NBC DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT LANDS FOUR WEBBY NOMINATIONS AND FOUR HONOREES

Nominees Include NBC.com's Digital Features for "Saturday Night Live," "The Office" and DotComedy.com's "The Easter Bunny Hates You;" Honorees Are "Pale Force," DotComedy, "Passions Vendetta" and "Passions Tabloid Truth"

BURBANK, Calif. � April 18, 2007 - NBC Digital Entertainment earned four nominations for the 11th Annual Webby Awards -- including nods for NBC.com's digital offerings for "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" as well as DotComedy.com's "The Easter Bunny Hates You" -- and saw four other "Honorees" named in recent announcements made by the Webbys.

"Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" were nominated in the Television Category while "The Office's " Webisodes and DotComedy.com's "Easter Bunny in the Comedy: Short Category. Each of the nominees is eligible to win two awards -- the People's Choice Award and the Webby Award voted on by a panel of judges.

NBC Digital Entertainment's Honorees include "Pale Force" (from Conan O'Brien and Jim Gaffigan) in the Animation Category, DotComedy in the Humor Category and "Passions Vendetta" and "Passions Tabloid Truth" in the Drama Category. Honoree distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15 percent of all work submitted for a Webby.

People's Choice voting is now open to online voters through April 27. Winners will be announced May 1 and honored during the Webby Awards Gala scheduled for June 5 in New York.

"We are extremely proud of this fantastic list of Webby Award nominations," said Vivi Zigler, Executive Vice President, NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media. "This is especially satisfying because it highlights the quality of our digital production."

Hailed as the "Oscars of the Internet" by the New York Times, the Webby Awards are the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Web sites, interactive advertising, online film and video and mobile web sites. Established in 1996, the 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide.

"Saturday Night Live," NBC's Emmy Award-winning late-night comedy showcase, begins its 32nd season on September 30 (11:30 p.m. � 1 a.m. ET) for another year of laughs, surprises and great performances.

Over the last 30 years, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of a generation; and, as the New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999: "In defiance of both time and show business convention, "SNL" [is] still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past 50 years.

Thus far, the program has won 20 Emmy Awards and been nominated for scores more. "SNL" has been honored with the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award and cited as "truly a national institution." Most recently, "Saturday Night Live" was inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame by the National Association of Broadcasters. The show continues to garner the highest ratings of any late-night television program, entertaining millions each week.

"SNL" sketches still bear repeating on Monday mornings; and live show surprises, like Al Gore's Presidential Address, and the show's new addition, Digital Shorts, including the ubiquitous "Lazy Sunday," keep the show as current today as it was when it debuted.

The impressive lineup of "SNL" guest hosts last season featured some of the biggest stars of film, television and music including: Steve Carell, Jon Heder, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lance Armstrong, Jason Lee, Eva Longoria, Dane Cook, Alec Baldwin, Jack Black, Scarlett Johansson, Peter Sarsgaard, Steve Martin, Natalie Portman, Matt Dillon, Antonio Banderas, Lindsay Lohan, Tom Hanks, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Kevin Spacey.

The debut of "SNL" in 1975 was named #4 on the VH-1/Entertainment Weekly list of Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on Television. The show continued its unparalleled tradition of featuring both blockbuster and breakout musical acts, hosting such performers as Kanye West, Ashlee Simpson, Franz Ferdinand, Sheryl Crow, Foo Fighters, Korn, James Blunt, Shakira, Neil Young, Death Cab For Cutie, The Strokes, Prince, Fall Out Boy, Arctic Monkeys, Mary J. Blige, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Simon and Nelly Furtado.

"Saturday Night Live," which premiered Oct. 11, 1975, is broadcast live from NBC's famed Studio 8H in New York City's Rockefeller Center. The program is a production of Broadway Video in association with SNL Studios. Lorne Michaels is the executive producer.

