Saturday Night Live season 33

The thirty-third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 2007, and May 17, 2008. Due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20, making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth (1980–1981) season and the thirteenth (1987–1988) season, which had thirteen episodes each and were also cut short due to WGA strikes. This is also the only season in SNL history not to have a new Christmas episode, since the WGA strike spanned from November 2007 to February 2008.

Strike
On November 5, 2007, after the episode hosted by Brian Williams, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. It was announced that SNL would air its next episode on November 10, 2007 (with host Dwayne Johnson and musical guest Amy Winehouse), live on air, with a future episode to follow, featuring Jonah Hill and musical guest Kid Rock. However, on November 7, 2007, SNL's official website confirmed that those episodes were canceled and reruns would be seen beginning November 10, and would continue during the duration of the strike.

During the strike on November 17, 2007, the cast of the show, along with host Michael Cera and musical guest Yo La Tengo performed an "episode" of the show entitled Saturday Night Live - On Strike! at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (co-founded by cast member Amy Poehler) in New York City. Every cast member except for Maya Rudolph (who had at that point left the cast) appeared, with former cast members Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch and musician Norah Jones making cameo appearances.

On February 12, 2008, the strike was announced to be officially over with a 92.5% vote. Production continued on February 18, 2008 for the February 23, 2008 episode, hosted by longtime former SNL cast member Tina Fey with musical guest Carrie Underwood.

To make up for lost time and wages, four episodes were produced back-to-back between February 23 and March 15. The "four in a row" marathon had not been done since season one in 1976.

Cast
No changes to the cast happened over the summer and everyone from last season returned. Prior to the start of the season, Maya Rudolph, who had been on the show for nine seasons since 2000, announced she would be leaving the cast. However, she changed her mind ahead of the season premiere and remained on the show. When the show shut down in November due to the strike, Rudolph did not renew her contact.

Casey Wilson, a comedian and writer who frequently performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, was hired in January 2008 to fill the void left by Rudolph. However, because of the strike, Wilson did not appear on SNL until the show returned on February 23, 2008.

Cast roster
Repertory players
 * Fred Armisen
 * Will Forte
 * Bill Hader
 * Darrell Hammond
 * Seth Meyers
 * Amy Poehler
 * Maya Rudolph (final episode: November 3, 2007)
 * Andy Samberg
 * Jason Sudeikis
 * Kenan Thompson
 * Kristen Wiig

Featured players
 * Casey Wilson (first episode: February 23, 2008)

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor