Saturday Night Live may put its Friday night rehearsals on the internet. Right now, the rehearsals can only be seen by NBC employees on closed-circuit television at Rockefeller Center. This revelation came from NBC Universal chief digital officer George Kliavkoff when he spoke at a conference in Los Angeles yesterday. Kliavkoff said of the Friday dress rehearsal, "Sometimes it's more interesting than the show." He says he was only joking, but there may also be a little truth to what he said. Not sure how SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels feels about Kliavkoff spilling the beans about something he is simply mulling over.While you'd think I would be on behind-the-scenes overload for sketch comedy shows, since I watch both 30 Rock and Studio 60, I'd actually be curious to see the Friday rehearsals. It would be interesting to see which sketches make it and what changes are made to them before the live show. I guess the down side would be that SNL is giving away its sketches ahead of time. We could view the Friday rehearsal and decide whether SNL is even worth watching the next night. Although, at this point, I just always assume it's not worth watching.
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-30-2006 @ 1:28PM
Vince said...
These guys are thinking like broadcasters instead of using the power of the net.
Why not post all the sketches on itunes (or similar) for a small price (2 bucks) days BEFORE broadcast and let people vote for the best sketch or what to cut.
They would make a few bucks, and promote the show and get people involved.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 2:36PM
tim said...
Isn't dress rehearsal around 8 on SATURDAY night?
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 3:48PM
TomB said...
I doubt seriously that the rehersal would be available to view before the live broadcast.
I'd love to see the rehersals anytime they decide to put them on.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 11:03PM
4ham said...
Running them ahead? Maybe if you're charging for them and/or viewers can vote on sketches to cut.
Running them after? Yes. Even a week behind would be cool. Showing the rehearsal sketch with the aired version after would be even better.
Either way running them with a comments section or forum with dedicated threads and just maybe the show would get back in touch with the audience that isn't sitting in the studio and being fed laugh cues.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 2:50PM
David4 said...
I will bet you all that this is funny than the real show is.
Reply
12-01-2006 @ 12:05AM
Carl said...
The last thing I want to do is watch three hours of SNL over two days, with 75% of the sketches repeated. Even worse, I now get to see the handful of sketches/jokes/bits that "didn't work for the show", on top of the normal garbage that Seth Myers & co. spew out every week.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 10:11PM
Romeodawg said...
The show is dead in my eyes -- they usually only have 1-2 really funny skits, and they usually run those into the GROUND until they become less funny. Frankly I don't even understand the draw of having the show "live" -- I think Mad TV is so much better because they don't have to worry about "live" but they still have an audience. Inviting the audience into the process would be an interesting way to bring this show into the new media future -- I think it's a great idea. I'd look forward to seeing the final show after the rehearsal to see the changes.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 6:55PM
Gavin said...
"Sometimes it's more interesting than the show."
Hey, George...with the current state of SNL, I wouldn't brag about that. I can find a zillion live web cams online right now that are far more interesting than watching those hacks try to amuse with comedy that seems tailored to the Nickelodeon audience.
Reply
11-30-2006 @ 7:19PM
Jim said...
If we can watch rehearsals on the Internet, we can start talking about how bad the show was a few hours earlier.
Reply
12-01-2006 @ 12:37AM
FlagPatrick said...
There are some great sketches cut from Dress rehearsal over the years. Sometimes they are just cut for the sake of time and never brought to light again. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the footage of the rehearsals. They have tons of rehearsals during the week, but there is only one dress rehearsal on Saturday with a live audience. This is what decides what sketches go onto the live show and which get cut. Lorne and the head writers use personal judgement, audience reaction, and host input when making the decision. I think that after the show has been aired I would not mind seeing some sketches cut from dress rehearsal. That way I can get an idea of what gets thought up every week from SNL.
For all the haters out there. You guys complain about the show, but you're still watching it and bitching about it every week. There are signs of improvement, believe it or not! Oh and for those who like dumb gag sketches, racial cliche's that are worse than Mind of Mencia then by all means go tune into the crapfest of MADtv. Not even the worst of SNL can compare to MADtv. Plain and simple!
Reply