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