"The Office," from Reveille and NBC Universal Television Studio -- which was also the 2006 Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Comedy Series -- is a documentary-style look into the humorous and sometimes poignant foolishness that plagues the world of 9-to-5 in the half-hour comedy "The Office," based on the award-winning BBC hit.

A fly-on-the-wall "docu-reality" parody about modern American office life, "The Office" delves into the lives of the workers at Dunder Mifflin paper supply company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Carell ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin," "Little Miss Sunshine") stars along with Jenna Fischer ("Slither"), John Krasinski ("Jarhead," "Kinsey"), Rainn Wilson ("Six Feet Under") and B.J. Novak ("Punk'd").

Also starring are Melora Hardin ("Monk") David Denman ("When A Stranger Calls"), Leslie David Baker ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Brian Baumgartner ("Arrested Development"), Kate Flannery ("The Heir Apparent"), Angela Kinsey ("Tripping Forward"), Oscar Nu�ez ("Halfway Home"), Phyllis Smith ("Arrested Development"), Mindy Kaling ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") and Paul Lieberstein (writer, "King of the Hill").

"The Office" is executive-produced by Ben Silverman, Greg Daniels (who developed the series for American audiences), Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Howard Klein.

"Passions" explores the lives, loves and losses of four core families who reside in Harmony: the Cranes, the Lopez-Fitzgeralds, the Bennetts and the Russells, each of whom have their own distinct and diverse personalities.

The wealthy Cranes, under the helm of patriarch Alistair, rule the town. Despite the difference in their economic status, the lives of the Cranes are constantly intertwined with the working class Lopez-Fitzgeralds, a Latino-Irish family held together by the hard-working Pilar. As a result of a long-buried secret, Alistair's wife, Katherine, left town years ago with Pilar's husband, Martin. Their return caused strife for Katherine's daughter Sheridan and Martin's son Luis, despite the couple's deep love for one another. Luis and Sheridan seem to always be battling obstacles, including the schemes of Luis' high school sweetheart, Beth, who wants Luis for herself! Despite the pleas of Beth's mother, Mrs. Wallace, Beth kidnapped Luis and Sheridan's baby and is raising him as her own! Meanwhile, Luis' sister, Theresa, wants nothing more than to be a family with Ethan, the love of her life, and her two children. Ethan's wife, Gwen, and her social-climbing mother, Rebecca, will do anything to prevent Theresa from stealing Ethan away.

Ethan grew up believing he was a member of the Crane family, but he was actually the son of Ivy Winthrop Crane and Harmony's Chief of Police Sam Bennett. Chief Bennett and his sweet amnesiac wife Grace Bennett had three children together�Noah, Kay, and Jessica. But thanks to Ivy's scheming, Grace is out of the picture and Ivy is back in Sam's heart and home. Kay and Jessica remain resentful of their mom for leaving, and have certainly acted out as a result!

Sam and Grace's best friends are Eve and TC Russell. The Russells are an African American family with a strong presence in the community�TC is the high school athletic coach and Eve is a respected physician. They have two daughters, Whitney and Simone. The seemingly perfect Russell family exploded when Eve's secret past with Julian came to light, thanks to the machinations of Eve's vengeful sister Liz. It turned out that Eve and Julian had a child together. Their child was none other than Chad Harris, Whitney's boyfriend! In the aftermath, TC has turned to Liz, while Eve and Julian have rekindled their love.

And let's not forget 300-year-old witch Tabitha Lenox. For years, Tabitha wreaked havoc in Harmony along with her reluctant sidekick, doll-turned-boy Timmy. Tabitha was heartbroken when her beloved Timmy passed away, but is now causing just as much mischief and mayhem with the help of her daughter, Endora! Endora is a chip off the old block, having inherited her mother's powers.

"Passions," the creation of celebrated daytime drama veteran James E. Reilly, has revolutionized the daytime genre with unparalleled ratings growth, ground-breaking special effects and critical acclaim.

"Passions" is produced by NBC Studios in association Outpost Farms Productions, Inc. and is taped in Studio City, California. Lisa de Cazotte is the executive producer.