Because he's promoting his new series 30 Rock, Lorne Michaels is getting awfully chatty these days about the goings on at his "other show", Saturday Night Live. First, he mentioned that the cast was going to downsize for creative and budgetary reasons. Now, in a talk with Don Kaplan of the New York Post, he goes one step further and says that aside from Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch, who already left to do 30 Rock, four additional cast members are about to get their pink slips. According to the article, the four even know who they are, but the names have not been made public yet. In addition, there will be auditions among the remaining cast in order to fill the "Weekend Update" hole created by Fey's departure.According to Michaels, change like this is good for the show. "After about four years . . . there's a staleness that comes over the show," he told Kaplan. The reason why he had such a large cast last year, apparently, was because he knew budget cuts were going to be made, and he'd have fresh (read: cheap) names ready to go when it did. But some of the high priced talent, like Amy Poehler and Darrell Hammond, will likely stay on, states Kaplan, as will last year's breakout star, Andy Samberg.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-22-2006 @ 5:50PM
Robin said...
How in any way was Darrell Hammond "strong" last year???
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8-22-2006 @ 9:21PM
Brent said...
They need to fire all the women on the show. Amy can stay for the token female, but the show has been more female-centric of late. Maybe with Fey leaving, the somewhat less-feminine Myers will be the trick.
I fear Fred Armisen and Forte will be canned. They are funny and not used enough.
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8-22-2006 @ 10:16PM
Melissa said...
YESSSS! DRATCH THE TALENTLESS MONKEY IS GONE! Kristen Wiig has more talent in one fingernail slice than any of the other women.
Will Forte or Bill Hader should do update because they can do and say ANYTHING while keeping a straight face. Finesse Mitchell is a pretty weak player, continuously playing the token black guy, and he's never funny. I bet Horatio gets canned too, which means they'll have to replace the token fatty. For the love of GOD, someone please kill Darrel Hammond.
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8-22-2006 @ 10:21PM
adhonus said...
Please let one be Horatio Sanz... Please let one be Horatio Sanz... Also, time for Maya Rudolph to go off and use her talent somewhere else. She's wasted on SNL. I would also like Darrell Hammond and Chris Parnell to go. Parnell is great, but he's outstayed his welcome. He plays roles that others really should be playing.
SNL needs to cherry-pick from the Daily Show to really create a buzz. They also need to force themselves to do 40 shows a year, but that'll never happen.
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8-27-2006 @ 8:58PM
Josh said...
I personally would like to see Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler go, and if they absolutely have to cut two more, probably Kenan Thompson and Finesse Mitchell. Rudolph is not really funny- and Amy Poehler hasn't been in awhile. Kenan Thompson and Finesse Mitchell both get too many token black scenes, although both add a little spark to the show. Darrell Hammond and Chris Parnell are grizzled veterans by now but in my opinion are the two funniest on the cast and should be kept around until Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis can be groomed. Will Forte should stay as well. I really think they should try to bring back an old cast member from the glory years of the 90's, somebody realistic (who's career hasn't taken off) such as Tim Meadows or Ana Gasteyer.
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9-02-2006 @ 2:36AM
tiina said...
molly shannon needs to come back like now i don't even care..and tina fey is magnificent
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9-02-2006 @ 2:36AM
Michael said...
Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler need to stay, I personally tune in each week to see Amy Poehler, it's not gonna be the same without Tina Fey. Maya Rudolph definitely needs to stay put on SNL with Amy Poehler.
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9-02-2006 @ 6:16AM
Spoonie said...
about time horatio is gone! can be funny, but really, name an episode, or even a skit, where he HASNT broken character and started laughing. him and whatshisface together were the worst......
will forte would be good as an anchor i bet. he did a deadon lorne michaels impression from the 70s a year or two ago.
on a side note, the one who does the anderson cooper has a great impression. they should have anderson as a special correspondent doing incredibly mundane tasks on the update.
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9-02-2006 @ 3:52AM
jana adams said...
Actually, I must be old myself because I love the "seasoned" cast members and dont think they are being utilized enough any more. I am not so hot on the newbies. They were all in their prime about 5 years ago.
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9-02-2006 @ 5:05AM
Gregory Sutherland said...
Wow! I didn't realize people still watched Saturday Night Live.
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9-25-2006 @ 5:54PM
Garrett said...
I think that Maya Rudolph needs to stay because she is very good in doing her Prince/Beyonce scenes. Also, I think they should bring her Donatella Versace character back. I can't believe Rachel Dratch isn't going to be on the show anymore. Her character "Debbie Downer" was played very well. I will miss her as "Debbie Downer" and "Sheldon Green."
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