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History of Saturday Night Live

 
Wikipedia: History of Saturday Night Live (2005–2010)
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This article is about the history of Saturday Night Live from 2005–2010.

Contents

2005–2006 season

Saturday Night Live promised changes for the 2005–2006 season, one of which was broadcasting in high-definition. Lorne Michaels added three new featured players: Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig, plus Jason Sudeikis, who was added for the last three episodes of the previous season. Hader became popular for his impersonations, such as Vincent Price in various Variety Vault sketches. Hired along with Samberg were his longtime friends and The Lonely Island collaborators Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer who joined the writing staff. The three would create a new SNL mainstay feature in the SNL Digital Shorts, the most popular being "Lazy Sunday". Wiig, who first appeared when Jason Lee hosted, gained popularity with impersonations of Felicity Huffman and Megan Mullally, and creating memorable characters such as the Female A-Hole and Target Lady. Lorne Michaels extended his contract until the 35th season.

Leaving after the 2006 season were Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey, who had committed to working on her new sitcom 30 Rock, as well as Horatio Sanz, Finesse Mitchell, and Chris Parnell, who were let go due to budget cuts.

Opening montage

The opening montage for the 2005 season was identical to that of the 2004 season, except for several minor variations: the names of new cast members were shown, the names displayed in a different font. It also began broadcasting in widescreen and high definition.

Bumper format

The 2005–2006 commercial bumper formats featured a picture of the host in a white background, with the logo saying "Saturday Night Live", or just "SNL".

Cast

Featuring

Notes

  • Tina Fey, absent on maternity leave for the first several episodes, returns for the Catherine Zeta-Jones/Franz Ferdinand episode. Maya Rudolph is also absent on maternity leave for several episodes, and returns for the Steve Martin/Prince episode. Rudolph then takes a second hiatus before the end of the season for undisclosed reasons.
  • With the March 11, 2006 broadcast, Tina Fey surpasses Dennis Miller as SNL's longest-tenured Weekend Update anchorperson.
  • Kenan Thompson and Finesse Mitchell are upgraded to contract players.
  • Bill Hader and Andy Samberg are added to the cast as featured players. Kristen Wiig is added to the cast in November, becoming the first new female cast member since the 2001-2002 season.
  • Hader and Samberg also joined Thompson as the latest cast members to be born after SNL's premiere.
  • Beginning in 2005 the show is being broadcast in high definition television.
  • Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg's Lazy Sunday skit is featured in an episode hosted by Jack Black. It quickly becomes an internet phenomenon.
  • After her departure this season, Rachel Dratch surpassed Molly Shannon as the longest-serving female cast member in SNL history. That honor would go to Amy Poehler three seasons later.

2006–2007 season

Opening montage

The opening montage introduced on the 32nd season premiere involved the cast on a roof-top party in New York City. It was a completely new production from the previous montage, featuring a completely new logo and VTR. The font was in a plain greyish colour with bold lettering, where each word is progressively larger than the last in both the title and cast credits, with footage of New York City in the background. The musical guest and host's pictures are simply seen over top of the background footage instead of inserted onto a billboard like the previous season.

With the Jaime Pressly episode airing on October 7, 2006, the montage was changed slightly to include an SNL logo changed to a design and typeface identical to the 1981-1985 SNL logo. The pictures of the host and musical guest were placed over the entire screen, instead of over the New York City footage. This new montage was also used for the rerun for the Dane Cook/The Killers episode, replacing the originally-aired one.

Also changing for the October 14, 2006 repeat was the logo. The logo kept the same look, but condensed to look thinner, and to fit wide screen.

Bumper Format

The commercial bumpers featured the host and musical guest in a solid color background, that featured many colors. The logo usually featured the current logo of "Saturday Night Live", or bold lettering of "SNL".

Cast changes

SNL had a smaller cast in the 2006-2007 season due to “massive budget cuts” at NBC.[1] Lorne Michaels told members of the Television Critics Association that cutting staff was chosen over reducing from 20 the number of original episodes produced. In an interview with the NY Post, Lorne Michaels said the new season will be one of the few that does not feature a new cast member, and he specifically hired a large cast for the 2005-2006 season knowing that budget cuts were around the corner. A separate announcement confirmed the departure of Tina Fey, who left to focus on 30 Rock, a new show she created for Broadway Video which is part of NBC's 2006-7 schedule.[2] Rachel Dratch, one of the stars in the 30 Rock pilot (though subsequently replaced by Jane Krakowski), also did not return.[3]

Amy Poehler announced on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that Seth Meyers would replace Tina Fey as co-anchor on Weekend Update.

Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, and Jason Sudeikis were all promoted to repertory players at the beginning of their second season (the third for Sudeikis including his role as a featured member).

The final cast list included just 11 members, the lowest number since the 1997-1998 season.

