'Saturday Night Live' Goes Dark in Writers Strike
You’ll have to wait a while for the next original “Live, from New York!”
“Saturday Night Live” will not produce any new episodes for the next while, owing to the writers’ strike called for by the WGA. The show’s next scheduled episode, slated for Saturday night and hosted by former cast member Pete Davidson with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert, will not take place, according to NBC. With a work stoppage in place, it’s quite possible that fans will not have any more new episodes of “SNL” in its 48th season. The show usually goes on its summer hiatus after May.
“‘SNL’ will air repeats until further notice starting Saturday, May 6,” NBC said.
The season has marked something of a transition for the long-running program, which bid farewell last year to a good chunk of its previous cast. The departures of Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, and Kyle Mooney were revealed at the end of the show’s 47th season and, later in the year, the exits of Alex Moffat, Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor, and featured player Aristotle Athari were disclosed. Cecily Strong, a cast veteran, departed in December.
This fall, “SNL” introduced several new featured players, including Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker.
During the now-truncated season, “SNL” relied heavily on cast members such as Ego Nwodim, who introduced a new breakout character, Lisa from Temecula; Chloe Fineman, whose impressions have broadened her profile; Heidi Gardner, who often creates new voices for each character she plays; and Bowen Yang, whose offbeat but truculent “Weekend Update” characters have been a standout. The show continues to rely on Kenan Thompson, who was in the midst of his 20th year in the cast. And the up-and-coming comedy trio “Please Don’t Destroy,” which consists of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, has seen its presence on the show grow, with some of their sketches starting to appear in “SNL’s” first 40 minutes.
“SNL” fans are accustomed to repeats and archival episodes. “Saturday Night Live” typically runs three to four original episodes in a row, then takes a week or two off. NBC typically fills part of its Saturday-night schedule with “SNL Vintage,” a 60-minute cut-down of an older broadcast that often has some ties to current events or recent pop culture.
Source: Variety
