NBC

SNL is built for a bit of turnover here and there, but that doesn’t remove the sting from losing some of its best not-ready-for-primetime-players. To wit, Season 42 has some surprising departures, including series veterans Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah.

Just yesterday saw SNL springing into April with Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage’s first promos, and April looks even more regal. Not only will Julia Louis-Dreyfus return to SNL to host an April hour, so too will Russell Crowe making his hosting debut.

SNL bounced back nicely from Donald Trump this past weekend with The Hunger Games star Elizabeth Banks, looking even bigger this coming Saturday with Matthew McConaughey and Adele, but December 2015 will really go all out. Our final three hosts of the year include Ryan Gosling, Chris Hemsworth (poor Liam), and best of all, a dual Sisters hosting with SNL alum Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

The unending gift of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid had many wondering if the billionaire’s Celebrity Apprentice had come to an end, and NBC has at last made the split official. Following Trump’s racist remarks causing a schism from Univision, NBC has completely severed any and all ties to Trump.

We just couldn’t leave well enough alone between The X-Files, Heroes, 24 and others, now Coach has been plucked from its grave for another go. Craig T. Nelson has been confirmed to lead an NBC revival of the classic sitcom, switching over from its original ‘90s run on ABC.

NBC has remained curiously quiet on ‘SNL’’s three-hour 40th Anniversary special on February 15, and while cameos galore are expected, our first major homecoming may have arrived. Following a 31-year absence, Eddie Murphy will reportedly return to ‘SNL’ to ring in the NBC sketch comedy legend’s 40th anniversary.

The ongoing firestorm against Bill Cosby has only swelled in recent weeks, as more and more allegations of rape emerge against the once-revered comedian, so it wasn’t any surprise that Netflix would opt to discard the November 28 release of a new Cosby standup special. Now, NBC has expectedly followed suit by abandoning development plans for a new Cosby sitcom for 2015.

The unfortunate and untimely death of the great Jan Hooks this past week sent the comedy world into mourning, with countless writers and comics stepping forward to pay tribute to the late 'SNL' star. It could have been easy for this week's new episode to gloss over the passing of one of their own (it is a comedy show, after all), but 'SNL' has always been a slightly class institution -- it remembers those who came before.

These days 'SNL' movies are a bit few and far between (come on, 'MacGruber 2'!), but at least some of their success lives on with legendary classics like 'Wayne's World or 'The Blues Brothers.' There have been 11 'SNL' movies total over the course of the last 40 years, but how well do you think you know the late-night sketch comedy legend's cinematic history? Test your knowledge with the latest installment of ‘You Think You Know Movies?‘

Now more than ever we've seen TV looking to classic films of the '80s and '90s for the next great small screen series idea, whether by reboot or sequel, but a proposed 'Say Anything' TV sequel may have trouble getting its boombox up in the air. NBC has begun development of a potential followup to the classic 1989 Cameron Crowe film, though Crowe is outspokenly none-too-pleased about it.

Well, no major changing of the guard here, as actor Jim Parsons tonight takes home the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series award at the 2014 Emmy Awards for his role as brilliant 'Big Bang Theory' egghead Sheldon Cooper.

Apart from all the good spirits of the evening, every Emmys inevitably becomes a somber occasion in honoring those we've lost over the course of the year. Now, with Robin Williams' tragic suicide still weighing on the world at large, the 2014 Emmy Awards have announced that Billy Crystal will step up to honor his fallen friend in the memoriam segment of the evening.