This article is about the American television series. For the show related to Big Brother (UK), see
Saturday Night Live (UK).
Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90 minute American comedy-variety show based
in New York City that has been broadcast live by NBC on
Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. In Canada it is
simulcast on the Global Television Network, live in the Eastern, Central, and
Atlantic time zones and with recorded broadcasts from NBC stations in the
Mountain and Pacific Time Zones. It is one
of the longest-running network entertainment programs in
American television history. Each week, the show's cast is joined by a guest host and musical act.
Originally, the show was called NBC's Saturday Night until NBC retitled its show in 1976 (the Saturday Night
Live title having been previously attached to a short-lived variety
show hosted by Howard Cosell and airing on rival network ABC). The first show with the new title was broadcast on March
26, 1977.
The show — broadcast from Studio 8H at the GE Building (called the RCA Building until 1988) in New York's Rockefeller Center — has
been the launching place for many major American comedy stars of the last thirty years. It was created by Canadian
Lorne Michaels who, excluding a hiatus from Season 6 through Season 10, has
produced and written for the show and remains its
executive producer (Jean Doumanian produced most of Season 6, and Dick Ebersol Seasons 7–10).
In 2005, NBC renewed SNL's contract until 2012.[citation needed]
History
- By era: 1975–1980, 1980–1985, 1985–1990, 1990–1995, 1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2005–Present
- By season: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25, 26,
27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33
- Weekend Update
Current Cast
See also: Saturday Night Live cast
Repertory Players
Featured Players
None, although featured players could enter the show any time.
The studio
Since the show's inception, SNL has aired from Studio 8H, located on floors 8 and 9 of GE
Building (30 Rockefeller Plaza, or "30 Rock"). Due to the studio originally being a radio soundstage for Arturo Toscanini and his NBC Symphony Orchestra, the layout of the studio
floor and the audience positioning causes some audience members to have an obstructed view of many of the sketches. According to
NBC, the 8H studio has an almost perfect sound acoustic. The offices of SNL writers, producers, and other staff can be
found on the 17th floor of "30 Rock".
During the summer 2005 shooting hiatus, crews began renovations on Studio 8H. With its thirty-first season premiere in October
2005, the show began broadcasting in High Definition, appearing
letterboxed on conventional screens.
Other productions have occasionally used the studio. Three of the first four shows of the 1976-77 season were shot at the
former NBC Studios in Brooklyn, due to NBC News using
Studio 8H for Presidential election coverage. The first season finale of The
Apprentice and the 5th Anniversary special of Late Night with Conan
O'Brien have used the studio for one night. Last Call with Carson
Daly used the studio until 2005, when the show moved to Studio 9 at the NBC Studios in Burbank, California.
Production process
The following is a summary of the process used to produce the show. It is based in part on an August 2000 Writer's Digest article and an April 28, 2004 Fresh Air
interview with writer and performer Tina Fey:
Monday:
- The day begins with a topical meeting, identifying the biggest story for the show's opening.
- This is followed by a free-form pitch meeting with Lorne Michaels and the show's host
for the week.
- Throughout the week the host has a lot of influence on which sketches get aired.
- Following the meeting, writers begin to draft the two scripts each must produce.
- The host does the photo shoot for the SNL bumpers.
Tuesday:
- Starting in the afternoon, anywhere from 30 to 45 scripts are written, most of which will not be broadcast.
- Once a writer's scripts are complete, he or she will often help other writers on their scripts.
Wednesday:
- All scripts get a read-through.
- After the read-through, the head writer(s) and the producers meet with the host to decide which sketches to work on for the
rest of the week, with Lorne Michaels and the host having the final say.
Thursday:
- The surviving sketches are reviewed, word-by-word, by the writing staff as a whole or in two groups in the case of co-head
writers.
- Some sketches which survived the cut because of their premise, but are in need of work, are rewritten completely. Others are
changed in smaller ways.
- The Weekend Update crew starts coming together, starting with the news items
written by writers dedicated all week to the segment.
- The crew comes in for rehearsal, and the music act is rehearsed as well as some of the larger, more important sketches.
- The musical guest does a photo shoot for the SNL bumpers.
- The host and musical guest and usually some cast members shoot two to four promos to play for NBC.
Friday:
- The show is blocked.
- The writer of each sketch acts as producer, working with the show's set
designers and costumers.
Saturday:
- With the show still far from finalized, the day begins with a run-through, with props, in front of Lorne Michaels.
