Live from MTSU it’s MONDAY NIGHT By Barbara Johnson

Live from MTSU it’s

MONDAY NIGHT By Barbara Johnson

Accomplishments• 38 years of entertainment• 156 Emmy nominations• 36 Prime Time Emmy Awards– 4 in its first season

• ~750 live episodes• 10th in TV Guide's top 50 greatest shows

(2002) • 11th in Time Magazine’s Top 100 Best TV

shows of all times (2007)

SNL- Who is Operations?• Executive producer-Lorne Michaels-33 of 38 years• Head writers• Staff writers• Repertory players/Featured players • Weekly Hosts • Musical guests• Narrator-Don Pardo- 37 of 38 years.• Broadway Video /SNL Studios-post production

SNL- Seasonal Operations

• ~20 episodes per season• 3 weeks on and 1 week off in season. • Follow a rigorous and successful weekly

routine

SNL- Weekly Operations

• Monday:– free-form pitch meeting with all writers and host.– 66 minutes of programming

• Tuesday:– all day and nighter– shaping of ideas and writing for read through

Weekly Operations: SCHEDULE

• Wednesday:– 3:00 all scripts due– 5:00pm read-through followed by Production

team meeting w/ Lorne Michaels and small team of writers for brainstorming to fill in gaps

– Once finalized, Production Team goes to work (costumes, sets, sound effects, blocking, etc)

• Thursday:– Production Team hard at work, dry blocking

Weekly Operations: SCHEDULE

• Friday:– Set complete, rehearsal and costuming, writing

tweaked on sketches.

– Three additional pieces written:• cold opening• host monologue• Weekend Update.

Weekly Operations: SCHEDULE

• Saturday:– 1:00 1st dress rehearsal with costuming

– 5:30-6:30- Mandatory dinner break (union rules) • Prepping for 7 hour blitz

– 7:30-8:30 1 hour rehearsal of Weekend Update.

Weekly Operations: SCHEDULE

• Saturday (continued):– 8:30-10:00(ish)- Full dress rehearsal • Lorne Michaels watches intently for audience reaction,

quality of performances, timing. • 2 meetings during this time

– 1st meeting-writers and production team – 2nd meeting-cast and host.

• Controlled hysteria-no time for debating. • 1-2 sketches usually cut plus subtle changes to each

sketch. • Parody commercials and/or shorts are available to fill

gaps

Weekly Operations: SCHEDULE

• Saturday (continued):– 11:29

• Sunday - DAY OFF

HISTORY• Johnny Carson-10 years of "Best Of Carson" for late

night Saturdays. • 1974 Johnny Carson wanted this to end so that reruns

could be used during weekdays and give him more time off.

• Late night programmer for NBC contacted Lorne Michaels, award winner for producing variety show specials.

• 3 weeks later SNL was developed, avariety show featuring high concept comedy sketches, political satire, and musical performances.

HISTORY

• Debuted on October 11, 1975

• Approved for only 6 episodes 1. George Carlin 2. Paul Simeon 3. Rob Reiner 4. Candice Bergman 5. Lily Thomlin 6. Robert Klein

HOSTS• They were approved for further seasons.• From these 6 episodes, they learned the host

makes/breaks the show, and developed a good criteria for a successful host.– go along to get along – preferred NO TV stars

• 5 Timer Club– Tom Hanks– Steve Martin– Alex Baldwin– Elliot Gould– John Goodman– Justin Timberlake

Innovative Operations

• First Season- All unknown players with known hosts

• Live shows• Muppets involved• Youngest audience targeted-18-35 year olds• Edgy, cutting edge comedy

Today

• Unknown players• Live- only one show ever not live- delayed 5

minutes- due to host- Richard Prior• Got rid of Muppets sketches after first season• Target audience 18-35 years olds• Edgy, cutting edge comedy

Resources

• Saturday Night – A Backstage History to SNL, Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, 1986

• Wikipedia- Saturday Night Live• Here’s The Thing- Radio/Podcast-Alex

Baldwin with Lorne Michaels- 1-30-2012