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From the moment Morgan Neville was approached about making a documentary tied to the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live,” he knew that he didn’t want to capture this comedy staple in a traditional way.

“The idea of doing 50 years of ‘SNL’ in 90 minutes, it’s going to be a greatest hits clip show, which is not interesting to me,” Neville, the executive producer behind Peacock’s ‘SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” told TheWrap. “I always feel like the fool’s errand of a lot of storytelling is trying to be completist. Everything is reductive, but filmmaking is particularly reductive.”

Instead of the predictable, Neville opted for a format that was “more irreverent and risk-taking,” an ethos that has always defined NBC’s crown jewel. To do that, Neville recruited four of his favorite directors — Robert Alexander, Neil Berkeley, Marshall Curry and Jason Zeldes — to each direct their own distinct episode.

It’s time to get reacquainted with your innie.

It’s been nearly three years since Apple TV+ introduced fans to Lumon Industries, the mysterious tech company at the heart of Severance, the vibe-heavy, Emmy-winning sci-fi thriller about employees who’ve had their consciousness split in two: the innie version who exists only at work and the outie who lives an otherwise normal life outside its walls. If you don’t remember where we left off, here’s a handy refresher now that the Season 2 premiere is streaming. But it’s safe to say it was worth the wait.

The new episodes pick up in the aftermath of the shocking revelation that Helly (Britt Lower), the innie who joined Mark’s (Adam Scott) “macrodata refinement” team and spent the entire first season trying to escape Lumon’s clutches, is actually the daughter of the company’s CEO who willingly underwent...

Nostalgia baiting has become so common, it’s erupted into nano-genres all its own. Take documentary filmmaking. Where once there were arguments over what was left out, what was put in, and what constituted unbiased storytelling, now the landscape is dominated by celebrity self-profiles where viewers can consider themselves lucky if the subject of the (puff) piece isn’t also a producer with final cut. What do “Beckham,” “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” and “Sly” have to do with nostalgia? Typically, to get famous enough to merit your own “documentary,” you need a body of work that people already love — hence, even series like “The Last Dance” or films like “Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces” traffic in nostalgia, tempting viewers to revisit the glory days of such-and-such or so-and-so via interviews with the talking heads of today.

Enter: “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night,” a four-part documentary series produced by Peacock,...

To mark the 50th season of “Saturday Night Live,” putting together 90 minutes of live TV in six days — already a herculean feat — is not enough. In addition, the venerable variety show is flooding the zone with shows of its pop cultural might. On the heels of Jason Reitman’s hagiographic film “Saturday Night” and ahead of next month’s three-hour telecast from Studio 8H comes the four-part docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.” Executive produced by Oscar-winner Morgan Neville, the show is the latest prong in NBC’s full-court marketing press to celebrate the anarchic experiment turned established institution. But 50 years in, the legend of Lorne Michaels’ merry circus has already been celebrated, many times over. “SNL50” adds little to this half-century of anecdotes, oral histories and archival footage. Instead, it embellishes around the edges, making use of gimmicky formats and the access that comes with aiding a corporate PR push to dress up old chestnuts.

“Comedy slowly became rock ‘n’ roll,” says Joe Piscopo, a Saturday Night Live cast member between 1980 and 1984, in the opening episode of SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night.

The Peacock docuseries, which is exec produced by Morgan Neville, the man behind Fred Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet From Stardom and the Pharrell Williams Lego doc Piece By Piece, tells the story of the venerable NBC sketch comedy show ahead of its 50th anniversary next month.

It features a slew of cast members including Amy Poehler, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Bobby Moynihan, Bowen Yang, Cheri Oteri, David Spade, Tina Fey, Ego Nwodim, Fred Armisen, Heidi Gardner, Jason Sudeikis, Jay Pharaoh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jon Lovitz, Kenan Thompson, Molly Shannon, Pete Davidson, Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch, Will Ferrell, Billy Crystal and Damon Wayans as well as writers and producers such as Alan Zweibel, Al Franken, Harper Steele,...

In the very first minutes of Peacock’s new docuseries about NBC’s Saturday Night Live, former cast member Joe Piscopo describes it as “the biggest show ever, the biggest thing to happen to television.” And while reasonable minds could quibble over whether that’s a bit of an overstatement, it is indeed difficult to deny the series’ lasting cultural impact. And not just because it’d be churlish to nitpick a compliment on the occasion of someone’s 50th birthday, even if that “someone” is a TV program.