- After the run-through, the cast and crew find out which of the sketches are in the dress rehearsal, and which are cut. The
writer/producer deals with any changes.
- This is followed by a dress rehearsal performed in front of the studio audience, which lasts from 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. (or
sometimes later) and contains approximately twenty minutes of material which will be deleted from the final broadcast.
- Lorne Michaels uses firsthand observation of the audience reaction during the dress rehearsal and input from the host and
head writer to determine the final round of changes, re-ordering sketches as necessary.
- The live show then begins at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time, but some
markets will delay airing.
The status of the show during the week is maintained on a bulletin board. Sketches and other segments are given labels which
are put on index cards and put on the board in the order of their performance. The order is based on content as well as
production limitations such as camera placement and performer availability. Segments which have been cut are kept to the side of
the board. As the broadcast approaches, often the writer/producer discovers the fate of his or her segment only by consulting the
bulletin board.
A 60 Minutes report taped in October 2004 depicted the intense writing frenzy that
goes on during the week leading up to a show, with crowded meetings and long hours. The report particularly noted the involvement
of the guest hosts in developing and selecting the sketches in which they will appear.
When it's not live
Reruns
SNL reruns are aired out of its original broadcast sequence, usually determined by which episodes have not yet been
repeated, but had high ratings or acclaim for its live broadcast. Shows usually air twice during a particular season, but often
the highest rated shows of the season have a second encore show towards the end of the off-season, or episodes will be repeated a
second or third time to coincide with a new event connected with the person who hosted. For example, the Natalie Portman episode aired in March 2006 to promote V for
Vendetta was repeated August 5 2006, prior to the
film's DVD release August 8.
Encore showings are not always identical to the original broadcast. Successful sketches aired later in the show during the
original broadcast may be reedited to appear earlier, and segments that did not work well during the live broadcast may be
replaced by the dress rehearsal version, or entirely new sketches. A Peter Sarsgaard
sketch from his January 21 2006 episode, involving a TV meant
to broadcast Rachel Dratch's fake newscast, met with technical difficulties during the
live broadcast when the in-sketch TV stopped working and a stagehand was seen fixing it. It was replaced with a dress rehearsal
version in rerun. A sketch involving "butt pregnancy" during the first broadcast of the November
12, 2005, Jason Lee episode was replaced with a musical
sketch about cafeteria food during the repeat. In the earlier years of the show's history, reruns occasionally replaced weaker
sketches with segments from other episodes, usually from episodes that did not have an encore showing at all.
The show is never live in the western half of the USA. NBC airs a recording of the live show for the Mountain and Pacific time
zones rather than have the cast do a second performance.
Compilations
From time-to-time, SNL airs compilation shows. Such shows will feature hand-selected best sketches from the previous
season; of a particular cast member or multiple-time host; or centered on a particular theme (eg. Halloween, Christmas). Political sketches are
typically culled for a special in presidential election years; the 2000 special was notable for
having self-deprecating (though separate) appearances by candidates George W. Bush and
Al Gore.
Delays
- The show was forced by the network to run on a seven-second delay when Andrew Dice
Clay and Richard Pryor hosted.
- The episode scheduled for October 25, 1986, hosted by
Rosanna Arquette, was not aired until November 8
due to NBC broadcasting Game 6 of the 1986 World Series; the game entered extra innings, causing that night's broadcast of SNL to be
canceled. The show was recorded for the studio audience starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and broadcast two weeks later with an
"apology" by New York Mets pitcher Ron Darling.
- The episode scheduled for February 10, 2001, hosted by
Jennifer Lopez, aired 45 minutes late due to an XFL game.
Lopez and the cast were not told they were airing on a delay.[1]
- During Eddie Murphy's last season, he was only available for part of the season, so
they recorded a number of extra sketches in September 1983 that featured him and were broadcast in episodes he was not available
for, according to the book .
- When Sam Kinison delivered a comic monologue in 1986, NBC removed his plea for the
legalization of marijuana from the West Coast broadcast and all subsequent airings.
