I wasn’t surprised at it not being on the list, but I was confused  by the  link to it in the Succession review as that sort of unintentionally opens the door to why one got in and the other didn’t when they both followed the same path (seen as meandering and then ending in a powerful finale). 

No, I don’t. COVID was the cause of the delay. I just wouldn’t be surprised if they had a tougher time getting out of where they had left Barry at the end of season 2. 

That, and CBS is drowning in these types of stories about people who work on their shows.

Thanks for sharing your story. I feel less silly knowing these moments also move other people.

I certainly agree with you there. Many do see those as golden periods (I’m especially amused when I hear some fans talk about how you wouldn’t hear Tina’s Update era saying something problematic like today’s Update...). I just think it’s a bit deluded, in that Lorne way, to not know that there’s a good chance the show…

Tina has said she is glad she doesn’t work on the current show because of the heightened political environment, so I don’t think she would want the job. I don’t think Kenan would get it either. I think it will be someone NBC brings in or someone who has worked with Lorne behind the scenes a long time. (many assume it…

I doubt they’re going to be hurting for work without Lorne.

SNL has pretty much always been uneven...I think the times it came closest to outright horrible were  in the mid ‘90s and the early and mid ‘00s, both of which involved him. So it’s one of those Lorne statements that doesn’t mean much at all.

Yes - the bonds between the cast are also my favorite part of current SNL (and it does make the show host-proof, which is probably a good thing). If you are interested, PDD put a little video on their Instagram that they filmed during last week. Apparently Martin Herlihy has COVID:

I haven’t watched Curb, outside of some clips, in many years, but seeing Bill Hader back oncamera, and not doing anguished drama, may change my mind.

Hader has also said that the long time off has made going back very draining, so that may be another factor. For me they wrote themselves into a big corner last season so it may take time to get out of it.

Yes, SNL was off during the time New York shut down in 2020. I think they would have shut down as well at that point, if they weren’t already dark, but this time clearly Lorne wasn’t going to do that. I’m still not sure if this was the best idea, but it was absolutely fascinating to watch - to have no Live From New…

Don’t get me wrong, I have found plenty of humor in SNL over the years - it’s more that it was probably the first sketch show I ever watched (along with Benny Hill, which, bizarrely as it may sound in 2021, aired on weekend afternoons in syndication), and even when I stopped watching the show, I always felt an…

There’s a podcast type site (SNL Network) where they get info about the show, and they said the Kate and Aidy pre-tape was originally going to air after Update. I have a feeling the bird piece would not have made it to air though.

Oh I agree. I was talking more about getting the masks at goodnights more during regular episodes. Here, with just 5 people, it did seem performative.

I think the lack of audience may have been more about how many of the cast and crew  might have had COVID. It was too dangerous to expose a large group of people.

I’ve seen criticisms of the product placement element for a few years now, sometimes in ways I can agree with (bitter as that recent Target sketch was, it also felt like product placement), others that I don’t (some people were sure a sketch about two dead prostitutes in a hot tub was product placement because they…

Short said a few months ago that he hopes Selena can host and he and Steve can do cameos (as I don’t think either of them want to host now). He said it would just depend on whether SNL will have room to book them. Selena did a decent job in a little sketch she had when she was MG, so hopefully it can work out if the…

Walking in Staten and his Update on the last season finale (I do think he was going to leave at that point and  Lorne changed his mind). 

The cold opens have gotten longer and more dirgelike, while the more experimental (and yes, sometimes bloated and interminable, but sometimes wonderful) lengthy sketches in the main show are much more rare, as is the show having respect for viewers  being willing to try new things. Not that the Pete short was new, per…