That attitude, self-aggrandizing and self-congratulatory but perhaps justifiably so, prevails throughout SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night. Despite the “unprecedented access” promised in marketing materials, the documentary is the exact opposite of a warts-and-all portrait; it is, instead, a glossy love letter to a hallowed institution. But it’s at least a pleasantly watchable one, thanks to its genuine enthusiasm for its subject matter,...

A new four-part docuseries will delve into the history and behind-the-scenes make-up of Saturday Night Live as the sketch show celebrates its 50th anniversary.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night will premiere on Jan. 16 on Peacock, and it’ll feature over 60 contributors, including many SNL alumni. The four episodes will each center around a different topic as a way of examining the show’s legacy and how it comes together each week.

Episode one, for instance, is called “Five Minutes” and will center around the SNL audition process (prospective cast members,...

Ahead of Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration in February, Peacock will take a deeper dive into the show’s five decades of history.

The NBCUniversal-owned platform will stream SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, a four-part series delving into the behind-the-scenes life of NBC’s long-running sketch comedy show, on Jan. 16. Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?) is among the executive producers of the project, which will feature a number of SNL alumni and a trove of previously unseen footage, as the filmmakers were given unfettered access to the show’s archives.

Robert Alexander (The Shop), Marshall Curry (The Neighbors’ Window), Neil Berkeley (Harmontown) and Jason Zeldes (Ugly Delicious) directed the episodes, which will each focus on a different aspect of the show. The episodes are as follows:

“Five Minutes”: A look at the SNL audition process, featuring never-before-seen footage from past...

Ahead of the “Saturday Night Live” 50th anniversary special, Peacock is launching a four-part docuseries about the legendary sketch-comedy show titled “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.”

Streaming on Jan. 16, the docuseries will feature more than 60 contributors and “SNL” alumni, diving into various aspects of the show. The first episode, “Five Minutes,” will focus on the “SNL” audition process and feature never-before-seen footage and interviews with some of the show’s top talent. Episode 2, “Written By: A Week Inside the SNL Writers Room,” is a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the uniquely chaotic process of bringing sketches from script to screen.

The third episode of the series, “More Cowbell,” goes deep on one particular sketch from 2000 that has stood the test of time, as Blue Öyster Cult producer Bruce Dickinson (Christopher Walken) insists Gene Frenkle (Will Ferrell) play “more cowbell” during the recording of “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper.” And the final episode of the docuseries,...

Peacock will premiere the four-part docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” on Jan 16, 2025, a month before the big 50th anniversary primetime special for the legendary late night show. The “SNL” documentary series will feature over 60 contributors, including “SNL” alumni, who will extensively cover decades of the show’s history.

According to a press release, “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” will give viewers “a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most iconic hallmarks of the American late night comedy institution.” Each episode will provide brand-new insights into what was going on behind the scenes in the writer’s room and will also include footage from the show’s audition process.

“I’ve been obsessed with ‘Saturday Night Live’ as long as I can remember,” said the series executive producer Morgan Neville. “For ‘SNL50,’ I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite independent filmmakers to tell some deeper stories of ‘SNL.

A behind-the-scenes look at Saturday Night Live is coming to Peacock ahead of the show’s 50th anniversary.

The streamer will premiere SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, which comes from Morgan Neville, on January 16, 2025. This comes ahead of the 50th anniversary primetime special on February 16.

The four-part series will feature more than 60 contributors including SNL alumni.

Each episode will highlight a different element to the show including a showcase of the SNL audition process, with never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand accounts from some of the show’s most iconic names, a look at the SNL writing process from script to screen, a deep dive into the More Cowbell sketch and an exploration into SNL’s 11th season, examining the pivotal year that reset the show’s direction and cemented its enduring DNA with Lorne Michaels at the helm.

It will be directed by Robert Alexander, Marshall Curry, Neil Berkeley and Jason Zeldes.

Acclaimed documentarian Morgan Neville is honoring the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live” will docuseries “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night.”