- A portion of Martin Lawrence's 1994 monologue concerning feminine hygiene has been
removed from all repeats, replaced with a voiceover and super stating that the excised portion "...was a frank and lively
presentation, and nearly cost us all our jobs."[2]
Musical guests
- See also: List of
Saturday Night Live hosts and musical guests
Frequent musical guests
The following performers have been musical guests on SNL at least five times:
| Musical Guest |
Number of Episodes |
First Musical Appearance |
Last Musical Appearance |
Other Notes |
| Paul Simon |
7 |
October 18, 1975 |
May 13, 2006 |
Simon also hosted or co-hosted three shows. He co-hosted with Catherine Oxenberg
on May 10, 1986, during the 11th season. He solely hosted the
second show on October 18, 1975 where he performed with
Art Garfunkel and Phoebe Snow and on
November 20, 1976, where he was one of two musical guests. Is
also best friend of show creator Lorne Michaels. |
| Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers |
7 |
November 10, 1979 |
April 10, 1999 |
|
| Dave Grohl |
9 |
January 11, 1992 |
October 13, 2007 |
He was the drummer for Nirvana in their two performances, was a drummer for
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on one performance, was a drummer for Tenacious D on one performance, and performed with his most recent band, Foo
Fighters, five times. |
| Randy Newman |
6 |
October 18, 1975 |
October 22, 1988 |
|
| James Taylor |
6 |
September 18, 1976 |
November 13, 1993 |
|
| Beck |
6 |
January 11, 1997 |
October 28, 2006 |
He appeared as musicial guest two times in 1999 (with hosts Bill
Paxton and Christina Ricci). |
| Sting |
5 |
October 17, 1987 |
November 20, 1999 |
Only non-American performer to appear as a musical guest at least five times; has also performed in at least one sketch
during each of his appearances. |
| Foo Fighters |
5 |
December 2, 1995 |
October 13, 2007 |
|
Musical guests who simultaneously hosted
The following performers have pulled a double duty as both musical guests and host during the same SNL episode:
| Musical Guest |
Date of Hosting/Musical Appearance |
Other Notes |
| Lily Tomlin |
November 22, 1975 |
She is actually the first to host and be in the musical act, but the show was listed without a musical act. So she is not
given musical act credit |
| Desi Arnaz |
February 21, 1976 |
He is the first performer to appear simultaneously as host and musical guest. |
| Paul Simon |
November 20, 1976 |
|
| Ray Charles |
November 12, 1977 |
|
| The Rolling Stones |
October 7, 1978 |
Are the only band to host and be musical guests on SNL (even though Mick Jagger,
Charlie Watts, and Ron Wood were the only band members
to appear in sketches) |
| Frank Zappa |
October 21, 1978 |
|
| Olivia Newton-John |
May 22, 1982 |
|
| Lily Tomlin |
January 22, 1983 |
Appearing in the musical act also technically makes her the first to host and appear in the musical act twice. Though again
the show was listed without a musical guest so she was not given credit. Tomlin appeared as Pervis
Hawkins |
| Stevie Wonder |
May 7, 1983 |
|
| Willie Nelson |
February 21, 1987 |
|
| Dolly Parton |
April 15, 1989 |
|
| Quincy Jones |
February 10, 1990 |
Jones' hosting stint had ten musical guests on one night, an SNL record. |
| Sting |
January 19, 1991 |
|
| MC Hammer |
December 7, 1991 |
|
| Garth Brooks |
February 28, 1998 and November 13, 1999 |
He is one of only three performers to simultaneously act as host and musical guest more than once. Garth appeared in the
second episode as himself as host, and his alter ego Chris Gaines as musical guest. |
| Jennifer Lopez |
February 10, 2001 |
|
| Britney Spears |
May 13, 2000 and February
2, 2002 |
At 18, she was the youngest person in SNL History to act as a host and musical guest the same time on May 13, 2000. She is
also the only female in SNL History to host and perform in the same episode more than once. |
| Justin Timberlake |
October 11, 2003 and December
16, 2006 |
He became the third simultaneous host and musical guest to appear more than once on the show when he appeared on December 16,
2006. |
| Janet Jackson |
April 10, 2004 |
|
| Queen Latifah |
October 9, 2004 |
|
| Will Ferrell |
May 14, 2005 |
Will Ferrell performs with Queens of the Stone Age during "Little Sister" as his "More
Cowbell" character, Gene Frenkle. |
| Ludacris |
November 18, 2006 |
|
| Bon Jovi |
October 13, 2007 |
Jon Bon Jovi hosted, with Bon Jovi performing twice, and Foo Fighters performing
once. |
Recurring characters and sketches
Films based on SNL sketches
Wayne's World, the highest grossing movie ever based on an SNL sketch.
