Saturday Night Live special comes up Short
Everyone gets a little nostalgic around the holidays — including the folks at Saturday Night Live, who are calling upon Martin Short and Paul McCartney to lead Saturday’s Christmas edition.
With a combined age total of 132 (about the same age as SNL, in television years) and a total of five past appearances (two for Short, three for Sir Paul), the two might just coax some SNL fans of Christmas’s past out of their latenight slumber.
Whether they’ll bring the funny (we say “they” because we all know limelight bandit McCartney is going to make off with far more than a couple of songs and a polite bow), is still questionable. (Saturday, NBC, Global)
• Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do...
The other Saturday night staple, Cops, is set to premiere its milestone 25th season this weekend. Say what?! Some call it TV’s original reality show, some call it fascinating, while others just call it trash.
Whatever the case, 25 seasons is a heck of a long run for any given series — even for Fox, which debuted Cops back in March of 1989 … BEFORE The Simpsons hit the scene in December of that same year. (Saturday, Fox)
• Survivor manages to rope us in every season using the simplest of gimmicks.
To up the finale week buzz, producers allowed the season’s final five contestants — Whelchel, Skupin, Abi-Maria Gomes, Denise Stapley and Malcolm Freberg — to appear shaven and fully clothed on Wednesday’s edition of The Jeff Probst Show prior to Sunday’s finale … a TV first. Not bad for 25 seasons in.
With Gomes finally backing off defence mode and taking a seat on the jury after being voted off Wednesday’s episode, it’s down to Whelchel, 49, Skupin, 50, Stapley, 41, and 25-year-old spring chicken Freberg vying for the $1 million. (Sunday, Global, CBS)
• Riding into the Sunday lineup is CTV original movie The Horses of McBride, about a family that spearheads a community project to save two starving horses stuck way up in the Rockies.
Scenic views and heartmelting moments are a given in the film shot just outside of Calgary — but we bet you didn’t know producers actually found two emaciated horses (with support of the SPCA) to double as the film’s equine stars as they were nurtured back to health. Human stars include Aidan Quinn as the cowboy patriarch, Kari Matchett as Mom, Edward Ruttle as son Kenny and MacKenzie Porter (Canadian Idol alum Kalan Porter’s sister) as daughter Nicki. (Sunday, CTV)