Get ready to know more about the creation of Saturday Night Live than ever before. In celebration of the iconic sketch comedy show’s 50th season, NBC streamer Peacock is set to premiere SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a four-part docuseries “honoring the legacy of SNL” that’s slated to premiere on January 16, 2025.
Peacock announced the new, four-part docuseries in a press release on Wednesday, highlighting how each standalone episode will delve “into the rich history of SNL” while also pulling “back the curtain on the audition process, the writers’ room, the fan favorite ‘More Cowbell’ sketch, and the pivotal season 11.”
Executive produced by Emmy and Academy Award winner Morgan Neville (director of such iconic documentaries as 20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain), the new series will feature “over 60 contributors, including SNL alumni,” recalling a multitude of different aspects of the Lorne Michaels-created series’ rich history and iconic standing in American comedy.
Here’s The Episodic Breakdown For ‘SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night’
All four of the standalone episodes will be released on the same day, and are set to cover different aspects and moments in the show’s impressive history. Said Neville in a statement:
“I’ve been obsessed with Saturday Night Live as long as I can remember. For SNL50, I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite independent filmmakers to tell some deeper stories of SNL. Taken together, these standalone episodes give a new perspective of SNL and what makes it work.”
Each of the episode’s synopses are outlined below:
- Episode 101, “Five Minutes” – A showcase of the SNL audition process, with never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from some of the show’s most iconic names as they reflect on their preparation and journey to the SNL stage.
- Episode 102, “Written By: A Week Inside The SNL Writers Room” – A behind-the-scenes look at the SNL writing process from script to screen, capturing the creativity and chaos of a week inside the writers’ room at SNL.
- Episode 103, “More Cowbell” – A deep dive into the making of SNL‘s iconic “More Cowbell” sketch, exploring how a simple idea became a cultural phenomenon and offering a tribute to the lasting impact of sketch comedy.
- Episode 104, “Season 11: The Weird Year” – An exploration into SNL’s 11th season, examining the pivotal year that reset the show’s direction and cemented its enduring DNA with Lorne Michaels at the helm.
The cultural impact of Saturday Night Live cannot be overstated, having given a platform to some of the most iconic names in comedy, like Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Chris Farley, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Ana Gasteyer, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, Bill Hader, Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Andy Samberg, Chris Rock, and many, many, many more.
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We are, perhaps most excited about the dissection of the much-maligned eleventh season of the show, which saw Michaels return as showrunner after spending five years away exploring other professional opportunities. When he came back, he gutted the cast of previous showrunner Dick Ebersol and cast a host of top-name actors — Randy Quaid, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack — with very little comedy experience and essentially forced the show into a hard reboot.
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night will premiere all four of its parts on January 16, 2025.
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