The early days of SNL spawned a few movies and low-budget films. However, it was not until the huge success of
Wayne's World that Broadway Video (Lorne Michaels' production company)
became encouraged to feature more film spinoffs, with several popular 1990s sketch characters (and a few unlikely ones) becoming
adapted into movies. Producers tried their luck with a revival of 1970s characters The Coneheads, followed by movies based around
Pat, Stuart Smalley, The Ladies Man, The Butabi Brothers and Mary Katherine Gallagher. Some did moderate business but others
bombed disastrously — notably It's Pat! and Stuart Saves His Family, with the latter losing US$15 million despite good reviews.
DVD release and controversy
On 13 October 2006 it was announced that Saturday Night
Live: The Complete First Season would be released by Universal Studios on
5 December 2006, in its full, 90-minute uncut format with all
musical performances and sketches intact. Also, there will be a raft of bonus material to accompany the set. [1]
After the set was released, it was picked apart by online reviewers and newsgroups of ardent fans, many of whom had original
live (not rerun) bootleg copies with which to compare the "complete" episodes against. [2] Each episode has
been edited to appear as one continuous 66-minute performance, with the commercial breaks edited out. As such, the bumper art
used in each commercial break is missing, save for the final bumper of each episode, which marks the transition to the goodnights
and credits. At least two episodes in the set -the Rob Reiner and Dick Cavett shows - are confirmed as being the rerun versions,
as opposed to the original live versions. There is one original commercial parody (Wrigley's) missing, from the Rob Reiner show
(the parody was cut from the rerun because the show went long live, and there were no goodnights and credits; the parody was cut
to allow time for a makeshift credit roll in the repeat. Since Broadway Video used the rerun to master the DVD, they likely were
unaware of this omission. This practice would also seem to suggest that Broadway Video defaulted to the repeat version for the
majority of this set, though the aforementioned shows are the only confirmed instances thus far. A repeat of the Wrigley's
commercial, which aired in a Buck Henry episode later that season, has also been cut. These factors seem to negate the set's
claim that the shows are complete and as originally aired.
Besides these issues, no other discrepancies have yet to be found between the original shows and the DVDs. However, the
wildly-fluctuating run times of each episode suggests that there's more cut from these shows that has yet to be identified, as
the show had a steady, unchanging run time each week of 01:29:30, 00:20:40 of that being designated commercial and station
breaks, leaving 01.08.50 for show content (including usually one in-show billboard for promotional services, which would be
expected to be cut, though these were never longer than 5 seconds each.) Each episode would have originally contained 9 bumpers
at app. 5 seconds each. Since 8 of these are cut from the DVD versions, that trims off about 40 seconds. One can safely add the
5-second in-show promos and excessive black video due to mid-70s video technology would add up to anywhere from 5 to 10 seconds
over a show. This 1 minute or so still does not explain DVD run times such as the following:
Disc 4 (3:20:02) Buck Henry (1:06:06) Peter Cook & Dudley Moore (1:06:42) Dick Cavett (1:07:14)
Disc 5 (3:15:49) Peter Boyle (1:02:53) Desi Arnaz (1:06:34) Jill Clayburgh (1:06:22)
If the set contained truly complete, uncut episodes, each would have a run time of 01.08.50, give or take a few seconds.
The complete second season is scheduled to be released on DVD on December 4,
2007.
Criticism
Notably, the show's quality has been called into question during various points in its history and has been the source of
criticism by fans and critics due to its changing of castmembers and writers, starting with Chevy Chase's departure in 1976 and
Bill Murray being hired in his place, though this would be short-lived when Bill Murray finally found his niche on the show. This
would later resurface when Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left SNL in 1979, with Harry
Shearer, Dan Aykroyd's brother Peter, and several SNL writers such as Alan
Zweibel, Brian Doyle-Murray, Tom Davis, Don Novello, and Al Franken being hired as replacements.
However, the most well-known change occurred when Lorne Michaels and the remaining original castmembers left SNL in May
1980. Though now a normal occurrence, the cast change that occurred in Fall 1980 is the most infamous because it followed the
departure of the original cast and series creator/producer Lorne Michaels. The entire season was dogged with criticism for its
poor casting, weak writing, and Jean Doumanian's position as producer. But the real shocker was in the infamous February 1981
episode where new cast member Charles Rocket uttered the word "fuck" on national
television. After that, the entire cast, with the exception of Eddie Murphy and
Joe Piscopo, and all of the writing staff, except Brian
Doyle-Murray, were fired at the end of the season. Dick Ebersol was brought in after Doumanian was fired and remained
until spring of 1985. When Lorne Michaels decided to come back for the show's 11th season, most were hoping for a return to the
show's quality during his first period as producer (1975–80). Unfortunately, Michaels' first season back was dogged yet again
with criticism, only the criticisms were directed at the fact that Lorne chose a cast of up-and-coming (or already somewhat
known) celebrities who were not experienced in comedy as a cover-up for the show's waning popularity. Michaels subsequently fired
the majority of the Season 11 cast (retaining cast members Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, and Dennis Miller, featured player A. Whitney Brown, and longtime writer/featured player Al Franken)
and hired new castmembers (Dana Carvey, Jan Hooks,
Phil Hartman, Victoria Jackson, and
Kevin Nealon) to replace them.
