‘Saturday Night Live’: Chris Pratt to host September 27 premiere; Ariana Grande to perform

It was about the right time for “Saturday Night Live” to announce their host for the new season, even if they’ve kept their potential new hires under wraps.

So who did they choose? Someone in Chris Pratt who definitely had a big summer. He was one of the stars of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which became the biggest movie in what was otherwise an underwhelming few months. He also has NBC connections already courtesy of “Parks and Recreation,” and is hilarious. We really don’t have a single negative thing to say about the choice.

As for the musical guest, former “Sat & Cat” star (and brother of “social media mogul” Frankie Grande, per his own crazy words on “Big Brother”) Ariana Grande will perform. We get this booking, too. She is extremely popular right and has accomplished a ton this summer. Also, she has the acting chops from Nickelodeon to appear in a sketch or two, if she so chooses. We always do like that from a musical guest, since it ups the unpredictability factor. (Still, one of our favorite sketches of this variety was “New Cast Member or Member of Arcade Fire,” and it’ll be hard to top that.)

“SNL” likely feels the heat after people proclaimed this past season one of the worst in a while, and the only silver lining that can be taken from this is mostly that people say this about almost every season of the show. There really are few programs that get hated on consistently more than this one, just because it’s always better around the time you started watching it thanks to the nostalgia factor. (Still, last season wasn’t great.)

What do you think about these two bookings for the “SNL” premiere? Share below, and head over here to get some further TV updates right now via our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: NBC