The fiftieth season of the American sketch comedylate night television program Saturday Night Live (also branded Saturday Night Live 50 and SNL50: The Anniversary Season) premiered on September 28, 2024[1] on NBC and Peacock,[2] with host Jean Smart and musical guest Jelly Roll.[3] In addition to the standard episodes hosted by celebrity guests and featuring musical acts, the series will also have several months of acknowledgements, leading to a three-hour celebratory 50th anniversary special retrospective, which is set to air on February 16, 2025.[4]
Cast
Prior to the start of the season, Punkie Johnson, who had been on the show for four seasons since 2020, and featured player Molly Kearney, who had been on the show for two seasons since 2022, made the decision to leave after the conclusion of the previous season. Following Johnson and Kearney's departures, fellow featured player Chloe Troast was let go after only one season on the show.[5]
Prior to the start of the season, Allie Levitan, Moss Perricone and Carl Tart joined the writing staff.
In addition, writers Dan Bulla (who has written for the show since 2019) and Auguste White (who joined the writing staff back in 2022) have been promoted to writing supervisors, joining alongside current supervisors Celeste Yim and Will Stephen.[7]
Sudi Green (who was previously a writer on the show from 2015 to 2021) returned as a writer, for the first-half of the season, to fill in for Yim, who was taking a break from the show at the time.[8] Green last wrote for the Charli XCX episode.[9]
Production
In late 2021, long-time producer Lorne Michaels stated that he was committed to continuing on the series through the fiftieth season (at the time, the show was in its forty-seventh) and suggested that he may retire afterward.[10] The subsequent year, Kenan Thompson speculated that the series may end if Michaels left, saying, "He's the one that's had his touch on the whole thing . . . It opens the opportunity for a lot of bullshit to come into the game because he's such a legend that he keeps off those corporate wolves."[11] During season forty-nine, Michaels suggested that 2000s-era member Tina Fey could take over, but insisted that he would finish the next season before any dramatic changes.[12] He reiterated these plans in May, when a fiftieth anniversary special was announced that would celebrate the series' history on February 16, 2025.[13] However, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter just before the season started, Michaels denied that he would be retiring at the end of the season.[14] Prior to the season start on September 28, NBC will begin retrospectives on the show with their mid-year coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics,[2] and Michaels intends to bring back everyone from the previous decades as well as hosts and a variety of musical guests who have helped shape the show.[15]
On July 31, it was announced that Maya Rudolph would return to portray vice president and presidential nominee Kamala Harris through the 2024 election season.[16] The next day, cast member Punkie Johnson announced that she would be leaving the show after four years.[17] On August 2, cast member Molly Kearney announced their departure after two seasons as a featured player.[18] On September 9, it was announced that Chloe Troast would also be departing after one season as a featured player.[19] On the same day, it was announced that three new cast members would be hired as featured players: Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. Featured players Marcello Hernandez, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker, who joined the cast along with Kearney prior to season 48, will be promoted to repertory status.[19]
Jelly Roll performs "Liar" and "Winning Streak" and appears in the cut-for-time "Blonde Dragon People" sketch.
Hannah Einbinder, daughter of original Not Ready for Primetime Player Laraine Newman as well as Smart's co-star on Hacks, joins Smart in introducing Jelly Roll for the first song, "Liar".[22]
Before the goodnights, a photo of Tom McCarthy, former senior vice president and global chief security officer for NBC, who died July 10, is shown in silence.
In versions distributed online and internationally, the "Textbook Writer" sketch is amended to include a shot from the dress rehearsal version, owing to a props error made by Smart in the live program.[23]
According to NBC, this is the most-watched episode ever on Peacock, "through the first weekend".[24]
Blake Lively was the original intended host of this premiere, but backed out due to recent controversies.[25]
Rudolph and Samberg also appear in the "Castrati" sketch.
Carvey also appears in the "Maybelline" sketch.
Technical issues afflicted the latter portion of the show. A malfunctioning sound board caused Nicks' second song to be delayed - following another set of commercials - which resulted in one sketch ("Cinema Classics", with Grande due to portray Judy Garland) being dropped and replaced by another ("Hotel Detective", recorded - and initially cut - at dress-rehearsal) with a shorter runtime.[27] Broadcast reruns in the show's late night slot added new bumper footage during the commercials of Stevie and her band getting ready on stage, removing the initial broadcast's extended use of a still photo of Nicks. It also added an ad break between the Maybelline skit and the final skit.
GloRilla performs "Yeah Glo!" and a medley of "Whatchu Kno About Me" and "Let Her Cook" and appears in the pre-recorded "Pop The Balloon” sketch.
Chappelle broke his own record for longest monologue in the show's history. His previous record, set when he hosted the show in November 2020, was a monologue of 16 minutes and 9 seconds. The monologue in this episode was "just short of 17 minutes".[38]
Donnell Rawlings appears in the pre-recorded "Pop The Balloon" sketch.
Before the goodnights, a photo of filmmaker David Lynch, who died three days prior to this episode, is shown in silence.
A three hour prime-time special celebrating SNL's 50th season. This special will assemble together a large list of current and former cast members, hosts, and musical acts from throughout the show's fifty seasons.
Ratings
Through the seventh episode, this season of Saturday Night Live was the "highest rated entertainment program across ad-supported broadcast and cable TV among viewers aged 18-49", and - with seven days of on-demand viewing included - the season so far averaged a 1.28 demo rating, and an average viewership of 7.3 million.[43]
Viewership and ratings per episode of Saturday Night Live season 50
