Live' Replacing Cecily Strong with Michael Che as New 'Weekend Update' Anchor For Fall 2014 Season

"Saturday Night Live" has been going through a lot of changes they have announced more today for the upcoming 40th season. Comedian/writer Michael Che is set to replace Cecily Strong as the anchor for the weekly segment "Weekend Update". Che will co-anchor the segment with Colin Jost, who began to co-anchor with Strong midway through last season. 

Strong will stay on as a full-time member of the "SNL" this season. "SNL" Exec producer Lorne Michaels told the New York Times that he just wanted a fresh mix on "Update."

"This is about a new era, what feels appropriate for now," Michaels shared with  the Times. "That's why we did a lot of combinations and tests, and this is kind of where we came out."

NBC's long-running live comedy show "Saturday Night Live" has a low season last year in ratings and entertainment value. With the underwhelming seasons, the cast has also seen many key members leave the past few seasons including Kristen Wiig and Nasim Pedrad. 

So with the 40th seasons premiere of "SNL" coming up in a few weeks, they want to start off on the right foot. They have announced that Guardians of the Galaxy movie star Chris Pratt has been announced to host and the musical guest will be Ariana Grande for the premiere on September 27th on NBC. 

For "SNL" second episode on October 4th, they have tapped comedian-actress (and former SNL cast member) Sarah Silverman to make her hosting debut, with Maroon 5 making their fifth overall appearance as musical guest. Silverman's latest comedy album, We Are Miracles (taken from her Emmy-winning HBO stand-up special) will hit shelves on September 23rd; Maroon 5 released their fifth LP, V, earlier this month. 

The season will be the first in decades without the well known voice of announcer Don Pardo, who died last month at age 96. He was hired for SNL in 1975. Pardo's signature vocal delivery was a staple on the series for 38 seasons.

 

 

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