Tag: Saturday Night Live

Matthew Belloni’s Shocking Hot Take On The Future Of Late Night TV

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I was listening to the most recent The Town podcast and was taken aback at how…bad…Matthew Belloni’s take on late night TV was. He, essentially, proposes that as TV transitions into the streaming era that some basic elements of the formula should be ditched.

The reason — the monologue that typically opens these shows has a very short shelf life and doesn’t work well on streaming. As such, the entire idea of what a late night TV show should be re-imagined.

I find this a very, very bad hot take. If we did as Belloni suggested, it would mark the end of late night TV unto itself. Yes, topical humor is ephemeral but that’s kind of the whole point. The point is there is a cultural potency to topical humor that is essential to people watching late night TV, be it a talk show or SNL.

Belloni’s suggestion does make one wonder if there is any future for Saturday Night Live. It seems possible that if someone as influential as Belloni is talking like this, then it seems reasonable to assume that there may come a point when the fate of SNL is very much up in the air.

There may be a luminial moment between the transition to streaming and the advent of AI generated entertainment when whenever may be everything up in the air. Who knows.

Anyway, it could be that things are going to be very bumpy as TV transitions to streaming. The idea that something as basic as dumping the traditional late night talkshow format simply because it doesn’t play well on streaming is mindblowing.

But, then, maybe I’m just an Old.

SNL Succession Drama: The Case For John Mulaney

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Saturday Night Live finds itself at something of a crossroads. The case could be made that the show should end with the final show of its 50th season. All good things must come to and end and as, luz, there you go.

John Mulaney

Despite this, there has been a lot of talk about Seth Meyers replacing SNL’s current executive producer Lorne Michaels. But if you think back to the origins of SNL that it would make a lot more sense if SNL was handed to the 40 year old John Mulaney rather than the 49-year-old Meyers.

SNL was originally created by a then 30-year-old Michaels in 1975. So, I think it would make a lot more sense for someone a little younger than Meyers be the new leader of the show.

But, remember, in general, studio execs always screw things up, so it would make a lot of sense if SNL was just unilaterally canceled without any consideration to what might happen. I do believe, in general, that a streamer would pick SNL up or there might be a freak out to the point we’ll all be talking about the cultural significance of SNL and What It All Means.

It will be interesting to see how things play out.

Rule Of Three Prediction: Seth Meyers May Leave ‘Late Night’ To Prepare For His Replacement Of Lorne Michaels

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Even though I have a Liberal Establishment Friend who just tells me, “It’s ok to be superstitious,” whenever I mention this — I don’t think of my self as superstitious but I do sometimes wonder if the Rule of Three is one of those “spooky” things that happen that we can’t explain.

Recently, the Rule of Three worked out when Abe, Gorbachev and The Queen all died in quick succession. Now we have James Cordon leaving The Late, Late Show and Trevor Noah leaving The Daily Show.

So, who’s next?

The obvious choice is Seth Meyers, who would leave The Late Show to begin his transition into the new producer of Saturday Night Live. He is the ideal candidate and it would take a few years for the transition between the two men so the storied late night show could continue for decades to come without a hitch.

But I’m always wrong. So, who knows?

I Had A Surreal, Inspiring Dream About Lorne Michaels

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I love to be creative just to be creative. I am known to write song lyrics even though there’s absolute no point to do it. I mean, it’s not as if I’m ever going to write lyrics to a song — I don’t even know anything about music. I still have a lingering idea to buy a guitar and try to write one pop song that sells.

Lorne Michaels

Anyway, a few nights ago, I had a VERY VIVID dream involving Lorne Michaels. I dreamed I was working at SNL and, I don’t know, I was doing something at the show where I had to talk to him about a sketch I had written.

So, it has occurred to me that it would be fun to write sketches for myself and post them to this blog. I have long been interested in writing a movie, but it had never occurred to me to try to write a sketch.

