The weekend is here, so that means Saturday Night Live is coming. Which is a relief, kind of, because as genius as that Tina Fey/Amy Poehler opener was, it’s kind of played out at this point. One more “I can see Russia from my house” joke and I’m taking hostages.

But we’ll see if James Franco can win us over and provide something memorable. On that note, here’s one last look back at the season premiere where we can see interview footage with Michael Phelps and Tina Fey.

I know a lot of people react to Saturday Night Live with vague dismissiveness: oh, is that still on? I haven’t really watched it since [Tina Fey/Will Ferrell/Adam Sandler/Dana Carvey/Eddie Murphy/Bill Murray/Chevy Chase] left. So while you can find breathless, fawning recaps of Gossip Girl episodes all around the internets, I haven’t seen much in the way from episode-to-episode Saturday Night Live coverage (even the wonderful Onion AV Club has pointedly only covered the recent full-season DVD releases from the first few seasons, treating the current show with a passing shrug usually afforded to NCIS or The Tonight Show). But someone out there must be watching the show besides my comedy-nerd friends, because it’s routinely the highest rated thing on Saturday nights — an admittedly minor achievement, though still noteworthy given that it airs at 11:30, when people are supposed to be either out partying or falling asleep.

Saturday Night Live has become the go-to place as of late for political opportunity. Political satire, of course, but also opportunity.

Like The Daily Show, it’s where campaign advisors tell candidates to go so that they can really relate to the young people. They’ll use words like “viral” and hope that young people with polo shirts will put down their Wiis long enough to shuffle to the poll on the election day.

Now that John McCain has made his appearance on SNL, we can now say that the future president of the United States will have considered the show important enough to make an appearance on. (See Barack here, see Hillary here)

In case you haven’t seen it, here’s one of the two bits that John McCain did on the season finale of SNL.

I’m really tripped up, as you may guess, by the fact that he had to discuss gaydar. It’s a term that I’m probably pretty sure doesn’t get tossed around the McCain household too much.

When he says, “Now I don’t know if this is anti-gay, or pro-gay, or if such a device would even work. But I do know this — Jamming gaydar is not a federal responsibility,” it’d be funny if it was Darrell Hammond. Or funnier, at least.

But when I saw that, I remembered this.

No matter how many sketch comedy shows he does or even if he does a surreal drop-in on 30 Rock, I don’t think I’d be able get past it.

NBC has announced its schedule for the next year, and it kind of makes me want to puke.

NO: Why dilute the Office brand with a spin-off? Why not come up with a new idea instead? Oh right. That would be expensive. And take time. But the strike means there’s none of either available. Sigh.

NO: Practically no new shows at all, and definitely no definitive season openers like we’ve had in Septembers past. And the new shows that they’ve got are stale, stale, stale. A paraplegic psychic who solves crimes? A comedy import from Australia? GET OUT.

NO: Knight Rider.

NO: “SNL Thursday Night Live” — they do know that those initials mean something, and therefore the title is actually “Saturday Night Live Thursday Night Live,” right? Also: I don’t want any more political sketches than what we already have. And why Thursday? Why??

NO: Chuck has been renewed. I can’t quit it! If they air it, I will be forced to watch! And they’re following it with a spy drama starring Christian Slater. I quote from the description of his show, because its ridiculousness cannot be summarized:

Henry Spivey (Christian Slater, “Bobby”) is a middle-class efficiency expert living a humdrum life in the suburbs with a wife, two kids, a dog, and a minivan. Edward Albright is an operative who speaks 13 languages, runs a four-minute mile, and is trained to kill with his teeth. Henry and Edward are polar opposites who share only one thing in common — the same body. When the carefully constructed wall between them breaks down, Henry and Edward are thrust into unfamiliar territory where each man is dangerously out of his element. “My Own Worst Enemy” explores the duality of a man who is literally pitted against himself. And it raises the question: who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?

What is this, written by Donald Kaufman?

MAYBE: I kind of like the idea of Merlin starring Anthony Head. Ditto for Ian McShane’s Kings.

That is the saddest slate of new shows I’ve seen in a long time. And this is not just because they’ve deprived me of my precious upfronts. I suppose I am resistant to change, even if it’s probably going to be good for me — in theory, I am all for year-round TV. In theory. But not if it’s going to be all diluted like this schedule.