The four-part documentary, which will be premiering on Peacock, revisits the legacy of “SNL” with more than 60 SNL alumni interviewed onscreen. The show’s most iconic moments from fan favorite sketches like “More Cowbell” to the pivotal Season 11 that catapulted the series to fame will be captured in the docuseries.

Academy and Emmy Award winner Neville executive produces the series, which is directed by a slew of award-winning helmers.

“I’ve been obsessed with ‘Saturday Night Live’ as long as I can remember,” Neville, who recently directed the Steve Martin documentary and Pharrell Williams’ Lego feature “Piece By Piece,” said in a press statement. “For ‘SNL50,’ I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite independent filmmakers to tell some deeper stories of ‘SNL.’ Taken together, these standalone...

Lynda Gravátt, the Harlem-born actress who starred on New York stages in such productions as 45 Seconds From Broadway, Doubt, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Old Settler and Intimate Apparel, has died. She was 76.

Gravátt died Friday at a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, her son David Gravátt told The Hollywood Reporter.

A founding member of Robert Alexander’s Living Stage at the famed Washington-based Arena Stage company, Gravátt received a 1999 Theatre World trophy for her performance as 1940s Harlem resident Quilly McGrath in The Old Settler and a Audelco prize in 2004 for her turn as the bossy landlady Mrs. Dickson in Intimate Apparel.

On Broadway in 2001, she stood by for Leslie Uggams as Ruby in August Wilson’s King Hedley II and portrayed Bessie James in Neil Simon’s 45 Seconds From Broadway, then appeared as Mrs. Muller in 2016 in the original Broadway production of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt.

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By now, I’ve reached the point of pity for basketball luminaries like Jerry West and Magic Johnson and Pat Riley.

Because nobody paused and said, “Do we really need this?” there must have been a two- or three-month period in which they were sitting down with a different documentary crew every other day to retell the same stories about the Showtime Lakers, the Buss family and the transition from the ’80s Lakers dynasty into the ’90s Lakers dynasty led by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Already coming after HBO did the scripted version of this story with Winning Time, we’ve been treated to Apple TV+’s They Call Me Magic, Hulu’s Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers and now we’re about to wrap 2022 with HBO’s Shaq.

On a purely practical level — and I’m a practical...

“Shaq” knows what Shaq knows: In sports, the only real truth is what you see in front of you. On a field, on a court, in a record book, what you know for sure is the result. Anything else is fodder for a narrative.

In the life of Shaquille O’Neal, there have been plenty of opportunities for mythmaking along the way. From a childhood in a military household to breakout high school and college star to a roller-coaster, Hall-of-Fame NBA career, O’Neal has a wealth of stories for every chapter. Not all of them make it into “Shaq,” the four-part doc series premiering this week on HBO, but you could hardly ask for a better tour guide through a life that’s spanned the worlds of TV, movies, music, advertising, and, yes, basketball.

Director Robert Alexander knows that it’s not enough to just rely on a charismatic central...

HBO’s upcoming documentary series on Shaquille O’Neal has been given a Nov. 23 premiere date, Variety has learned.

The four-part docuseries will span four weeks, with new episodes airing each Wednesday at 9 p.m. Et/Pt on HBO. Viewers will also be able to stream on HBO Max.

Hailing from director Robert Alexander, “Shaq” details the life of the legendary Lakers champion O’Neal from sports phenom to cultural figure. Per HBO, the doc “chronicles Shaq’s ascent to superstardom, as a dominant force who won four NBA championships, league Mvp honors, and changed the game. It also encompasses his life off the court, from his upbringing in a military family to his deepest personal relationships and prosperous broadcasting and business careers.”

“We kept this documentary real from the start, and I do feel like it is the most honest look into my life and career up until this point.

Exclusive: Robert Alexander and his company Hardware Studio have signed with CAA for representation.

Alexander is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer who works in documentary and narrative, and leads a number of production teams at the executive level. He is the CEO of Hardware Studio, a full-service company that produces documentary, narrative, and premium photography content. He founded the company alongside Katy Murakami.

Alexander is the director of HBO’s The Shop, where he works alongside LeBron James and Maverick Carter. He also directed and produced A Man Named Scott, the Kid Cudi documentary for Amazon.

He also has numerous consulting-producer credits, including Jagged, Listening to Kenny G, and Don’t Try to Understand It: A Year in the Life of Earl “Dmx” Simmons.