I have no idea if I’m going to actually do this, but it’s something I my actually attempt. And given that I’m 100% extroverted if I’m ever going to practice laying out a screenplay then writing a sketch and posting them here would be practice.

Or not. It’s just something to think about.

John Mulaney As The Darkhorse Candidate To Replace Lorne Michaels At SNL

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Ahh, the dead of summer when absolutely nothing happens I find myself scrounging for any possible angle on any possible interesting subject to see if unusual locations pop up in my Webstats. The people coming from exotic locales like the Maldives and Seychelles Islands are the coolest because I feel like I’ve caught the attention of the Power Elite for just a moment. (This is very pathetic, but fuck you. Wink)

Things really are pretty dull at the moment.

So, here we are — in a few years, Lorne Michaels has suggested that he will retire from SNL. I’ve heard rumors that the 2025 season will be it for SNL. NBCUniversal will pull the plug and walk away.

And, yet, maybe not? The most obvious candidate to replace Michaels would be Tina Fey. But she’s a movie star and probably doesn’t want the gig. Then there’s Seth Meyers. He’s young enough and knows the show well enough that he could at least take up a part of Michaels expansive mantle.

If he doesn’t want the gig, then…maybe John Mulaney? The numbers jibe pretty well age wise — Michaels was 30 when SNL started and Mulaney is about 39 now, if my brief, lazy Google search was right. Mulvaney’s comic sensibilities are in total lock step with SNL and he would be perfect.

But we all know how the real world works — just because it would make sense for Mulaney to get the gig, doesn’t mean the NBCUniversal suits won’t look for someone else. I could see someone like Lin-Manuel Miranda being offered the gig for a few years in between Michaels and Mulaney’s tenures.

Or not. What do I know. I’m just bored and this is interesting to write about.

Imagining Life Without ‘Saturday Night Live’

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It definitely seems as though there’s a greater-than-zero-sum chance that Saturday Night Live might end with its 2025 season. It’s not unprecedented for long-running TV shows to call it quits, but for a signature show like SNL to wrap things up at its 50th year would be a Huge Deal.

What would it be like without SNL in the modern era?

As an Old, the thing I’ve noticed is how quickly the Youngs forget what has come before. So, within five or so years, there would begin to be the occasional wave of younger people who would discover this or that SNL sketch and ask Olds whatever happened to it and why it stopping being aired.

There might be talk of either brining it back or another network doing something similar, but SNL has always been something of magic in a bottle and I just can’t imagine any new, similar show being as much of an institution. SNL is so old that it harkens back to the era when there were only three TV channels, music was good and the figures of Watergate were household names.

Do I think SNL is going to shuffle off this media coil?

That is a very good question. If how the real world works is any guide, what will happen is this — Lorne Michaels will retire. NBC suits will come after the show and there will be a lot, and I mean A LOT, of chatter about it being on the cusp of being canceled once and for all.

This will cause a huge amount of blowback within Hollywood and for a few days (weeks?) it will be the thing that everyone talks about on Twitter, YouTube and podcasts. Tom Hanks may have to step in and say, “Nope, not going to allow that to happen, NBC.”

And then, NBC suits will be like, “Oh, we would NEVER cancel SNL! You guys are so silly!”

The mad scramble to figure out how will replace Michaels will begin. And, in the end, it probably will be Seth Meyers, even though Tina Fey will always be floating around, as if she might take over if necessary.

But, I can’t predict the future. Who knows what may happen.

Could SNL Just…End…After It Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Saturday Night Live finds itself in an interesting situation as it approaches its 50th anniversary. On one hand, it is doing quite well and has more cultural significance than ever for a legacy TV show. A whole new generation of people have discovered the show and there’s every reason to believe it is set for another 50 years of comedic success.

And then there’s the issue of Lorne Michaels telling everyone he wants to leave the show after its 50th anniversary in a few years.

