'SNL' Origin Story Movie May Be Coming

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Mark Jeffries

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Jan 20, 2024, 1:23:16 AMJan 20
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Written and directed by Jason Reitman for Sony, "SNL 1975" tells the story behind-the-scenes of the weeks before the NBC late-night institution began its run--Gabriel LaBelle, who played the Spielberg stand-in in "The Fabelmans," is playing Lorne, with Cooper Hoffman ("Licorice Pizza") as Lorne's immediate NBC boss Dick Ebersol and Rachel Sennott ("The Idol," "Bottoms") as Rosie Schuster, Lorne's wife and a writer on the show--the question is, who's playing the Not Ready for Prime Time Players:


And of course Sikula and Marousek will hate it.

Jim Ellwanger

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Jan 20, 2024, 1:25:01 AMJan 20
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Hey, for the scenes from the first episode, they can get that AI George Carlin to play George Carlin!

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Dave Sikula

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Jan 20, 2024, 4:45:19 AMJan 20
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Not half as much as I'll hate that Brat Pack atrocity.

--Dave Sikula

PGage

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Jan 20, 2024, 9:50:52 AMJan 20
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Meanwhile, Lorne mentioned in interviews during his CA Emmys trip that he is planning on staying with the show through the 50th anniversary special in January of 2025, but hinted he would retire soon after. He agreed to a suggestion that Tina Fey is one of several who has what it takes to replace him.

Fey does make sense in many ways, except…she old. Michaels was around 30 when he started SNL, and was in touch personally or culturally with much of the cutting edge in comedy and music. Fey is 53. Of course Lorne wants someone who will tend the flame and not reinvent the show. Still, I might be looking for someone like some Writer/Producer who worked with like Conan or TDS and is in their 30s.


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Dave Sikula

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Jan 20, 2024, 2:08:33 PMJan 20
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Plus, I would think Fey has too many other real projects (and common sense) to want to take that nightmare on.

—Dave Sikula
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On Jan 20, 2024, at 6:50 AM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:


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Tom Wolper

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Jan 20, 2024, 2:57:59 PMJan 20
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Lorne’s superpower was that nobody at NBC would mess with him. Once he’s out of the picture the new showrunner will have to answer to all of the network’s executives. It’s a wonder the show lasted as long as it did with him and it won’t last long without him.

Melissa P

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Jan 20, 2024, 3:08:07 PMJan 20
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I'll just add that I resent someone saying that at 53, Fey is too old for the job.  

Kevin M.

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Jan 20, 2024, 4:05:17 PMJan 20
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I concur with your resentment, but I also understand the thought behind the ageism. SNL has to cultivate a younger and more diverse audience if it is going to survive while still not totally alienating its older viewers. I think Michaels struggles with this, and I think Fey would struggle with it, too, but less because of her age and more because of her inability to pander without it seeming obvious (looking at you, Mean Girls reboot). A younger showrunner more connected to modern popular culture might have a better chance at reaching 14-year-olds, but teens and young adults are unpredictable in their tastes and sensibilities (which is to say most have neither taste nor sense). They might gravitate towards media produced by a 50-something just because society doesn’t expect them to.

Many of the middle school students I encounter consider themselves Swifties but in the same breath say they hate country music. They believe you cannot be successful on the basketball court without Nikes, but their Nikes are the ones from Shoe City that on closer inspection aren’t really Nikes. You can show them how your $20 water cup keeps drinks colder longer than their $50 Stanley cup, but they will still maintain their cup is superior. But any adult who tries to relate to them or speak to them using their common slang (such as “sus” or “bussin’”) will be regarded as one step below a pedophile. By and large, kids today (oh, how I hate that expression) can spot someone talking down to them and immediately reject them… it might be their only redeeming virtue. As long as SNL persists in pandering, they will fail to capture the attention of kids today. Michaels and Fey both only know how to do comedy that panders, which is not to say there isn’t genuine laughter to be found in that mine, but it won’t hook young audiences. 

Kevin M. (RPCV)


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PGage

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Jan 20, 2024, 8:19:13 PMJan 20
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That was I who said that, and I am old enough that Tina Fey seems like a young woman to me. She is not too old to do the job, obviously, since the guy she would be replacing is older than dirt. But she is too old to be a young, hip producer of new and subversive forms of comedy. I think that is self evident.

Lorne Michael’s long awaited retirement should be, it seems to me, an opportunity for SNL to finally stop cloning paler and weaker versions of itself, and try to recapture the energy of its original incarnation, when it was defined mostly by what it was trying not to be - not the Carol Burnett Show, not Bob Hope, not Johnny Carson. I have no idea what that would look like today, or if it is possible, but I would rather see them fail trying rather than more of the same. I won’t retract the age comment, though perhaps I should state what to me is obvious, which is that Fey would do a much better job of doing the current version of SNL than Lorne does.

