SNL Cuts Announced

[Plankton]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Seth Meyers gets the plum job of "Weekend Update" anchor next to Amy Poehler in a newly streamlined "Saturday Night Live" this season, the show's creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels, said on Thursday.

Meyers, entering his fifth season on the late-night institution, must replace the popular Tina Fey on the fake-news anchor desk. Like Fey, Meyers will also be one of the show's head writers.

Four cast members auditioned for the gig, but Michaels said Meyers' writing ability and his chemistry with Poehler made the difference. Meyers has acted with Poehler in a recurrent sketch about "The Needlers," a bickering couple who should be divorced.

Also like Fey, Meyers will primarily appear only on "Weekend Update" each week.

The repertory comedy will have 11 cast members this season, down from 16. Fey has gone on to make the new NBC prime-time comedy "30 Rock," bringing fellow cast member Rachel Dratch with her. Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, who both joined "SNL" in 1997, and three-year cast member Finesse Mitchell will not be returning.

The stripped-down cast was driven, in part, by the need to cut costs, Michaels told The Associated Press. Given a choice by NBC executives of making fewer shows or having fewer people, he said he chose the latter.

"The show, like a garden that gets overgrown, at a certain point needed to be pruned," he said. "We've done it at six or seven points in the past. You get a bulge in the budget."

The cast of essentially 10 players is "a great size because everyone gets enough playing time," he said.

By adding six cast members in the past two years, "SNL" went through one of its periodic transformations. But it has been able to do it smoothly, without jolting changes that confuse viewers, Michaels said. Returning cast member Darrell Hammond, for instance, has been there for a decade.

"The show has succeeded and prospered to some degree on its ability to reinvent itself," Michaels said, "and this was a time for everything to be re-examined."

One of "SNL's" biggest moments last season was the rap parody "Lazy Sunday," with cast members Andy Samberg and Parnell talking about cupcakes and "The Chronicles of Narnia." The video short became a big hit when distributed online in the days after its appearance.

Other returning cast members include Fred Armisen, Will Forte, Bill Hader, Maya Rudolph, Jason Sudeikis, Kenan Thompson and Kristin Wiig.

"SNL" opens its season on September 30, with comic Dane Cook as guest host and the Killers as musical act.

[Ananas]

Cutting half of Lazy Sunday is retarded. That'd be like cutting Ferrell and Kattan at the height of the Roxbury Guys. Or Norm at the height of his WU era. Oh wait... SNL is garbage now.

[punky]

For some reason when I saw the title, Parnell & Sanz immediately popped into my head. I think it was long overdue for Sanz but I liked Parnell and like was said above, cutting half of "Lazy Sunday" was stupid. I'm glad Dratch is gone but I'll miss Finesse even though he didn't have any memorable sketches. I thought he'd be like Tim Meadows, start getting some characters going and be on the show for awhile.

Aside from a handful of shows, the last four-five years of SNL have been horrible. They really need to go out and find some better comics/sketch guys.

With DC hosting on the 30th, I'll have to check it out but that's probably the only reason.

Edited September 22, 2006 by CM Punk

[GoGo Yubari]

Eh. It could be worse. Losing Parnell is unfortunate and kind of insane given that he finally had a breakout year, but at the same time, Horatio Sanz is gone and that just puts a smile on my face.

[GhostMachine]

Eh. It could be worse. Losing Parnell is unfortunate and kind of insane given that he finally had a breakout year, but at the same time, Horatio Sanz is gone and that just puts a smile on my face.

[Guest shibbycath]

i guess i'm the only one who is sad to see horatio leave. i love him, he was amazing with jimmy fallon when he was on snl, and those were his most memorable moments but he was still funny afterwards. and i don't like seeing rachel go either, she's hilarious.

[Ananas]

I wish they had cut Maya Rudolph. I rarely, if ever, find her funny.

[Pepsi Punk]

Horatio Sanz is one of the funniest men to ever be on SNL. Anyone who is happy to see him leave should get eaten alive.

Parnell is also awesome, so that sucks.

[Numbahs]

Maybe Fred Armisen will finally get some play....

[ROC]

Question: Is Tina Fey going to appear on "30 Rock", or is she just working as a writer on it?

