20-year-old Shia LaBeouf is having quite the year. First, he’s appearing in this week’s “Disturbia”, then he’ll be voicing a penguin in June’s “Surf’s Up” and if that wasn’t enough, audiences can watch him square off with the Autobots and Decepticons in “Transformers” this July. Looking at that roster, and also knowing he’s rumored to play Indy’s son in next year’s 4th Indiana Jones film, its clear LaBeouf is capable of a variety of roles - love him or hate him.

I’m counting on this very variety to help out the show come Saturday night. This season has been much better than the 2005-2006 offering, but let’s not kid ourselves, the March episodes definitely saw their share of crap (Manning’s weak “Making 300″ sketch and “Oprah”, “Restless Penis Syndrome” and “Deep House Dish” from the Dreyfus episode regrettably come to mind). With a background including Disney, X-Files and Project Greenlight, LaBeouf is someone the writers shouldn’t feel restricted or limited with. Hopefully this makes for a fun episode free of more Bronx Beat.

After showing up in back-to-back seasons in 2003 and 2004, Avril Lavigne is set to make her third trip to the SNL stage. Neither of those past appearances have been very memorable, save for how bored she looked during her 2003 performance of “Complicated.” With history as my guide, I’m not expecting much in the way of coneys this time around either, especially as a follow-up to Carrie Underwood’s surprisingly strong showings during the last live episode.