Saturday Night Live Season 48 is about to begin. As there are rumors the long-running late-night live TV sketch comedy will end in Season 50, especially with Lorne Michaels’ possible exit, is there any truth about it?
Kenan Thompson weighed in on the issue of Saturday Night Live’s future. After being on the air for nearly 50 years, is it time to say goodbye?
The Possible End of Saturday Night Live
Appearing on Comedy Central’s Hell of a Week with Charlemagne Tha God, Thompson believed 50 years could be the perfect time to end the decades-long variety show, per TVLine.
Michael’s leadership has been a staple of the show’s success and operation, and it’s hard to think Saturday Night Live will continue without him.
He explained,
“[Michaels’] the one that’s had his touch on the whole thing… It opens the opportunity for a lot of bulls–t to come into the game because he’s such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves.”
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Sure, it will be hard to replace the shoes Michaels will leave if he leaves. But aside from that, Thompson is also concerned over the budget cuts that may happen when the TV producer-screenwriter exits.
He added,
“At that point, you can’t really do the same kind of show. They spend a lot of money on that show every week. It’s an expensive show, but it’s a one-of-a-kind thing. It’s the only one.”
Lorne Michaels to Leave Saturday Night Live
Michaels expressed his plans to exit Saturday Night Live in an interview with CBS Mornings in December 2021, per TV Insider.
Though he wanted to “stick things out” until the show’s 50th season in 2024, he might step away from the series after that.
“You know, I think I’m committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years,” he said. “I’d like to see that through, and I have a feeling that’d be a really good time to leave. But… I won’t want the show ever to be bad. I care too deeply about it. It’s been my life’s work. So I’m going to do everything I can to see it carry on.”
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Michaels created and produced the sketch show with Dick Ebersol, airing its premiere episode on October 11, 1975, on NBC.
Since then, the show has gained massive success, featuring a slew of comedians, a mix of character-based sketches and topical comedy.
He once stepped away from the show in 1980, replaced by producer Jean Doumanian, but the latter only lasted for one season after receiving bad reviews. Ebersol then took the role in 1985 when Michaels returned.
It wasn’t the first time Michaels revealed his interest in leaving the show when it reached its 50th anniversary.
Back in October 2020, he told Today,
“My plan — and I’m not sure that I’ll see it through — but my plan is to be here for the 50th … and then by that point, I really deserve to wander off.”
Saturday Night Live Season 48 may drop this fall.
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