News Briefs: Are Three Big Stars Leaving Saturday Night Live?

SATURDAY NIGHT DEAD NEWS

... The SNL rumor mill is churning once again, and the latest news to come out of it (or at least reemerge from it) is that the show is losing three of its biggest stars. Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, and Andy Samberg are all leaving at the conclusion of this season, says some blabbermouth. We've been hearing whispers of Wiig being ready to depart for a while now, but if this latest gossip is true and the entire trio leaves it'll be a huge blow for the sketch show, which is already suffering creatively. [US Magazine]

AWARDS! AWARDS! AWARDS! NEWS

... The Peabody Awards, also known as the Guys Who Are Doing It Right Awards, handed out its batch of entertainment honors today and recognized some good ones. Homeland, Game of Thrones, Treme, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, and The Colbert Report all won new trophies for their excellence in television. Meanwhile, the Emmys will still nominate Glee for every award it can. [Deadline Hollywood]

SHOWRUNNER SHAKEUP NEWS

... Supernatural is losing one of its bosses. Sera Gamble, who was named showrunner when creator Eric Kripke left after Season 5, will be leaving after the current season. Jeremy Carver, who left Supernatural to run the show at Syfy's Being Human, will return to serve as co-showrunner with Robert Singer. Gamble's great, but I've always preferred Carver's episodes to hers. She likes to go darker, and Carver is more into goofiness—as evidenced by his best episode, "Changing Channels." Carver's wife Anna Fricke will remain showrunner of Being Human. Now when these two shows both have imaginary characters, it'll make more sense. [Deadline Hollywood]

CASTING NEWS

... McLovin' is comin' to TV. Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad) has been cast as one of the leads of CBS's Friend Me, the comedy about two Midwestern friends who move to Los Angeles to work at Groupon. [Deadline Hollywood]

... Expect to see more adorable short people on your TV, as Ryan Seacrest will be joining the NBC family. Seacrest will participate in the network's coverage of the Olympics as well as handle other miscellaneous duties at the network such as crawling into small spaces to retrieve the pens that Brian Williams drops. [Deadline Hollywood]

... Emmanuelle Chriqui will stop by CBS's The Mentalist to bat her eyelashes at Simon Baker. She'll play a new love interest for Patrick Jane who makes her debut in the season finale and returns next season. [TV Line]

... The West Wing's Richard Schiff is guest-starring on NCIS at the end of the season. He'll play a big-time foreign businessman. [TV Guide]

... If things don't work out for Party Down's Ryan Hansen on the Fox pilot El Jefe, he already has back-up. He's double-booked pilots and will play the lead in CBS's comedy from Louis C.K. and Spike Feresten about "young people trying to achieve their creative dreams in these tough financial times." Hansen will play one of the young people trying to achieve his creative dreams in these tough financial times. Hey man, when have to copy and paste something, you might as well make it count! [Deadline Hollywood]