snl

Taylor Swift may have released a pop album in 2014, but she's still a favorite with her old country music fans, who are always eager to find out what she's up to next. And this is a big one.

After the disappointment that was last week’s episode with country superstar Blake Shelton, we could desperately use another great show from ‘SNL.’ Recent Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee J.K. Simmons has arrived to perk things up a bit, bringing his versatile character actor chops to the stage as this week’s host. But did he live up to our expectations? Read on for this week’s ‘SNL’ rankings!

One of the best character actors of the past few decades, J.K. Simmons has always been one of the world’s most beloved ”that guys.” Everyone knows his face, but not everyone knows his name. However, the fact that he’s the current frontrunner for Best Supporting Actor at the 2015 Academy Awards for ‘Whiplash’ has started to change that, earning him a well-deserved moment in the spotlight and guest hosting duties on ‘SNL.’ Although much of last night’s episode saw him blending in with the rest of the cast, there was one big moment where he was called upon to poke fun at his work in ‘Whiplash.’ It was inevitable.

Super Bowl commercials are still a big, huge, massive, crazy deal, with major corporations shelling out absurd amounts of money on ads designed to win over the most reliably large and receptive audience in all of televised sports. So of course ‘SNL’ was going to contribute its own commercial parody to the mix...but man, no one was expecting something this mean, scathing or on-point.

The very nature of ‘SNL’ requires the show to stay as modern as possible, with many sketches created to directly comment on recent events or current trends. However, the show is often at its absolute best when it values humor over timeliness. We have no idea who decided to write and air a sketch that creates an alternate ending for the timeless Hollywood classic ‘Casablanca,’ but we want to give them a big ol’ hug. This is a real treat for fans of great cinema who also have a sense of humor.

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.

NBC has been surprisingly quiet about ‘SNL’'s impending 40th anniversary special, but VH1 has upped the nostalgia ante in a major way. VH1 Classic will begin a 19-day marathon of ‘SNL’'s 40 years on January 28, working backwards through 433 episodes and staging themed mini-marathons along the way.

Set in St. Louis, the sketch starts with Beck Bennett as a news anchor for “News 4” (which is the CBS affiliate in St. Louis) relaying a serious presentation of current events, right before he hands it off to two morning show hosts (played by Kenan Thompson and Cecily Strong) who have an obnoxious show with an obnoxious theme song called ‘Rise and Smile.’ First, there’s no way this sketch should have been cut, but that’s a pretty obvious position to take.

Woody Harrelson’s third time as host of ‘SNL’–and his first since way back in 1992 (he hosted just a few weeks after Jason Priestly)–was actually pretty great. Anticipation for an ‘SNL’ host is a fickle beast. Now, one might circle the calendar when he or she sees, say, Chris Rock’s name show up as host, then that show winds up being a bust. I suspect that not a lot of people were thinking, Oh, man, Woody Harrelson is hosting ‘SNL’! I need to cancel all of my plans because that will be one I can’t miss. Then Harrelson goes out and is everything we want out of a host: funny, up for anything, looks like he’s having fun, willing to sing a song about apples that is still stuck in my head. Anyway, he hosted the best show of the season so far and here is your ‘SNL’ Scorecard.

When Woody Harrelson was revealed to be hosting ‘SNL’ just a few days before the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie was set to open in theaters, it was obvious that the massively popular franchise would, somehow, figure into at least one sketch. Surprisingly, that ended up being the opening monologue, which featured Harrelson performing his own version of Taylor Swift's ‘1989.’ With a little help from some friends.

Just this past weekend 'SNL' announced that 'The Hunger Games' star Woody Harrelson would return to the stage on November 15, and so too do we know what A-lister will also make a return appearance the following week. 'Annie' star Cameron Diaz will make her own fourth appearance hosting on November 22, but what pair of musical guests can we expect to join her?

As if we hadn't seen 'The Hunger Games' or 'True Detective' mocked enough, 'SNL' will take an official turn with one of the major stars. Woody Harrelson has been reaped from the existing pool of victors to host 'SNL' a third time later on in November, with fellow repeat star and musical guest Kendrick Lamar.