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Melissa P

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Jan 20, 2024, 9:27:26 PMJan 20
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SNL's problem has always been good writing (even in the early days), LOTS of consistently good writing. 

Also, experience outweighs youth in my opinion.

I'm reminded of a taping of Everyone Loves Raymond I attended.  I got to tell Phil Rosenthal that one particular episode was one the finest sitcom episodes I had ever seen.  He identified the writer of that episode who was congregating with the show's other writers.  He was probably twice the age of anyone else on the writing team.   In this society, we seem to dismiss too quickly the value of experience.

I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but I think I posted here an SNL sketch that actually made me laugh, the first time in years.  The setting was a Waffle House.  When I was in Memphis last month, the local lead news story was shootings at two Waffle Houses.  I had been to both of them.

Gosh, Kevin, there's so much we're not teaching kids these days, starting with being able to separate fact from fiction, civics, and instilling in them the value of expertise.  (The Supreme Court is about to do away with the latter.)

Kevin M.

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Jan 20, 2024, 10:41:38 PMJan 20
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Kevin M. (RPCV)


On Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 6:27 PM Melissa P <takingup...@gmail.com> wrote:
SNL's problem has always been good writing (even in the early days), LOTS of consistently good writing. 

Also, experience outweighs youth in my opinion.

I'm reminded of a taping of Everyone Loves Raymond I attended.  I got to tell Phil Rosenthal that one particular episode was one the finest sitcom episodes I had ever seen.  He identified the writer of that episode who was congregating with the show's other writers.  He was probably twice the age of anyone else on the writing team.   In this society, we seem to dismiss too quickly the value of experience.

I am a fan of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence, but he will be the first to admit that he’s not responsible for Ted Lasso or the other recent shows where he’s credited as producer. As was done for him on Spin City, he now serves as the elder statesman, shepherding new and younger writers and producers. He sees it as his responsibility to foster the creativity of future generations. Lorne Michaels would never consider anything like that. He sees young talent as something to be milked for his own benefit. 


I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but I think I posted here an SNL sketch that actually made me laugh, the first time in years.  The setting was a Waffle House.  When I was in Memphis last month, the local lead news story was shootings at two Waffle Houses.  I had been to both of them.

Gosh, Kevin, there's so much we're not teaching kids these days, starting with being able to separate fact from fiction, civics, and instilling in them the value of expertise.  (The Supreme Court is about to do away with the latter.)

Not for nothing, but the students I teach get lessons in all of the above, and I also make sure they know and appreciate Johnny Carson, Mr Rogers, Humphrey Bogart, and Snoopy, to name a few. 

  

On Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 4:05 PM Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com> wrote:
I concur with your resentment, but I also understand the thought behind the ageism. SNL has to cultivate a younger and more diverse audience if it is going to survive while still not totally alienating its older viewers. I think Michaels struggles with this, and I think Fey would struggle with it, too, but less because of her age and more because of her inability to pander without it seeming obvious (looking at you, Mean Girls reboot). A younger showrunner more connected to modern popular culture might have a better chance at reaching 14-year-olds, but teens and young adults are unpredictable in their tastes and sensibilities (which is to say most have neither taste nor sense). They might gravitate towards media produced by a 50-something just because society doesn’t expect them to.

Many of the middle school students I encounter consider themselves Swifties but in the same breath say they hate country music. They believe you cannot be successful on the basketball court without Nikes, but their Nikes are the ones from Shoe City that on closer inspection aren’t really Nikes. You can show them how your $20 water cup keeps drinks colder longer than their $50 Stanley cup, but they will still maintain their cup is superior. But any adult who tries to relate to them or speak to them using their common slang (such as “sus” or “bussin’”) will be regarded as one step below a pedophile. By and large, kids today (oh, how I hate that expression) can spot someone talking down to them and immediately reject them… it might be their only redeeming virtue. As long as SNL persists in pandering, they will fail to capture the attention of kids today. Michaels and Fey both only know how to do comedy that panders, which is not to say there isn’t genuine laughter to be found in that mine, but it won’t hook young audiences. 

Kevin M. (RPCV)


On Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 12:08 PM Melissa P <takingup...@gmail.com> wrote:
I'll just add that I resent someone saying that at 53, Fey is too old for the job.  


On Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 2:58 PM Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:
Lorne’s superpower was that nobody at NBC would mess with him. Once he’s out of the picture the new showrunner will have to answer to all of the network’s executives. It’s a wonder the show lasted as long as it did with him and it won’t last long without him.

On Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 2:08 PM Dave Sikula <daves...@gmail.com> wrote:
Plus, I would think Fey has too many other real projects (and common sense) to want to take that nightmare on.

