After last season’s almost disastrous rebuilding year, Saturday Night Live continued to rebuild by making several changes before its historic 40th season premiere this Saturday.
Out are John Milhiser, Mike O’Brien, Noel Wells, and Brooks Wheelan after all four cast members failed to reach an audience during their first season at SNL, and longtime cast member Nasim Pedrad also left the cast to join the new Fox sitcom, Mulaney.
In a somewhat surprising move, Cecily Strong was replaced after one season at the “Weekend Update” desk by former SNL writer and Daily Show correspondent Michael Che. Strong will remain with the show as a cast member this season. Stand-up comedian Pete Davidson will join Che as the only new additions to the cast this season.
Lastly, the show welcomed back a familiar face as the longest tenured cast member in SNL history, Darrell Hammond, was announced as the replacement for the late Don Pardo as announcer.
This season will be another rebuilding year, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad season. Here are three simple ideas that could help SNL improve dramatically over last season.
Free Bobby Moynihan
Three seasons ago it appeared that Bobby Moynihan was poised to be the next breakout star of SNL. After a few seasons of trying to bring that recurring character that people would talk about on Monday morning to SNL, Moynihan finally hit paydirt with Drunk Uncle. While this racist, slovenly, silver haired drunk has been a big hit over his nine appearances, Moynihan saw his screen time fall last season.
After a huge jump in screen time during season 38 to 10.57% from 7.56% the season before, Moynihan fell back to 7.88% last season. Why? Two reasons seem to stand out; the first one is the addition of five white guys to the cast last season which cut screen time for several cast members. Secondly, the emergence of Taran Killam as the go-to guy for everybody’s sketch. Killam jumped from 9.15% to 11.45% last season, the most screen time of any cast member.
Hopefully the smaller cast, minus three white guys, will help, because the show definitely can use a guy who can make a fart joke funny by neither farting, nor saying a word.
Classic Hosts
SNL has actually done a pretty good job with hosts the past couple of seasons. Last season, first-time hosts Drake, Edward Norton, and Lena Dunham hosted three of the better episodes of the season. Returning hosts like Melissa McCarthy and Jonah Hill proved that they should be welcomed back to SNL in the future, but aside from John Goodman, last season didn’t have a “classic” host. No Christopher Walken, Steve Martin, or Alec Baldwin.
This season needs more than one of these classic hosts to return. The most likely candidate may be former cast member Bill Murray. It has been over 15 years since he last hosted in February of 1999, and with the upcoming St. Vincent ready to hit theaters in October, the timing might be right.
Other fan favorites who would help any episode they host include Jon Hamm (last hosted in 2010), or Tom Hanks, who somehow hasn’t hosted since 2008.
Don’t Waste an Opportunity With “Weekend Update”
In the past “Weekend Update” had one of the black cast members offer commentary on racial issues. Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock famously did, and last season writer Leslie Jones gave the show it’s only “controversial” moment when she stated that she would never be single during slave days.
This season with Michael Che behind the desk, SNL and “Weekend Update” has an opportunity to use comedy, and the perceived importance of the anchor position, to discuss racial topics like it never has before. The fact that Che’s co-anchor, Colin Jost, looks like rich, white guy America, should make these segments more impactful, and hopefully add a bit of controversy to “Weekend Update” on a regular basis.
SNL has had Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, and Kristen Wiig all leave in the past three seasons. SNL has had several moments over its 40 year history with similar turnover, and eventually finds the right mix of cast members and writers to keep the show relevant and funny.
The 40th season should be a memorable one with the historic achievement of 40 years on television, a mid-term election, and (possibly) the final season for Kenan Thompson. Only time will tell if this season is funny, but improving on last season should be an easy task.
