Blake Lively will do a little moonlighting this weekend and certainly raise her stature in the entertainment world.  The 22-year-old Gossip Girl actress becomes the first-ever CW star to host Saturday Night Live, an honor typically reserved for the most-buzzworthy performers.  CW network forerunner The WB placed five young favorites in the SNL pantheon, beginning with Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy) in 1998, followed later by Jamie Foxx and Dawson’s Creek trio James van der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes.  Fifteen other WBNX stars have taken the reigns over the past 35 years, including each Friends cast member (except Matt LeBlanc), plus Melrose Place queens Heather Locklear and Laura Leighton, and Ray Romano—who was cleverly joined in his monologue by Everybody Loves Raymond parents Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle.  Ironically, Boyle was one of SNL’s earliest hosts, guiding the 13^th episode of the very first season back in ’76.  More recently, Ashlee Simpson (Melrose Place) is noted for her lip-synching fiasco as musical guest four years ago.  With Gossip Girl set in New York, it seems likely we could see Blake’s boyfriend, Penn Badgley, or other CW costars making sketch cameos.  In addition to her Upper East Side shenanigans, Blake is currently featured as young “Pippa” in the big-screen film, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and just finished shooting The Town, opposite Ben Affleck and Jon Hamm.  Does the vivacious, oft-photographed beauty have some hidden comedic chops, as well?  No one’s betting against Serena van der Woodsen.  

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 11:23 am and is filed under Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, Gossip Girl, Melrose Place. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.