[Pepsi]

Eh. It could be worse. Losing Parnell is unfortunate and kind of insane given that he finally had a breakout year, but at the same time, Horatio Sanz is gone and that just puts a smile on my face.

Word.

I wish they had cut Maya Rudolph. I rarely, if ever, find her funny.

With that cast list, though, they'd better have a back-up plan if Darrell Hammond decides to leave.

Question: Is Tina Fey going to appear on "30 Rock", or is she just working as a writer on it?

[GoGo Yubari]

Horatio Sanz is one of the funniest men to ever be on SNL. Anyone who is happy to see him leave should get eaten alive.

The following is a list of people who have been on SNL who are funnier than Horatio Sanz, off the top of my head in no discernable order; John Belushi, Kevin Nealon, Dana Carvey, Chris Rock, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman, David Spade, Chris Parnell, Darrell Hammond, Seth Meyers, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Will Ferrell, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, Dennis Miller, Julia Sweeney, Tina Fey, Norm MacDonald, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Jeff Richards, Tim Meadows, Kenan Thompson, Ben Stiller, Damon Wayans, and Gilda Radner.

And god knows I'm probably forgetting a LOT of people.

[ROC]

I miss Tim Meadows.

[GoGo Yubari]

I miss Tim Meadows.

Yeah, he's mostly dropped off the face of the earth, except for his guest spot on The Office last season where he was pretty funny. It's unfortunate, because I always liked him as a character actor.

[ROC]

I miss Tim Meadows.

Yeah, he's mostly dropped off the face of the earth, except for his guest spot on The Office last season where he was pretty funny. It's unfortunate, because I always liked him as a character actor.

[GoGo Yubari]

I miss Tim Meadows.

Yeah, he's mostly dropped off the face of the earth, except for his guest spot on The Office last season where he was pretty funny. It's unfortunate, because I always liked him as a character actor.

Yeah. Now I wished that The Ladies Man had actually taken off at the box office, though, I suppose it didn't have much chance once Superstar and Night at the Roxbury underwhelmed.

I don't mind so much because I didn't really care for The Ladies Man as a character anyway. Now Perspectives, on the other hand, that was pretty great.

[Corizzle]

Ladies Man, the movie and his skits on SNL fucking owned. If Tim Meadows were to come back and host I'd mark out so much.

Hammond should have left, isn't he the longest running SNL player? I'd rather see him gone and Parnell stay.

The other cuts I think are the right move though, Sanz and Finess were ok but they are probably also the least funniest people on the show.

Looking at the current cast, it looks younger then it used to. Maybe they are going for a younger demo? Getting Dane Cook to host can only hope since a lot of people my age think he is awesome.

Edited September 23, 2006 by Corizzle

[Ananas]

Question: Is Tina Fey going to appear on "30 Rock", or is she just working as a writer on it?

Both. She's the star and main writer on it.

As for the show, it seemed like they were headed for a radical change. Too bad the big problem with this is that Seth Meyers is still head writer after last season. The writing staff is really what needed shaking up and it appears there isn't much that did get shaken up after all.

[ROC]

Question: Is Tina Fey going to appear on "30 Rock", or is she just working as a writer on it?

Both. She's the star and main writer on it.

As for the show, it seemed like they were headed for a radical change. Too bad the big problem with this is that Seth Meyers is still head writer after last season. The writing staff is really what needed shaking up and it appears there isn't much that did get shaken up after all.

[GoGo Yubari]

Question: Is Tina Fey going to appear on "30 Rock", or is she just working as a writer on it?

Both. She's the star and main writer on it.

As for the show, it seemed like they were headed for a radical change. Too bad the big problem with this is that Seth Meyers is still head writer after last season. The writing staff is really what needed shaking up and it appears there isn't much that did get shaken up after all.

In fairness, under Meyers SNL has seen the debut of the Digital Shorts, the best thing about the show since the Will Ferrell days. The only problem is the rest of the show. >_>

Exactly. And since they messed up one of the key short players, where does that leave the show now?

Eh. They've still got Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island guys, and Will Forte. It's not the end of the world that Parnell's gone since he was only REALLY relevant in Lazy Sunday.