Cast

Notes

  • Seth Meyers shares head writer status with Paula Pell and Andrew Steele (writer). Due to this position, like Fey before him, he appears rarely on the show outside of Weekend Update, but is credited as a repertory player. Pell returned to the show after her failed attempt at creating a sitcom, Thick and Thin, went unaired.

2007–2008

The 2007-2008 season of Saturday Night Live began on September 29, 2007 with LeBron James hosting the episode and musical guest Kanye West. Production was suspended due to the 2007 Writer's Strike, after only four episodes were produced. The show's first episode after the writers' strike was aired on February 23, 2008, with former head writer Tina Fey as host. [4]

Opening montage

The opening montage for the 2007-2008 season was identical to that of the previous season, though the artwork for the host and musical guest is now a black and white portrait.

Bumper Format

Instead of featuring a solid color background, the background colors for the bumpers were usually white. There were rare occasions of the background being black, or gray. The logo was the same as last season, either featuring the full current logo, "Saturday Night Live", or featuring a bold lettering of "SNL". The logos featured different colors.

Cast

Featuring

Notes

  • The first four episodes feature the same cast as Season 32. By the time the show returned in February 2008 after the writer's strike, Maya Rudolph had left the show. Casey Wilson was hired as a featured player to take her place.
  • Casey Wilson is the first new cast member to join the show in over two years. Wilson is also SNL's first cast member born in the 1980's.
  • A special clip show episode entitled "SNL Family Thanksgiving Leftovers" airs on November 24, 2007, and features a compilation of previously-aired sketches from earlier Thanksgiving episodes.
  • Amy Poehler was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show.
  • Due to the writer's strike, this was SNL's shortest season, containing only 12 episodes.

2008–2009 season

The 2008-2009 season of Saturday Night Live began September 13, 2008 with host Michael Phelps and musical guest Lil' Wayne.

Opening montage

The opening montage undergoes minor alterations; Some shots are in black and white, some are in color and some are in black and white with a hint of color. The "SNL" logo and the cast credits appear smaller to fit into the 4:3 "safe area". In the second episode of the season, the video for Casey Wilson's credit was changed. In the fourth episode, the show went back to being shown in letterbox in some markets.

Bumper Format

The bumpers now have variously colored backdrops instead of the plain white from last season, and the "SNL" logo is being moved into the 4:3 "safe area".

Cast

Featuring

Notes

  • At its annual fall schedule presentation on April 2, 2008, NBC revealed it would air three half-hour episodes of "SNL Thursday Night Live", a presidential election-themed Weekend Update special, on Thursdays starting October 16, 2008.[5]
  • Amy Poehler left the show in mid-December to work on her new show, Parks and Recreation.
  • Bobby Moynihan, Abby Elliott and Michaela Watkins join the cast this season as featured players, the latter two coming in during Poehler's maternity leave.
  • This season had 22 episodes instead of the usual 20.
  • Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Tina Fey and Justin Timberlake would receive Emmy nominations for the work on the show, Poehler and Wiig for their work as cast members, Fey as a guest actress, and Timberlake as a guest actor.
  • Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins were fired after this season.
  • Darrell Hammond leaves after this season after being on the show for 14 seasons, becoming the longest-running cast member in SNL history. However, he appears in all three Season 2 Weekend Update Thursday episodes.

2009–2010 season

Opening montage

TBA

Bumper Format

TBA

Cast

Featured Players

Notes

  • Departed featured players Casey Wilson and Michaela Watkins are replaced by newcomers Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate.
  • This season is the first without Darrell Hammond, the last castmember from the 90's. Hammond left the show after a record setting 14 season run.
  • With Hammond gone, Seth Meyers is now currently the longest-running cast member, having been on the show since 2001.
  • On September 27, 2009, during the 35th season premiere of Saturday Night Live, in her first appearance during a sketch titled "Biker Chick Chat" which extensively featured the euphemism "frickin'", new cast member Jenny Slate uttered the word "fuckin'" on live television. In subsequent rebroadcasts, the dress rehearsal of the sketch (with no accidental swearing) replaced the original live version.

References

  1. ^ SNL Cast To Shrink, a July 2006 article from Broadcasting & Cable
  2. ^ Tina Fey Leaving 'Saturday Night Live' for Prime-Time Comedy Show, a July 2006 Associated Press article via Fox News
  3. ^ Fey, Dratch leaving SNL for 30 Rock, a July 2006 Associated Press article via the San Jose Mercury News website
  4. ^ "Tina Fey To Host First Post-Strike Episode of ‘SNL’". New York Times. February 12, 2008. http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/tina-fey-to-host-first-post-strike-episode-of-snl/. 
  5. ^ Philpot, Robert. "NBC releases lineup far in advance", "Fort Worth Star-Telegram", April 3, 2008. Accessed April 4, 2008.

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