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A funny thing happened to George Foreman after winning the heavyweight boxing title for a second time, setting a record as the world’s oldest heavyweight champ. The man famous for his brutal reputation in the ring became an unlikely comedy star.

Foreman, who passed away last week at the age of 76, was a regular guest on Late Night with David Letterman in the 1980s, charming viewers with a perpetual smile that undercut the surly pugilist persona everyone knew from his bouts with Muhammad Ali and George Frazier.

In particular, Foreman had a humble sense of humor about his weight, which tended to balloon between bouts. “What are you going to do for Thanksgiving?” Letterman might ask.

“Eat,” Foreman would respond with a grin. That reputation as a man who knew his way around the dinner table led to the George Foreman Grill, the device that sold a mind-boggling 100 million...

Critics have written off Saturday Night Live as “Saturday Night Dead” countless times over the past half-century. But the haters always underestimate the genius of Lorne Michaels and the show’s undying cultural capital that has us hardwired to tune our TVs to NBC every Saturday night. (Or at least catch up on clips come Sunday morning.) SNL has endured through the lowest lows of the Joe Piscopo era, endless “Mango” sketches in the 1990s, and recent hosting stints by Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Over all that time, it...

The list of Saturday Night Live’s all-time greatest cast members doesn’t exactly match up with the roster of comedians who’ve appeared in the most episodes. More than half of the 10 longest-tenured SNL comics — Kenan Thompson, Colin Jost, Michael Che, Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong and Aidy Bryant all lasted double-digit seasons — appeared in the 2020s.

This is new. This is weird. Why don’t cast members want to leave the show anymore?

Chevy Chase couldn’t wait to go. After one year of SNL success, he was hungry to try his hand at the movies. Bill Murray, John Belushi and Eddie Murphy jumped ship after four seasons. No one wanted Tina Fey to leave, say James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales in their book Live From New York, “but as the saying goes, It Was Time.”

Will it ever be time for Thompson, now hanging out for 22 seasons and counting?...

Saturday Night Live is getting nostalgic ahead of its 50th anniversary.

NBC will air the first ever episode of the show on February 15 at 11:30pm Et, the night before it premieres SNL50: The Anniversary Special.

Originally titled NBC’s Saturday Night, the episode aired on October 11, 1975 with George Carlin as host and Billy Preston and Janice Ian as musical guests.

The episode featured a cast including Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner.

It was this episode that served as the entrance to Jason Reitman’s recent feature film Saturday Night.

The cold open feature Belushi as a foreign man learning English, being taught by writer Michael O’Donoghue, before Chase appeared with a headset on to shout “Live From New York, It’s Saturday Night” for the first time.

Carlin performed stand up including three monologues but did not appear in any sketches,...

Even the most original shows aren’t created from nothing. Saturday Night Live, like every comedy show before or since, can point to funny ancestors that helped draw up the blueprint for its success. Here are five comedy classics that formed the template for the show that became SNL…

[subtitle]1Your Show of Shows [/subtitle]

“Saturday Night Live always had its roots showing,” wrote Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller in their oral history Live From New York. Those roots began in the golden era of live TV in New York, especially Your Show of Shows featuring Sid Caesar and his troupe. The comedy was enhanced by the thrill of the live broadcast, a “this is happening now!” quality that had disappeared from television before SNL brought it back in 1975.

When Dick Ebersol made his initial Saturday Night pitch to NBC, Your Show of Shows was one of his examples of what SNL would try to emulate,...

The Brady Bunch has risen from the television dead several times over the past 50 years, but you can blame only one reincarnation on Thirtysomething. That’s 1990’s The Bradys (or Bradysomething as some critics derided it), an ill-advised attempt to turn the kid-centric sitcom into a sophisticated yuppie drama. Spoiler alert: Like all Brady spin-offs, reboots and cash grabs, it was absolutely terrible.

What was the new show about? As always, viewers could turn to the theme song for the lowdown. Even though the reboot only lasted a month before it was canceled, it somehow went through three versions of the song — impressive! The last one is the best, with histrionic Florence Henderson warbling an impossibly earnest update of the lyrics:

Here's the story

Of the family Brady

A mom and dad with all their children grown

Our kids are now pursuing their dreams

With families of their own

When our kids were small,...