This is kind of a propos of nothing, but I’m still reliving Tina Fey’s guest spot on Saturday Night Live. So good!

Pretty much all of the sketches were strong — even the ones at the end, traditionally the scrap ground for the half-baked, half-finished leftovers of the week. But I guess they had some time on their hands over the strike, because the whole episode was great.

One of my favorite sketches came at the end — Virgania Horsen’s Hot Air Balloon Rides. I think Kristin Wiig has really come into her own as a cast member, and although she’ll always be second banana to Amy Poehler (who is incredible and completely pulled off that Ghostbusters song in last week’s Weekend Update, if you happened to see it) she has some been demonstrating some great chops.

For instance, take a look at this clip. It’s so awkward — I love it!

By now, I’m sure a good portion of you have seen or at least heard about Mike Huckabee’s appearance on last week’s SNL. (For the rest of you, he appeared on Weekend Update to talk about the dead-end nature of his floundering candidacy.)

Here’s a clip of Huckabee behind the scenes at SNL.

I still can’t really understand why he did it — acknowledge that it’s all over and then go right back to the campaign trail. I’m guessing he’s just hoping that any publicity is good publicity.

But also, I’m struck by how likable and level-headed he seems. When you think about the things he says (letting gay people get married would end civilization, quartine AIDS patients) and then you talk to him in person, the disconnect is huge.

This appearance goes to the heart of my idea that Republicans have nothing on the rest of us when it comes to funny. Huckabee has been pretty consistently humorous throughout the campaign (think of that little “uh oh” he let out in the clip above — great timing!) I don’t think that Republicans not being funny is really a theory I have, as much as it is an assumption I’ve been working under for a long time. Case in point, Fox’s ham-handed attempt at a Daily Show-type program was Half Hour News Hour, which, thankfully, has not caught fire. Or maybe it has in other circles, but I haven’t heard about it in a year.

I guess there have been some funny Republicans. I hate to break it to you, but I think Brian Williams from NBC is actually a huge Republican. Even though we all love him on The Daily Show.

I haven’t caught this weekend’s SNL yet — I had a long weekend pretending I was a black Republican.

Long story.

But, as we know, Tina Fey made her return to the show on Saturday — giving SNL its highest ratings in two years. Here’s a delicious bit from her guest spot on Weekend Update.

• NBC giving up on fall debuts in favor of a year round approach
• ABC talks Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, and more
• SNL is looking for the right Obama
• How I Met Your Mother isn’t cancelled, just moved to a new time slot
• Dog the Bounty Hunter/Racist to return to A&E
• Another reason to goof off at work - NBC to stream classic shows online for free
• Mythbusters reaches it’s 100th episode and plans more MacGyver themed episodes
• Watch Battlestar Galactica season 3 deleted scenes online
• This week’s Nuh Doy Award goes to the Washington Post

Isn’t it weird thinking that TV could actually be watchable? After the past few months, with our bleak outlooks and our dwindling DVR backlogs.

Another bit of good news comes with the fact that Saturday Night Lives first post-strike guest host will be none other than Tina Fey. The episode will air Feb. 23 — that’s a week from tomorrow, folks!

Maybe there is a God after all! (Just kidding. )

And Ellen Page from Juno is also signed up.

If you’ve been in a mall lately or walked down a city street, there’s a chance you’ve seen the new ad campaign for the Gap. It’s called “People Dan loves dressed in shit from the Gap — mostly scarves.”

First and foremost, there’s the one-two punch of Amy Poehler and Will Arnett mugging comically for the camera.

Poehler and Arnett, also known as the couple you and your significant other will never be cool/witty/awesome enough to invite over for dinner and perhaps a few rounds of Boggle, seem to be pretty aware that they’re modeling for The Gap. Their expressions are pretty hysterical, lending some hipness and edge to a brand that became synonymous with mall brattiness (accentuated by a sketch on the show Poehler is on now — SNL).

Then there’s our good friend John Krasinski, brandishing what we all know as the John Krasinksi Impish Smirk ™. He’s looking pretty adorable, but the ad makes his charm seem a bit calculated. I don’t know how to feel about it.

I suppose that it’s okay that John, Amy and Will are shilling for The Gap. I’m generally agreeable to the idea of selling out in the name of keeping food on the table. I just ask myself if I would say no to gobs of money in exchange for a few hours of wearing a rainbow scarf. It doesn’t take me long to decide.