the buzz log

Maybe the "Saturday Night Live" writers should go on strike more often. After weeks of being off the air, the show resumed its 33rd season in fine fettle, skewering everything from political media coverage to drug commercials.

The SNL return registered a high TV rating surge and prompted an 824% spike in searches for "saturday night live skits," as well as a walk down memory lane for its best classics.

Among the latest skits, it was host Tina Fey's return to her old Weekend Update anchor desk that set the buzz afire. She took up the cause of Hillary Clinton and unleashed an inappropriate-for-family-media slogan, in effect "(Being a Formidable Woman) is the New Black." Her in-your-face defense catapulted Fey into the top 3,000 searches, got her video embedded in blogs across the nation, and garnered the "30 Rock" star more searches than the current SNL cast combined.

Amy Poehler, who portrayed the presidential candidate, did impress enough to make her the top-searched SNL player. Contrast that with Fred Armisen, the Barack Obama stand-in whose color-blind casting has failed to excite either critical opinion or Web attention. Instead, it prompted some searchers to seek out the real thing's Halloween appearance.

So, has Fey and Poehler's messaging helped the Clinton cause? Maybe, at least in addressing the reported gender gap between the Democratic contender and male voters: Men conducted 75% of those "tina fey" searchers. Bump for Clinton herself? Not so much.

Mike Huckabee's live appearance is another story. The burr in John McCain's backside registered a palpable 30% rise in lookups, plus another slew of queries like "huckabee snl." Looks like Clinton may want some new plans for Saturday night. If she does do a cameo, at least she'll know to wear black for the occasion.