NBC Takes an Ax to 'Enemy' and Wipes Off 'Lipstick'

"We just haven't made a decision," Lee said. "We need to look at the budget for next year and figure out what our priorities are." Lee noted that on Tuesday, the third-season debut of "Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is" clocked about 2 million viewers, after which a preview of new series "Brothers to Brutha" hung on to about 1 million of them.

"I think ['Somebodies'] may have been too 'out there' for our audience," Lee said. "Our audience expected a normal sitcom with a laugh track. Critics loved it -- it was different, fresh, smart. Our audience just didn't get it. It was one of those shows you have to pay close attention to -- it had kind of a dry sense of humor."

* * *

"Saturday Night Live" scoured the back halls of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and the Groundlings Theater to find two more skinny white chicks to replace the two skinny white chicks whose departure from the show has left a gaping Skinny White Chick Black Hole in the NBC late-night show's firmament.

The new SWCs hired to make regular fleeting appearances on the sketch comedy show are: Abby Elliott, a.k.a. daughter of Chris Elliott, and Michaela Watkins, a.k.a. That Chick Who's Been on "Old Christine" lately.

The hires became necessary when Tina Fey, who hasn't technically been a member of the show for some time now, took a vow not to make any more appearances as Sarah Palin, saying she needed to devote all her time to picking up more trophies for her struggling NBC prime-time sitcom "30 Rock." At about the same time, Amy Poehler left the show in a rush right before the presidential election to have her baby and begin work in earnest on her soon-to-be-struggling not-"The Office"-spinoff for NBC.

Elliott comes to "SNL" via the Upright Citizens Brigade -- the improv/sketch theater co-founded by Poehler. Elliott also spent time at the Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles, "SNL" said in its casting announcement.

Watkins, on the other hand, comes to the show from the mainstage Groundlings company where, "SNL" wants you to know, Will Ferrell, Phil Hartman, Laraine Newman and Kristen Wiig started.

In other late-night sketch-comedy news, Fox has killed "Mad TV" after discovering that we all thought it was gone already.