How long will Tina Fey keep playing Palin on SNL?

[Cleverboy]

Okay, on the heals of information from Politico that there is yet more unreleased video from the "disasterous" Couric interview, I have to ask... how long will Tina Fey guest star on SNL, playing Sarah Palin. Considering the upcoming Vice Presidential debate and the wider exposure Palin is being given to the media... its sounding like Fey's gotten another parttime gig on the side. Fey's SNL appearance lately, have rated THE most watched viral-videos EVER on NBC (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i8fcb5100629836e60f2b946f58f168aa). Fey herself had some interesting comments (http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2008/09/29/cbs-s-chen-palin-snl-skit-so-much-material-work) to make at the renewed level of interest in her abilities:
Julie Chen remarked: "Tina Fey has just so much material to work with, this is like, probably a dream come true for her." In May, Chen placed Hawaii in the Atlantic Ocean and it was not part of a comedy skit. Co-host Maggie Rodriguez chimed in: "Well that's why Lorne Michaels was able to lure her back after she left, and I have a feeling she's going to be coming back a lot." During the recent Emmy awards, Tina Fey remarked: "I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5...So if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me."

FIRST PALIN APPEARANCE:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

SECOND PALIN APPEARANCE:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

Fey's first appearance actually succeeded in affecting the way most people remember what Palin really said, "I can see Russia from my house", when, in fact she never actually said those words. Funny but true.

~ CB

[Peace]

I think Loren Michaels is in with talks with Tina Fey..

[TheAnswer]

“I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5. So if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me.” - Tina Fey at the Emmys.

Apparently Michaels had to beg her to do it. So my guess is she'll be happy when Palin creeps back into the shadows of the Great North.

[Ntombi]

I sincerely hope that she's done playing Palin the Saturday after November 4th!

[Anuba]

I think Loren Michaels is in with talks with Tina Fey..
Lorne had a lot of convincing to do. Impersonations really isn't Tina's thing (she does them well, she just doesn't like it much), and she has her hands full with 30 Rock. I think the reason why she eventually caved in, is the opportunity to indirectly promote 30 Rock, which hasn't been seeing the ratings it deserves. But now after the Emmy slam dunk and the massive success of her Palin skits, 30 Rock will have a lot of new viewers on the 3rd season premiere...

Anyway, my guess is that she'll keep playing Palin until Nov 4th, culminating with SNL's traditional "Presidential Bash" on the 3rd. In the (highly unlikely) event that McCain wins, I think SNL will have to go to plan B and have someone else do the Palin stuff...

IMO, Tina doesn't look all that much like Palin anyway (the voice and mannerisms are spot on, though). People keep saying they look alike because both wear glasses, which is just about as daft as saying all Asians look the same. If you take off the glasses, the only resemblence left is that both women have brown eyes, but the rest is different planets. Tina has an oval shaped face like a normal woman... Palin has a rectangular brick face with a big square jaw, she looks more like Stallone in drag.

[rdowns]

It's been reported (although I can't find it right now) that Fey will make a total of 7 appearances.

[iJohnHenry]

Until she goes away again ...











... Sarah, that is. :cool:

[Thomas Veil]

Check out Keith Olbermann comparing Palin's earnestly-given answer to Tina Fey's version of the same thing:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26949597#26949597

How sad is it when you don't even have to write a joke to get a laugh; all you have to do is repeat what the real candidate said?

[Anuba]

It's been reported (although I can't find it right now) that Fey will make a total of 7 appearances.
In the MSNBC clip mentioned earlier, it's mentioned that "this is reportedly week 2 of a 7-week cameo of Tina Fey as Sarah Palin". I'm a little skeptical because they can't plan it that meticulously. They have no way of knowing in advance if Palin will do anything worth parodying during any given week. Especially now that Palin has been quarantined. In the 2nd episode, there was no Palin skit, only in episodes 1 and 3. The Couric interview parody was something that Meyers and Fey put together quickly, it aired on the 24th and SNL was on the 27th.

For this week though, they have plenty of material. First there's the second Couric interview where McDaddyCain was coaching her... they could make something priceless out of that. Then there's the Biden/Palin showdown on Thursday of course, which may or may not be spoofable.

Had I been on the McCain staff I'd be begging Lorne Michaels to let Palin come on SNL... it's the only way she can redeem herself a little and attempt to defuse the situation, and it's the only way for SNL to show that they're concerned about equal opportunity. Obama was on SNL... McCain did it... Huckabee did it (and brilliantly so)... Hillary did it, she appeared with Amy Poehler doing her Hillary character. Speaking of which -- why is it that Poehler is pronounced 'Poler', but minority leader John Boehner's name is pronounced 'Bayner'? Come on... it's 'Boner'!

[iJohnHenry]

They have no way of knowing in advance if Palin will do anything worth parodying during any given week.

The best sarcasm of the week. :D

She is their Golden Star, like it or not.

She will produce as SNL expect.

"Trust me. I know what I'm saying." - Sledge Hammer

[Anuba]

The best sarcasm of the week. :D

She is their Golden Star, like it or not.

She will produce as SNL expect.
Hopefully she will, but if she's sequestered after the VP debate there's really nothing SNL can do, other than ad lib on her past efforts. I mean... she's done 3½ interviews and they've all gone horribly wrong. She can't even buy a hot dog without saying something stupid. If she makes an ass of herself on Thursday, the McCain campaign will literally lock her up in a basement. Then again, that in itself may be good for one SNL skit... :D

[rdowns]

The thirty-fourth season of the variety series Saturday Night Live began airing in 2008 and is expected to conclude in 2009 on NBC. The season is expected to consist of 22 episodes, in attempt to compensate for episodes lost during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. This would make it the longest season since the show's second season. In addition to the regular episodes, three thirty-minute episodes are scheduled to air Thursdays in October in the weeks leading up to the 2008 United States presidential election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_(Season_34)

[Peace]

I can guarantee you Tina Fey is making some big money right now.

[Anuba]

The thirty-fourth season of the variety series Saturday Night Live began airing in 2008 and is expected to conclude in 2009 on NBC. The season is expected to consist of 22 episodes, in attempt to compensate for episodes lost during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. This would make it the longest season since the show's second season. In addition to the regular episodes, three thirty-minute episodes are scheduled to air Thursdays in October in the weeks leading up to the 2008 United States presidential election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live_(Season_34)
Right... three "Thursday Night Live" in a row (Oct 9, 16, 23), followed by the big "Presidential Bash" on Nov 3rd.

I can guarantee you Tina Fey is making some big money right now.
On SNL? They're not paying anywhere near the amounts that people like the Simpsons voice cast or the Lost cast receive. The starting salary for an actor on SNL is $5,000/week (this according to Tina Fey herself). That's not bad compared to what you make flipping burgers at McDonalds, but nor is it quite the glamorous money shower you'd expect in showbiz. Consider also that these people have to work their asses off for 6 days a week, we're probably talking 60 to 80 hours per week here.

Tina Fey certainly isn't starving, but she's making peanuts compared to big Hollywood money.

BTW... Tina is p*ssing some staunch Republicans off bigtime. Last week when I checked her entry on Wikipedia, she was called Tina "Liberal C*nt" Fey and her entire bio had been updated with depraved accounts of incest, S&M and inbreeding... it was up for at least half an hour. Then parts of it were deleted, but whoever edited it missed some of the fine print which was up for another half hour.

[Anuba]

Shout out to all North Americans... Saturday Night Live will run on Thursdays for 3 weeks, starting tonight. Lorne Michaels declined to comment on whether Palin will do a walk-on, as he prefers keeping such appearances under tight wraps...