If one trend is starting to emerge for the ‘07-’08 season, its unconventional hosts. Besides actor Seth Rogen, our other two hosts have been an athlete and a rock star. While sports and musician hosts are nothing new, now that a genuine news man has been thrown into the mix, suddenly we’ve got ourselves an interesting start to the season.

I was initially put off by the announcement of NBC News anchor Brian Williams hosting, until I was convinced by a number of people that Williams is actually a pretty funny guy. I’ve been told all about his Daily Show and Conan appearances, and I’ve even read that he’s participated in a few ASSSSCAT improv nights at Upright Citizens Brigade. How all this will translate to 90 minutes of live comedy remains to be seen, but I’ll admit to feeling better about Williams than I did when Don Pardo first announced the billing back on October 13th. It is also worth noting that Williams isn’t a complete stranger to SNL. Some may remember the 2006 season premiere when he showed up on Weekend Update thinking he was Tina Fey’s replacement. Prior to that, he had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part in Fred Armisen’s excellent “Tangent” digital short from the cameo heavy 2/06 Steve Martin episode.

Filling out the show is 31-year-old Leslie Feist (or simply Feist). Feist’s varied background involves friendships with Peaches & Gonzales (BEST!) as well as her work in Broken Social Scene. Apart from a few tracks here and there, I don’t know a ton of her solo catalogue, but I’m sure this Canadian won’t snap Season 33’s early streak of excellent music.

For it’s fourth live show of the season, SNL once again boasts another first-time host and this time around it’s NBC Nightly News anchorman, Brian Williams. While on the surface Williams may seem like a random choice to host the show, I feel he’s actually a pretty refreshing alternative to, say, the latest flavor of the week in Hollywood. For me, a certain element of anticipation is always added to the show when Lorne decides to take a chance on a host that isn’t exactly mainstream, but still exhibits charm and a well-rounded personality. It’s a direction I’d like to see SNL take more often. What’s even better is that Williams already has a bit of experience on the SNL set with his Weekend Update cameo during the Dane Cook Season 32 premiere last year and definitely proved he has a pretty good sense of humor. Here’s hoping that combination gives Williams an edge for delivering a fantastic show.

Canadian singer-songwriter, Feist, is also debuting this week as SNL’s musical guest. Besides her single, “1,2,3,4,” from the I-Pod Nano commercial, I’m sorry to say that I’m not very familiar with her music. Nonetheless, I’m really looking forward to her performances this Saturday. Hey, you can’t really go wrong with a girl who used to perform as a sock puppet called, “Bitch Lap Lap,” during her friend’s band sets (Peaches) and also played a guitar whom she referred to as, “Smoker’s Tooth,” right?! Best.

I’m still not sure why Jon Bon Jovi was selected as host instead of musical guest, but I won’t complain if it gets us another Foo Fighters appearance (their sixth). Making the situation even stranger is when NBC announced back in September that Jon will actually be joined by his band mates at some point during the show to perform the title track from June’s “Lost Highway” album. Not sure if this will happen in the monologue or if we’ll get three separate musical performances. Let’s just hope Foos don’t get cheated out of two segments to make room.

Jovi is no stranger to the show though. Bon Jovi has acted as musical guest three times in the past (’93, ‘95 and ‘01), and his last appearance saw JBJ and Richie Sambora show up in a sketch together (remember those old bits where Parnell and Kattan used to dance as an “audition” to join bands?). Jon’s music was also the center of a sketch in last season’s Jamie Pressly episode that saw Will Forte’s band “Jon Bovi” attempt to get a record deal by recycling the real Bon Jovi’s hits. Best.

My first reaction upon discovering that Jon Bon Jovi was hosting the upcoming episode of SNL was simply, “Huh?” What exactly is Bon Jovi doing at the moment to warrant his selection as this week’s host? I still don’t know the answer to that one, but whatever it is, my fingers are crossed that he can pull it off. Fortunately, Jovi does have some acting chops, so hopefully that, along with some good quality material, will help him out.

As for the Foo Fighters, they have earned a place as one of my musical acts to ever grace the stage in Studio 8H. They have never failed to deliver high-energy performances and I anticipate that this time around will be no different. If Lorne could somehow work these guys into a skit as well, I would be one happy camper.

The last episode of Season 32 is here. Will the season go out with a bang? History says no. Over the five seasons I’ve covered SNL for whatevs (dot org), we’ve yet to get a finale that ranked above the average range. Kevin Spacey’s episode last May perhaps came the closest with that great Usual Suspects parody from Samberg (not to mention a time traveling Falconer, Neil Young’s anti-war CD and the legendary history of Phillip Sarc). Still, often times the sight of that finish line after 20 long episodes proves too much to ignore and the writing gets sloppy, the music gets boring and the show turns into an absolute mess (see Season 29’s Olsen Twins/J-Kwon finale).

Looking to buck this trend, Zach Braff and Maroon 5 have been booked to close out 2006-2007. Braff, who’s latest film “The Ex” debuted at #12 on the box office chart last weekend, is great at getting a few geeky laughs here and there, but I doubt he’ll prove to be as effective as Molly Shannon was last week. With this in mind, I’m curious if SNL went after any stars from the May box office blockbusters? I would have loved a Mike Myers, Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley or hell, even a Thomas Haden Church episode to send the season out in style.

Still, for a season that can probably be viewed as the strongest since the departure of Will Ferrell, maybe they can pull off one more memorable show. Afterall, we are coming off the best episode since Piven stopped by in January. As for this being anyone’s last show? No solid rumors are floating around, but I’ll again guess Hammond and/or Maya. Both have been overdue for years.