Saturday Night Live: Difference between revisions

*Saturday Night Live*
Saturday Night Live
	32nd Season SNL Logo. 32nd Season logo for Saturday Night Live
Created by	Lorne Michaels
Starring	Saturday Night Live cast
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	624, as of May 19, 2007
Production
Running time	90 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes) per episode
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	October 11, 1975 –; Present, Renewed until 2012

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Saturday Night Live (SNL) is an ongoing Emmy Award winning 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

It was originally reported that the entire 2006-2007 cast will return, with the exception of Maya Rudolph. [1] A retraction has been printed stating that she will remain in the cast.

Repertory Players

In alphabetical order

As of September 2007, no new cast members have been announced. Both repertory and featured players can be added to the show at 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.

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 Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live.
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]

Rights to SNL

NBC and Broadway Video share the copyright to every episode of the show made thus far.

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.

In other countries

In Canada, episodes from 1975–1980 are aired in late night programming hours, weeknights on some Global Television Network owned stations such as CHUM

In Australia, the one-hour syndicated version is broadcast on The Comedy Channel who air new episodes or reruns of recent episodes 9.30pm Saturdays and episodes from 2002-2006 Weekdays at 2.00pm. SNL originally aired on Arena however moved in November 2006.

The one-hour version is also broadcast every Saturday night on Sony Entertainment Television Latin America.

In the Philippines, relatively recent SNL episodes can be seen on SOLAR on Saturdays at 10 p.m. It used to air classic episodes.

In Germany, Season 32 can currently be viewed on Sat.1 Comedy with each episode airing approximately three months after its original US broadcast. The show airs completely without dubbing or subtitles.

In the Netherlands, Comedy Central airs the one-hour version at primetime on saturday, with classic episodes from earlier seasons on Sunday.

In Poland, Comedy Central airs classic episodes.

In Israel, old and new episodes can be seen on DBS.

In the Middle East, old and new episodes can be seen on Orbit.

Throughout various countries the continent of Africa, SNL can be seen on M-Net.

In Italy, old and new episodes can be found on Canal Jimmy.

In Russia, a variety of Best of Specials can be seen on MTV Russia

In Romania, old and new episodes can be seen on Antena 2

In Sweden, old and new episodes can be seen on Kanal 5

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	7	January 11, 1992	November 12, 2005	He was the drummer for Nirvana in their two performances, was a drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on one performance, and performed with his most recent band, Foo Fighters, four 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.

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
Desi Arnaz	February 21, 1976	Served as a memorable guest host on Saturday Night Live with his son, Desi, Jr (Jerson.N.F)
Paul Simon	November 20, 1976	He is the first performer to appear simultaneously as host and musical guest.
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
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
Ludacris	November 18, 2006
Bon Jovi	October 13, 2007	This episode is not confirmed, but rumored. If this is true, Jon Bon Jovi will host, and Bon Jovi will perform once, then Foo Fighters would perform once.

Recurring characters and sketches

Films based on SNL sketches

File:Wayne's-world.jpg

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 wasn't 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. [2]

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. [3] 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 doesn't 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 weren't 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 haven't 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]

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 $3200 for a Beatles' reunion ("...if you want to pay Ringo less, that's your business.") 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.

The show's name is called out in legendary hardcore punk band Black Flag's song TV Party

References

^ "It's Saturday Night Delayed!". Studio Briefing. 2001-02-13. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^ "Martin Lawrence's Monologue (Transcript)". JTORG. 2003-04-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^ 'Saturday Night Live' in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown

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 *{{imdb title|id=0072562|title=Saturday Night Live}}
 *[http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Television_Shows/Comedy/Sketch_Comedy/Saturday_Night_Live/ directory for ''Saturday Night Live''] at [[Yahoo!]]
+*[http://www.broadwayvide.com/ Broadway Video]
 ==Further reading==

v t e Current late night shows in the United States
Broadcast	Jimmy Kimmel Live! ABC The Late Show with Stephen Colbert After Midnight CBS The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Late Night with Seth Meyers Saturday Night Live NBC Amanpour & Company PBS
Cable	Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Bravo The Daily Show Comedy Central Fox News Saturday Night Fox News Real Time with Bill Maher Last Week Tonight with John Oliver HBO
List	List of late-night American network TV programs