I never really liked Maya Rudolph that much while she was a cast member of “Saturday Night Live.” Her impressions were typically too over the top, and her sketches tended to run too long. However, since she left the show I have become increasingly enamored with her, first from her movie roles (Away We Go, Bridesmaids) and then “Up All Night,” once the writers figured out how to tone down her character. Like Josh, I also thought her episode of “SNL” last week was the best of the season (although, I’d stop short of the saying it was the “best in years,” because “years” would include a couple of great Justin Timberlake eps, the first Jon Hamm episode, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hosting stint).

Anyway, you might have noticed during her episode that “Weekend Update” was unusually short (which is part of the reason why it was so unusually good). Turns out, there was a segment cut from the show after dress rehearsal in which Maya reprised her Oprah impression. The sketch itself was OK — like Maya of old, it was too over the top and too long — but it’s worth the watch just to see Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler fail to keep a straight face, plus it provides an amusing glimpse of what rehearsals look like.

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There are a couple noteworthy-ish bits of television news floating around, so let’s take them all out with one shot. After all, we’ve got swimsuit models eating cheeseburgers to cover. Priorities, people.

Bryan Cranston is awesome. Remember those sweet Chuck Taylor’s emblazoned with Walter White’s face? Well, Bryan Cranston rocked them to the Independent Spirit Awards this weekend. Let me be incredibly clear about something, so there is no confusion going forward: If I owned a pair of sneakers with my face on them, I would never take them off. Ever. As in, I would be buried in them. I think Bryan Cranston and I would be friends. [UPROXX]

Oh. Ok. According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan has been dying to do “Saturday Night Live” to rehabilitate her image, and has said no topic is off-limits for the writers. Hmm, desperation and a willingness to do anything? Those definitely don’t sound like things a drug addict would say! I think she’s gonna be all right, guys. [TMZ]

“Mad Men” news and stuff. “Mad Men” released the official poster for season five (pictured, at right). According to series creator Matthew Weiner, “this is a dreamlike image … a nonverbal representation of where my head is at and where the show will be … by the end of the season, I guarantee you’ll know what it is about.” I hope it’s about Don getting drunk and trying to boink a mannequin. It’s probably not, though. (Also, here’s a clip of the “Mad Men” cast talking about The Godfather as part of AMC’s celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary.) [Entertainment Weekly]

Lucy Lawless got arrested. The “Spartacus” star got arrested after four days of protesting on an oil rig with a group from Greenpeace. My official legal analysis of the situation is that this is an incredibly lame thing to get arrested for if your last name is “Lawless.” [TMZ]

“Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23″ looks pretty good. One of the highlights of the Oscars for me was the commercial for this new show on ABC starring Krysten Ritter and a hilariously self-aware James Van Der Beek. Trailer after the jump.

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Lindsay Lohan — who has hosted “Saturday Night Live” thrice, but not since 2006, and certainly not since she became the coke-addicted trainwreck she is now — is set to host the show again on March 3rd. Why? It’s hard to say: She has nothing to support (except a drug habit) and hasn’t had a hit movie basically since Mean Girls in 2004.

While Lohan claims that she approached Lorne Michaels about using “SNL” to rehabilitate her career — which is no doubt true — I seriously doubt that Michaels is doing this as some sort of favor because he’s feeling “fatherly.” He doesn’t care how Lohan wants to reposition her image. Michaels is a smart man, and he knows that good show or bad, Lindsay Lohan will bring ratings. People will watch. A live show with pop-culture’s biggest screw up? That’s an irresistible allure. It could be the first ever instance in which a host walks out during a live taping. Or better still, the first in which a host is fired halfway through a show.

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There’s no point, obviously, in getting into the merits of “Saturday Night Live.” We know what it is: It’s inconsistent and reviled, but a lot of us continue to watch it out of habit, or because every once in a while it will show flashes of brilliance. It’s also occasionally fun to see actors we admire in a different context. Sure, the writers have managed to waste a lot of potential over the years, but every great once in a while, “Saturday Night Live” can help to reshape someone’s career (Jon Hamm), bring out a sense of humor we didn’t know existed (Peyton Manning), show amazing dancing talent we weren’t aware of (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), or demonstrate the true potential of an already huge celebrity (Justin Timberlake). Many of us watch each week because, while we’re often left bitterly disappointed, every once in a while, the show will surprise us. Somehow, that makes the suffering worth it.

What’s most fun, however, is seeing someone we think we know in an unfamiliar context, and finding out all sorts of new things about him or her. Unfortunately, “SNL” often sticks with the huge movie stars instead of more talented actors, often to the show’s detriment. Did anyone really need to see Katy Perry or Russell Brand host “SNL”? Or Channing Tatum? What’s fun is when they bring on people like Jane Lynch or Bryan Cranston, even if they do waste their talents and relegate them to background players, because every once in a while, one of those more minor television or movie stars will thrill us.

I think the following seven people could all do that: Provide an unexpected boost for both the show and the actors involved. Start your Facebook campaigns.

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Nick Offerman, the actor who plays Ron Swanson on the NBC series “Parks and Recreation,” has been around for years, but few of us noticed because he wasn’t yet “Ron Swanson.” He was simply Nick Offerman, a struggling actor with a boat-building side job that bounced around in bit parts in a series of movie and television shows. In fact, for much of his career, Offerman went up against Rainn Wilson for the same parts, and the two developed a friendship during those auditions. That’s how Offerman landed the job of Ron Swanson: Rainn Wilson put him in touch with Greg Daniels, the showrunner of “The Office,” while Daniels was developing “Parks and Recreation.”

Pre-”Parks and Recreation,” very few of us might have known that he was married to Megan Mullally (they met while doing a stage production together in 2000), but for the most part — despite 45 roles or so before landing “Parks and Recreation” — no one had a clue who he was, even though he was an occasional presence in our television lives.

Here are the highlights of his pre-Swanson career, with a NSFW warning on the last slide, which depicts his full-frontal presence on “Deadwood” back in 2004.

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