Is Saturday Night A-Live?
If held on for too long, things grow stale. This could explain the reason behind the mass cast exodus that occurred between this season and last season of Saturday Night Live.
Cast renewals are not a foreign concept to the late night comedy show; in fact, they are part of the show’s survival tactic for keeping their jokes and set fresh. Moreover, it’s well known that comics have limited air time on SNL before inevitably venturing off into other areas of the entertainment industry. This is a natural life cycle that has produced Hollywood names such as Adam Sandler, Bill Hader, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Will Ferrell.
Unfortunately, this renewal process paused as Lorne Michaels, SNL’s creator, explained that, “the Pandemic had put [them] in a position where no one could really leave, because there were no jobs.” With that, the roster for the past few seasons had been held on for far too long, and as we have already established, things grow stale.
Sure, the roster had a star studded lineup with names like Kate McKinnon, Kenan Thompson, and Pete Davidson, but this last season had set an all-time record… and not a good one. The Season 47 premiere of SNL became the lowest-rated episode in the history of the show with its’ 18-49 year old demographic which makes up a majority of their audience, which consequently brought in very few viewers.
This was a telltale sign that the show needed more than just a “Weekend Update”.
And an update is exactly what they got: eight cast members bid their farewells this summer including Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, Kyle Mooney, Melissa Villasenor, Alex Moffat, Aristotle Athiras, and Chris Redd.
As aforementioned, cast renewals come secondhand for the show, but this turnover marks the largest shakeup since 1995. Because of this, the remaining cast were tossed the ultimate challenge of improvising on their feet of how to rebound, redirect, and reset the show’s momentum.
Although seemingly abandoned, four new castmates moved into 30 Rock to provide some much needed comedic relief. Said castmates: Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow, Molly Kearney, and Devon Walker. With these fresh faces alongside longtime players Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Michael Che, and Colin Jost, many have built high hopes that Saturday Night will be a-Live once again.
These high hopes aren’t far-fetched either. While Season 48 has been underway for approximately two months now, the new cast and crew have set the tone for change since the premiere. In fact, they approached the season with self awareness from the get go, making their intentions known that connecting, listening to, and understanding their audience is a top priority. They’ve shown this with their Gen-Z centric sketches like their BeReal skit and AMC Nicole Kidman parody, but also through their lineup of celebrity hosts including Miles Teller, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, Amy Schumer, Dave Chapelle and Keke Palmer.
With six episodes under their belt and mixed reviews flooding in, it is premature to determine if Saturday Night has or has not revived itself. One might say this season is a cold opening for the future of the show.
Written by Beth Baumler, Social Media: Lindsey Lopez