Posted on 08/01/2025 4:22:00 AM PDT by dennisw
Saturday Night Live could be axed by NBC when its elderly creator and producer Lorne Michaels finally steps down from the money-losing show, an expert predicted.
Robert Thompson, who founded the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, shared the gloomy forecast after Stephen Colbert's talk show was canceled by CBS.
He thinks NBC may be moved to axe legendary sketch comedy show SNL and Michaels' other shows for the network - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers - when the 80-year-old mogul decides to retire. Speaking days after CNBC revealed SNL, Fallon and Meyers lose a combined $100 million a year, Thompson said, '(Lorne Michaels) cant keep doing that forever.
'If he decides to retire, or cant do those shows anymore, NBC would be [in] an interesting position.' He continued, adding the network would have the 'opportunity to get out of late night in one fell swoop instead of overhauling every program.
'It would be the easiest time to say, we had a good run.' Thompson told the Daily Mail part of the reason the shows are 'vulnerable' is the challenge that NBC faces in replacing Michaels, a visionary who first created SNL in 1975.
SNL remains a cultural zenith that attracts the most elite of A-list celebrities to guest host and perform musical acts. It's also been a launch pad for some of the greatest names in comedy
It costs $4 million an episode to produce, or around $100 million a year annually.
But even those numbers are not enough to help SNL or its stablemates Fallon and Meyers cover their costs with traditional advertising, CNBC reported, which has declined across the board as viewers shun linear TV for streamers.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
One of my favorite MAD TV skits...
The Sopranos...on PAX TV....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsUdtNqGCN4
Phil Hartman was the last SNL comedian worthy of viewing.
I love these threads. People go out of their way to come on, state they haven’t watched the show in decades; and yet they feel qualified to opine on the quality of the comedy on today’s show.
Don’t forget Bill Murray, probably the most successful SNL alumnus.
I’m still trying to figure out how it took 200 employees to produce the Colbert show.
I haven’t been a fan of SNL for decades, but it seems to me NBC got more for their money with SNL than CBS did with Colbert.
At least NBC, can backfill their crappy broadcast network with SNL reruns which is just one reason I only watch live “linear” tv for sports.
Me too.
L
Absolutely....how could I forget Bill Murray....arguably THE funniest person to ever be on snl......he intimidated the hell out of comedic hack chevy chase and rightfully so.
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Case in point: If you’ve ever watched the movie Caddyshack, perhaps you noticed Bill Murray and Chase had a grand total of ONE scene together throughout the whole film.....reason for that is Chase wanted to give Murray the least amount opportunities to upstage him as possible......and Murray STILL did it. Lol!
It’s a good skit.
Favorites of mine are MAD TV CSI and Mexican Star Trek.
https://youtu.be/2QdClgM5y5s?si=YdXBX_Tbk_hUmLMG
https://youtu.be/AJGvn5iOERM?si=Xpso5t0rotSFg244
I quit watching SNL after they fired Norm McDonald.
my last shows I watched where the cast with Will Ferrel, jimmy fallon, phil heartman.
There are 2 funny sketches I will watch on YouTube. One older being a YOUNG Will Ferrell playing Alex Trebek in celebrity Jeopardy and Colin Jost and some blac host of weekend update writing jokes for one another. It is close to the non pc comedy of the past.
Meh, ai is gonna take over all content creation shows and sites in near future anyway, and spend way way less doing it. No need to hire on really expensive u funny com edians anymore when ai can replicate them digitially (knwon forevermore as digimedians). Folks will tune in to their favorite ai created “personality” and giggle like loons, or clap and cheer biased political rantings by said digimedians
Just like all those late night “comedy” shows that ceased being the least bit funny and just became Leftist propaganda shows instead. SNL has very little audience and is losing money.
It turns out alienating half the potential audience before you even get started is not smart business.....at least its not something that can sustain a large budget.
Meh, Spawn of the Devil singing an otherwise good song is marginally funny at best. There must have been adult beverages being consumed.
I am still upset the local TV station knocked my SI-FI movies(FANTASTIC THEATER,Tulsa channel 2) off the air to replace it with SNL back around 1975 or early 1976.
Had my Popcorn, soda pop and sat down to watch my usual horror or SI-FI movie, cheapos at that, and on comes..”LIVE FROM NEW YORK! IT’S SATURDAY NIGHT!”
I asked...”Where’s my movie?” I even sat through it hoping the SI-FI movie would be on afterward. It wasn’t. Bummer.
SNL stopped being any good around 1994 or so when they fired en masse, the last good cast they had. Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Mike Myers, Phil Hartman. All of those were gone by 1996. What did they replace them with? The never funny Will Farrell and several others you’ve never heard of.
Ding Ding Ding! Look at the cast for 1995. They canned all the talented ones and haven't been funny since....that is exactly 30 years. Before that they had the great 70s cast of Belushi, Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase. In the mid 80s they had Eddie Murphy, Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, etc. They had really good casts through the mid 90s. Almost nothing since.
“I’m crushing your head...”
“These are the Daves I know...”
“I’m the Chicken Lady...”
Sounds like time for the Ned Beatty speech.
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