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Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly
late-night 90-minute comedy-variety
show from NBC which has been
broadcast virtually every Saturday
night since its debut on October 11,
1975. It is one of the longest-running
network entertainment programs in
American television history. Each
week, the show's cast is joined by a
guest host and a musical act.

The show has been the launching
place for some major American
comedy stars of the last thirty years. It
was created by Dick Ebersol and Lorne
Michaels, of whom, the latter —
excluding a hiatus from Season 6
through Season 10—has produced
and written for the show and remains
its executive producer (Jean
Doumanian producing most of Season
6, and Ebersol 7-10).

In January 2005, NBC renewed SNL's
contract until 2012.

The show usually follows a standard
format. It opens with a sketch, known
as the cold opening, which begins
without any announcement or titles, is
often about politics or other current
events, and always ends with someone
saying "Live from New York, it's
Saturday Night!" The show then
segues into the opening credits, which
usually open with a shot of the Statue
of Liberty and a montage of the cast
members cut with various locations
around the city. The opening credits
are voiced-over by long-time NBC
announcer Don Pardo. The show's
theme music has been re-arranged
many times, but always follows the
same basic chord patterns.

Next is the opening monologue
performed by the guest host(s), often
followed by a TV commercial parody.
The show continues with more
comedy skits (sketches might feature
recurring characters, running gags,
celebrity impersonations, movie and
TV spoofs, and skits parodying the
news issues of the day), followed by a
performance by the guest musical act.
More recent shows have the second
act divided by an animated short by
Robert Smigel. The news parody
segment Weekend Update marks the
show's midway point. The second half
of the program continues with more
sketches, and in most cases a second
performance by the musical guest.
Some shows also feature filmed
segments, often featuring cast
members, or it may feature
independent film shorts. In a few rare
cases, a third musical performance by
the week's musical guest is done at the
end of the show, but in most instances
this is just a goodbye segment by the
host and musical guest.

The following is a summary of the
process used to produce the show. It is
based in part on an August 2000
Writer's Digest article and an April
2004 Fresh Air interview with Tina Fey:

Monday: The day begins with a
topical meeting, identifying the
biggest story for the show's opening.
This is followed by a free-form pitch
meeting with Lorne Michaels and the
show's host for the week. According to
an October 2004 60 Minutes segment
on the show, throughout the week the
host has a lot of influence on which
sketches get aired. Following the
meeting, writers begin to draft the two
scripts each must produce.
Tuesday: Starting in the afternoon,
anywhere from 30 to 45 scripts are
written, significantly more than will
make it to air. Most writers work
through the night. Once a writer's
scripts are complete, he or she will
often help other writers on their scripts.
Wednesday: All scripts get a read-
through. After the read-through, the
head writer(s) and the producers meet
with the host to decide which sketches
to work on for the rest of the week, with
Lorne Michaels and the host having
the final say.
Thursday: The surviving sketches are
reviewed, word-by-word, by the writing
staff as a whole (or in two groups in the
case of co-head writers). Some
sketches which survived the cut
because of their premise but otherwise
needed a lot of work are rewritten
completely. Others are changed in
smaller ways. Thursday is also the day
that Weekend Update starts coming
together, starting with the news items
written by writers dedicated all week to
the segment. This is also the first day
the crew comes in for rehearsal. The
music act is rehearsed as well as some
of the larger more important skits.
Friday: the show is blocked (staged).
The writer of each skit acts as
producer, working with the show's set
designers and costumers.
Saturday: With the show still far from
finalized, the day begins with a run-
through, with props, in front of Lorne
Michaels. After the run-through, the
cast and crew find out which of the
sketches are in the dress rehearsal,
and which are cut. The
writer/producer deals with any
changes. This is followed by an 8 p.m.
dress rehearsal in front of a live
audience, which lasts until 10 p.m. or
sometimes later, and which contains
around twenty minutes of material
which will not make it to the
broadcast. Lorne Michaels uses first-
hand observation of the audience
reaction to the rehearsal, and input
from the host, to determine the final
round of changes, re-ordering sketches
as necessary. The show then begins at
11:30 p.m. (Eastern Time).
The status of the show during the week
is maintained on a bulletin board.
Sketches and other segments are
given labels which are put on index
cards and put on the board in the
order of their performance. The order
is based on content as well as
production limitations such as camera
placement and performer availability.
Segments which have been cut are
kept to the side of the board. As the
broadcast approaches, often the
writer/producer discovers the fate of
his or her segment only by consulting
the bulletin board.

A 60 Minutes report taped in October
2004 depicted the intense writing
frenzy that goes on during the week
leading up to a show, with crowded
meetings and long hours. The report
particularly noted the involvement of
the guest hosts in developing and
selecting the skits in which they will
appear.

The following performers have hosted
SNL at least five times:

Steve Martin (13)
John Goodman (12)
Alec Baldwin (11)
Buck Henry (10)
Chevy Chase (8)
Tom Hanks (7)
Danny DeVito (6)
Elliott Gould (6)
Christopher Walken (6)
Candice Bergen (5)
Bill Murray (5)
Several special episodes of SNL have
been compiled and aired that were
"best of" episodes of several of these
hosts, including Christopher Walken
and Tom Hanks.