—Dave Sikula
Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 20, 2024, at 6:50 AM, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:


Meanwhile, Lorne mentioned in interviews during his CA Emmys trip that he is planning on staying with the show through the 50th anniversary special in January of 2025, but hinted he would retire soon after. He agreed to a suggestion that Tina Fey is one of several who has what it takes to replace him.

Fey does make sense in many ways, except…she old. Michaels was around 30 when he started SNL, and was in touch personally or culturally with much of the cutting edge in comedy and music. Fey is 53. Of course Lorne wants someone who will tend the flame and not reinvent the show. Still, I might be looking for someone like some Writer/Producer who worked with like Conan or TDS and is in their 30s.


Sent from Gmail Mobile


On Fri, 19 Jan 2024 at 10:23 PM Mark Jeffries <spotl...@gmail.com> wrote:
Written and directed by Jason Reitman for Sony, "SNL 1975" tells the story behind-the-scenes of the weeks before the NBC late-night institution began its run--Gabriel LaBelle, who played the Spielberg stand-in in "The Fabelmans," is playing Lorne, with Cooper Hoffman ("Licorice Pizza") as Lorne's immediate NBC boss Dick Ebersol and Rachel Sennott ("The Idol," "Bottoms") as Rosie Schuster, Lorne's wife and a writer on the show--the question is, who's playing the Not Ready for Prime Time Players:


And of course Sikula and Marousek will hate it.

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Tom Wolper

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Jan 21, 2024, 2:01:44 PMJan 21
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The biggest question will be if NBC keeps Broadway Video as the production company for SNL after Lorne is gone. If they don’t the network can empty out all of the staff offices and let a new EP start from scratch. They can also slash the budget, cut back on the number of cast members, and the writing staff.

If the show stays with Broadway Video, I’d assume one of Lorne’s assistant EPs would move up to the EP job. Depending on the contract they have, NBC will probably use the opportunity to cut the budget.

Dave Sikula

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Jan 21, 2024, 3:03:07 PMJan 21
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I have to wonder if the thing that keeps him going is his absolute lock on NBC late night. I’d guess that the network would look for a way to get ownership of all of those hours back, the way CBS took the 12:30 slot away from WWP (even if Colbert seems to co-own that now).

—Dave Sikula

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 21, 2024, at 11:01 AM, Tom Wolper <two...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 

Bob Jersey

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Jan 26, 2024, 11:52:51 AMJan 26
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Oh BTW, Carlin's estate is suing over the AI Carlin Youtube video by "Dudesy."
B

Jim Ellwanger, to Mark Jeffries, Jan 20th:

Bob Jersey

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Mar 30, 2024, 11:42:28 AMMar 30
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The project will be scored by already-late-night-legend Jon Batiste, who will also play the series' first musical guest, Billy Preston (he might need... ahem... augmentation...)... a recap of other cast is further down the page...
B

Mark Jeffries, 1/20/2024:

Bob Jersey

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Mar 30, 2024, 12:05:12 PMMar 30
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IYC, Joy Behar shared her story of auditioning for an original-cast job on her "View" side-project podcast...
B

Moi, to Mark Jeffries, 3/30/2024:

Dave Sikula

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Mar 30, 2024, 5:42:36 PMMar 30
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Is it just my deliberate avoidance of Flavors of the Month, or is the "stacked" cast in the linked article anything -but- "stacked?" Other than Simmons and Wolfhard (whose name I had to look up), has anyone head of any of these people?

And, yes, I will watch/see it, and yes, I will hate it.

--Dave Sikula

Jim Ellwanger

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Mar 30, 2024, 5:53:33 PMMar 30
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The names I recognized off the top of my head (along with Simmons, Wolfhard, and Batiste): Cooper Hoffman is the son of Philip Seymour Hoffman (and was in "Licorice Pizza"); Rachel Sennott starred in and co-wrote an R-rated comedy called "Bottoms" that I really liked last year; Lamorne Morris was just in the most recent season of "Fargo"; Nicholas Braun has been in a ton of stuff including "Succession"; Kaia Gerber is Cindy Crawford's daughter (and was also in "Bottoms").


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Mark Jeffries

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Mar 31, 2024, 8:42:43 AMMar 31
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I'm interested in the fact that they're going to deal with the Milton Berle episode--and I wonder if Simmons has the, um, endowment that Berle was famed for.

And who's playing Don Pardo?

Mark Jeffries


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Tom Wolper

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Mar 31, 2024, 10:48:24 AMMar 31
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The movie is about the lead up to the first episode and the show Berle wasn’t even in the first season. It’s more likely that the Berle character is a straw man for comedians of a previous era.

And I await the critical review that says Simmons doesn’t have the penis to play Milton Berle.

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