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‘Saturday Night Live’ to Air Live Across the Country

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mvcg66b3r

Star Participant
“Saturday Night Live” will finally be, well, live in all time zones.

Starting on April 15, the show will air live simultaneously across the country for the first time in its history, coinciding with the East Coast airing, Variety has learned. This schedule change impacts the final four episodes of the current season.

The episodes will be hosted by Jimmy Fallon on April 15, followed by Chris Pine on May 6, Melissa McCarthy on May 13, and Dwayne Johnson for the season-ender on May 20. McCarthy’s portrayal of White House press secretary Sean Spicer has been one of the highlights of the season, driving the show to ratings heights.

Each episode will air live at 11:30pm ET; 10:30pm Central; 9:30pm Mountain; and 8:30pm PT. (“SNL” will be repeated at 11:30pm in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.)

NBC also recently announced plans to extend the run of the show into the summer. “Weekend Update” hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che will also get a limited run in primetime in August when NBC airs four half-hour broadcasts of the faux-news showcase.
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https://variety.com/2017/tv/news/saturday-night-live-all-time-zones-1202010211/
 
A pretty big bet that the recent bounce for the show as a result of the election of President Trump can be sustained. What, really, though is NBC giving up in displacing some Saturday prime time programming? Not a whole lot I guess but ratings may even fall as people in other than the Eastern Time Zone are used to watching SNL at 11:30PM.

Seems like a stunt that won't do much. I do think much will come of the standalone 'Weekend Update' either. For all the publicity it garners, SNL isn't generally seen by a whole lot of people. Breaking 3M viewers is noteworthy.
 
Silkie said:
Nothing to see there.
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I disagree, there is something to see here. First, this season is one of the better ones in recent years. Second, to see the live show in the west at 8:30 will be cool. Though I'm sure there will be a 7-second delay just in case. But still, to see the mess-ups and flubbed lines and crackups will be cool. (Although, I guess they always left those in when they were actually funny)...so yeah, probably not a big difference but still a good marketing ploy by SNL!
 
What will the east coast show from 8:30 to 10:00 knowing the west coast won't watch? I'm guessing reruns LA and SF won't miss.
 
The West Coast will still watch, just at 5pm instead of 8pm, since those NBC stations on many Saturdays in recent past have been airing live sports in those 3 hours, these upcoming Saturdays will most likely be treated as such.
 
CaliRadioFan said:
The West Coast will still watch, just at 5pm instead of 8pm, since those NBC stations on many Saturdays in recent past have been airing live sports in those 3 hours, these upcoming Saturdays will most likely be treated as such.
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I doubt very much that NBC will pre-empt live sports for canned entertainment. Local news and local access also airs in the 5 to 8 block.
 
seatownmedia said:
I disagree, there is something to see here. First, this season is one of the better ones in recent years. Second, to see the live show in the west at 8:30 will be cool. Though I'm sure there will be a 7-second delay just in case. But still, to see the mess-ups and flubbed lines and crackups will be cool. (Although, I guess they always left those in when they were actually funny)...so yeah, probably not a big difference but still a good marketing ploy by SNL!
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Disagree if you choose. It is unfunny and has been for a very long time.
 
This is NBC's excuse to not have any significant programming on primetime tv on Saturday Night's. Who knows if this works well, it might become the norm. Might as well move it out of late night. It still won't give me a reason to watch. The last few times I've watch it has become very gimmicky in my opinion. It has become the following:

1. Open segment ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH POLITICS.
2. Guests have become the main focus of the show whether the host or the musical act.
3. Too many game show skits.
4. The real funny stuff airs late in the show in the sense the more contemporary material.
5. Weekend Update, well, why is it there, I will never know.

If the talent was allowed to carry the show, and not the guests, I would watch it more.
 
oldvnewschool said:
This is NBC's excuse to not have any significant programming on primetime tv on Saturday Night's.
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Nothing new. Saturday is the lowest TV-viewing night of the week. The networks often run live sports when they can. Tonight ABC is running the NBA, and CBS has the NCAA playoffs. Back in the old days, NBC ran movies on Saturday night. People aren't going to change their plans just because there's a good show on TV. They might DVR it and watch it later.

oldvnewschool said:
5. Weekend Update, well, why is it there, I will never know.
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Because it's a hit, and has helped several anchors become stars, including Dennis Miller and Seth Myers. That's why NBC is doing a prime time spin off. Topical humor is always popular.
 
TheBigA said:
Nothing new. Saturday is the lowest TV-viewing night of the week. The networks often run live sports when they can. Tonight ABC is running the NBA, and CBS has the NCAA playoffs. Back in the old days, NBC ran movies on Saturday night. People aren't going to change their plans just because there's a good show on TV. They might DVR it and watch it later.



Because it's a hit, and has helped several anchors become stars, including Dennis Miller and Seth Myers. That's why NBC is doing a prime time spin off. Topical humor is always popular.
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True it's the stable of the show be all and end all. But in it's current embrace debate format, It no longer serves a purpose other than bad comedians telling bad jokes.
 
seatownmedia said:
Well, I'm well-educated and in my mid-50's, and I think the show has been the funniest since the Chris Farley days.
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I'm well educated, and in my 60s, and I agree. I was in my 20s when the show premiered, and I think the sentiment that it "hasn't been the same" since the Belushi, Aykroyd, Radner days is just not true. The show was great during the Eddie Murphy/Joe Piscopo era, the Billy Crystal/Martin Short era, and a couple more times after that. I agree that it went on a decades' long decline, but when I catch it lately, I find it funny. The writing has definitely improved, there's less tendency to keep flogging the same old tired sketches (MacGruber), and it seems like the writers have finally realized that sketches should not go on, and on, and on, and on......
 
The show just isn't funny anymore especially Weekend Update, I can understand political humor, on both sides, but it has become nothing but bashing of the Republican Party to the extreme, probably only the Bleeding Heart Liberals think it's funny, I think it should be cancelled along with, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel.
 
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kenrayc said:
The show just isn't funny anymore especially Weekend Update, I can understand political humor, on both sides, but it has become nothing but bashing of the Republican Party to the extreme, probably only the Bleeding Heart Liberals think it's funny, I think it should be cancelled along with, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel.
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If you can't laugh about the crazy political environment we live in today, then just turn off the damn tv. Seriously.
 
kenrayc said:
The show just isn't funny anymore especially Weekend Update, I can understand political humor, on both sides, but it has become nothing but bashing of the Republican Party to the extreme, probably only the Bleeding Heart Liberals think it's funny, I think it should be cancelled along with, Seth Myers, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel.
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if you don't like late night TV now of days cause it "Leans left" then quit watching you Trumper (my nickname for Trump Supporters).
 
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