Of course, criticisms over SNL's quality have not stopped. Lorne Michaels would hear them again later in the early and
mid-1990s (when Chris Farley, Adam Sandler,
David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Chris Rock--a.k.a "The Bad Boys of SNL" were hired and Phil Hartman left the show after the nineteenth
season, leaving Season 20 to be yet another critical and ratings low point, much like seasons six and eleven), and once again in
early and mid 2000s (after Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer left the show). Usually the season after a castmember or castmembers
have left, the show is questioned as to whether the upcoming season will be better than the previous.[3]
Rights to SNL
NBC and Broadway Video share the copyright to every episode of the show made thus far.
Broadway Video has released a number of Best of Specials for Home Video release such as:
- Best of Mike Myers
- Best of Adam Sandler
- Best of Chris Farley
- Best of Chris Rock
- Best of Will Ferrell - Volume 1
- Best of Will Ferrell - Volume 2
- Best of Molly Shannon
- 25th Anniversary Special
- Best of Dana Carvey
- Best of Eddie Murphy
- Best of Phil Hartman
- Best of Chris Kattan
- Best of Tracy Morgan
- Best of Christopher Walken
- Best of Jimmy Fallon
- Best of John Belushi
- Best of Dan Aykroyd
- Best of Gilda Radner
- Best of Tom Hanks
- Best of Jon Lovitz
- SNL The First 5 Years, an the Emmy nominated documentary detailing SNL’s beginnings
- Best of Alec Baldwin
- Best of David Spade
- Best of Cheri Oteri
- Best of Steve Martin
- Best of Commercial Parodies wrapped by Will Ferrell
- Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (featuring Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert as the Ambiguously Gay Duo)
Broadway Video has also released the following sets of complete seasons, or have announces scheduled release dates for
them:
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of '06/'07 (released exclusively to Starbucks Coffee Company locations in August 2007)
- Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season (1975-1976)
- Saturday Night Live: The Complete Second Season (1976-1977) (To be released December 4, 2007)
The syndication rights to the original incarnation, syndication of shows made
from 1975 forward have been held by Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels' production company.
The home video rights are also held by Broadway Video.
For many years, Comedy Central aired SNL reruns, until 2003, when
E! Entertainment Television signed a deal to reruns.
Trivia
- In his 1980 interview in Playboy Magazine, John
Lennon said that he and Paul McCartney had been watching the show together at his
apartment in the Dakota, when producer Lorne Michaels made his famous offer of $3000 for a Beatles' reunion ("...if you want to pay Ringo less, that's your
business.")[4] He said the pair considered heading to the
studio to "accept" the offer, but had decided they were too tired to do so. This event was fictionalized in the 2000 television
film, Two of Us (2000 television).
- Eight former SNL cast members have been nominated for Academy Awards: George Coe (co-producer of the short subject The Dove, 1969), Dan
Aykroyd (Best Supporting Actor, Driving Miss Daisy, 1989),
Bill Murray (Best Actor, Lost in
Translation, 2003), Joan Cusack (Best Supporting Actress, Working Girl, 1988, and In & Out, 1997),
Robert Downey, Jr. (Best Actor, Chaplin, 1992), Randy Quaid (Best Supporting Actor,
The Last Detail, 1973), Michael McKean
(co-writer of Best Original Song, A Mighty Wind, 2003) and Eddie Murphy (Best Supporting Actor, Dreamgirls, 2006). Despite
these nine nominations, no cast member has received the award to date.
- Nominated for 87 Emmy Awards [citation needed]
- Named #7 on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years [citation needed]
See also
References
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Further reading
- Cader, Michael. (1994). Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN
0-395-70895-8.
- Hill, Doug, and Jeff Weingrad. (1986). Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. New York, NY: Beech
Tree Books. ISBN 0-688-05099-9.
- Mohr, Jay. (2004). Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live. New York, NY: Hyperion. ISBN
1-4013-0006-5.
- Shales, Tom, and James Andrew Miller. (2002). Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.
Boston, MA: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-78146-0.