It’s my impression that this is some chatter among the higher ups at NBCUniversal that they want to end the show once and for all for this or that reason. And I’ve reached the age where I know that SNL could very well end and in a few years a lot of young people would discover it and ask, “Whatever happened to that show? It seemed like a lot of fun.”

This is all very speculative and highly unlikely to happen. What’s more likely to happen is there will be a lot of talk about the show ending, but in the end, someone like Seth Meyers will take over some of Michaels’ role while a number of other elements are handed off to SNL stalwarts.

That would be the logical thing to do. But there have been plenty of other really long-running shows that ended and they’re barely a memory now. But I would be flabbergasted if even the harshest critics of the show at NBCUniversal would do something so draconian as to just cancel it.

But, who knows. Only time will tell.

How SNL Should Open This Weekend


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Given that The Tonight Show choked on Monday night when it came to addressing The Slap, I have every reason to believe that SNL will be similarly subdued on the subject.

And, yet, this is a great opportunity for some historic TV on the part of SNL. Here’s what I would do for the snow’s cold open:

We open with Lorne Michaels standing next to Chris Rock. The entire cast of SNL stands behind them. The two crack some jokes and Michaels gives Rock some words of advice and maybe a hug.

Then they all say “Live, From New York, It’s Saturday Night!”

The other option is the same open, but they give Rock a five minute set to address what happened.

I would be pretty amazed if anything like this happened, however.

Why Seth Meyers Is My Top Pick To Replace Lorne Michaels At SNL


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

So, it appears as though 2025 is going to be the end of an era — and the beginning of a new one — for SNL. It will be the show’s 50th anniversary, and, if Lorene Michaels is to be believed, he’s retiring from the show that year as well.

I have long thought that Tina Fey would be the perfect person to take the show into its second 50 years. Of course, Kenan Thompson is probably the best pick to get the gig but for one thing — he just comes across as way too nice. Even though he’s been at the show about 20 years, does he have it in him to herd the cats of SNL? I could see him being given a largely ceremonial role as “Executive Producer” at the show — he would do the “Lorne Michaels”-type gags the show has had since the beginning, while someone else would actually knock heads behind the scenes to get the show done every week.

While Tina Fey would be ideal, maybe the allure of Hollywood would remain too strong for her to spend all her time running SNL? As such, the one person who could do the job for the next 20 or 30 years is Seth Meyers.

Seth Meyers, the future of SNL?

He’s doing a great job at Late Night, but he’s sort of languishing there. Why not give him the job he was born to do — run SNL? That would open up the Late Night gig and you could put a woman or minority or minority woman in the slot to placate “woke” Twitter. I think he already has some producing experience with Documentary Now! Or not. Not sure about that.

Anyway, we’ll see I guess.

I’m On ‘Team Oulaney:’ All *My* Heroes Are *Dead*


by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

What the fuck happened between Pete Davidson and John Mulaney? Is it possible that there was some sort of drug Freaky-Friday curse put on Mulvaney when he decided to slow Davidson down? It definitely seem as though it’s at least possible that Davidson didn’t exactly have the greatest influence on “square” Mulvaney.

The happy couple.

I say this in the context of how some people on Twitter are freaking out about Mulvaney being…human? I don’t do drugs, but I do know what it’s like to be “pickled” from drinking too much. It’s not a fun experience. It’s like being the funniest guy in the room all the time — to yourself. I don’t know about you, but all my heroes — celebrity or otherwise — are dead. I typically don’t worship someone still alive. You do you, Mulvaney.

Anyway, SNL has become a regular celebrity romance mash pit of late. It boggles my mind the number of high-profile celebrity couples have been flung off from the show. It definitely makes you think about not-so-downlow power that Lorne Michaels has within the showbiz community.

It’s just a TV show, people.

I wish Mulvaney all the best, however in his new role as celebrity baby daddy. Olivia Munn is a smoking hot babe. (Who, incidentally, is among several Asian American Hollywood stars who would be great to play in a Hollywood adaptation one of protagonists of one of the four novels I’m currently developing and writing simultaneously.)