About those missing from "SNL 50"

[Bob Jersey]

Dana Carvey had "bad flu," Bill Hader had a "longstanding scheduling conflict," and Dan Aykroyd cited "prior commitments"... Colin Quinn was touring, no word on Dennis Miller...

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/why-dana-carvey-bill-hader-dan-aykroyd-not-snl-50-1236311883/ (link)

B

[Kevin M.]

I’ve seen three clips from the special online. 

Shoot it, and put it out of its misery. 

Kevin M. (RPCV)

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[Bob Jersey]

I saw a few of them promoted to me on the 'toob, but am starting to wonder, especially after seeing about Tom Hanks as a MAGA redneck in the "Black Jeopardy!" segment... like Joy Behar, I think not everybody supporting either side, really, is one-sided... 

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/tom-hanks-maga-backlash-snl-joy-behar-1236312142/ (link)

B

Kevin M, to moi, Feb 18th:

[PGage]

With all due respect, this is ridiculous. Hanks was a very brief part of that sketch Sunday night, but it was a harmless call back to what many, including me, believe to be a top 5 sketch in the history of the show. And the point of that sketch was how much in common the black characters had with the white maga guy, not how horrible all maga guys are.

I thought the show was about what one might expect, not too much truly memorable, but very little that was very cringy, so above average for an SNL episode. Most notable was what a prominent and energetic role Eddie Murphy played, after the awkwardness of last one. 

Most annoying to me was how many stories I read afterwards that seemed to think McCartney chose to sing a few random Beatles songs in his medley…

Also annoyed that I had to Google the blond who opened with Simon, and found she is apparently super popular, and had sung on the show previously, and I had zero memory or context for who she was.

Sent from Gmail Mobile

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[JW]

I watched the recording last night.

They'd have been much better served by having beloved cast members/hosts introducing clips than by writing new material for characters whom I had no interest in seeing again, even if it allowed for some celebrity cameos.

[Stan S]

A full-on clip show would be a retread of the previous three anniversary shows. 

The show on Sunday has to be considered as part of a larger SNL50 celebration. Once Friday night’s concert was over there was a feeling that Sunday’s show would pale in comparison. 

The cast reminiscing and clip show requirement was served by the four part special on Peacock as well as the music special. Maybe at some point they’ll get run on NBC as a Friday or Saturday night special. 

-Stan

[M-D November]

Taking everything together:

• The BTS documentaries
  
• Questlove's music documentary (which I still haven't seen but have heard nothing but raves about)
  
• The homecoming concert (which was largely excellent)
  
• The primetime special
  

...I think the team accomplished what they set up to accomplish, and that was to create a larger retrospective than 3 hours on a Sunday night could possibly allow for. 

As for the primetime special on its own?  It wasn't for us.  Much like the Homecoming concert, I took it to be a party for the SNL faithful that we were allowed to peek into. It was for the cast, the crew, the previous hosts & musical guests, and on that level, it appears to have succeeded. Did it make for a slightly diminished viewing experience for the home viewer? Sure, but that's always going to be the case when you're on the outside looking in - you're not going to get the in-jokes, you're always going to ask "what were they thinking?" about some aspect of the gathering, but again, it's not for you.

Sure, it would have been nice to see more 'classic' sketches represented, but as the 'in memoriam' montage pointed out, many of the sketches we consider classics are also considered deeply offensive to the groups depicted in the sketches. Factor in the age of some of the original cast members, the lack of availability of some from the middle-years (for instance, Carvey apparently had a wicked case of the flu, which immediately takes Wayne's World, Hans & Franz and Church Chat off the board) and the desire to capitalize on the more viral nature of modern SNL (Black Jeopardy, the Digital Short, the musical parody, Domingo), and...you're just not going to please everyone. But I thought the special did a nice job of merging the generations (Newman & Davidson, Eddie's 2 appearances), and the original cast was expressly called out via a full re-air of "Don't Look Back in Anger".  In short, it was far more successful than at least the last 2 anniversary specials, and that's probably good enough.  (That it killed in the ratings doesn't hurt either.)

[Tom Wolper]

Just like with music, a person will most identify with the cast of SNL when they started watching it. Showing clips from previous seasons won’t resonate with them. For as much as I would have appreciated an acknowledgment of Gilda Radner (besides a picture of her at the end), if you started watching the show long after she died, what is she to you other than a name?

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