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The late-night sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live" is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. With five decades of television history behind "SNL," it should come as no surprise that there has been plenty of drama behind the scenes. Aside from all the chaos depicted in Jason Reitman's movie "Saturday Night," depicting the evening of the show's premiere back in October 1975, the early seasons of "SNL" sparked a lot of tension backstage, especially when the series became a hit, and previously unknown comedians started becoming famous.

Chevy Chase was the first and biggest benefactor of the success of "SNL" right out of the gate, largely because, as the host of the news satire Weekend Update segment, he was the only one saying his name on the show on a regular basis. As has been recounted by many who worked at "SNL,...

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.

Back in March 1975, TV viewers were thoroughly blindsided by the shocking death of MASHs Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, in what became one of the show's most shocking plot twists. Played by McLean Stevenson, Blake was the lovable and usually bumbling commanding officer of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, best known for his laid-back, yet compassionate leadership style and an all-consuming love for fishing. Blakes warm demeanor compared to some of Mash's other characters helped balance the rigors of war all around the dark edges of the show during its first three seasons.

The season 3 finale, "Abyssinia, Henry," opens with the happy news that Blake has earned his necessary rotation points and is receiving his long-awaited discharge. The mood is celebratory and upbeat, seasoned with poignant goodbyes. As he preps for a return to his hometown of Bloomington, Illinois, Blake bounces between disbelief and joy, revealing how much hes...

This article contains discussion of addiction.

2024 has been a really huge year for "Saturday Night Live," the sketch comedy institution that operates out of Studio 8 in New York City's famous 30 Rockefeller Center. With the show entering its 50th season during its September premiere -- which brought Emmy-winning "Hacks" star Jean Smart on board as a host -- and a major election this year providing plenty of material week after week, more eyes are on Lorne Michaels' 90-minute late-night show than ever. Not only that, but Jason Reitman's film "Saturday Night," which focuses on the show's humble beginnings and its messy, chaotic 1975 premiere, releases on October 11 (the anniversary of the "Saturday Night Live" series premiere). 

It feels like Michaels and company are pulling out all the stops this fall to celebrate the show -- John Mulaney (one of the most popular hosts in recent memory) will star in an upcoming episode,...

Plot: In the ninety minutes before the live airing of the first episode of Saturday Night Live, a young Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) desperately tries to keep NBC from pulling the plug while dealing with a cast, writers and crew in open rebellion.

Review: Comedy would be very different nowadays if not for Saturday Night Live‘s impact. Most noteworthy comedy film stars of the last four decades emerged from their ranks, and nearly fifty years since its premiere, it remains as vital as ever. Yet, the making of the show itself had become an almost mythological tale, with it a known fact that the young Lorne Michaels had to overcome overwhelming odds to make the show in the first place.

What Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night does is that it distills most of the big challenges Michaels had to overcome into one ninety-minute period. It’s a conceit that...

What can we say about Chevy Chase on his 81st birthday that we haven’t already said before?

Here’s the good news: We don’t have to say it. After decades of burning down every bridge in sight, it was no problem to find 81 burns to light the candles on his cake. Below is a birthday portrait of the man of the hour, courtesy of the co-workers, directors and other unfortunates who’ve worked with Chase over the years.

1 Will Ferrell

“The worst (SNL) host was Chevy Chase.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

2 Buck Henry

“I thought Chevy shouldn’t have left (SNL). I thought it was really stupid.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

3 John Carpenter 4 Director Kevin Smith

“Chevy went on to claim he invented every funny thing that ever happened in the history of not just comedy,...

Saturday Night, the highly-anticipated new film from director Jason Reitman, chronicles the frenzied production of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. Studio 8H was complete and utter chaos on the night of October 11, 1975; there were fistfights, near fatal accidents, contract disputes, at least one incident of indecent exposure, and on top of everything else, producer Lorne Michaels seemed to have no idea what his show was supposed to be.

At one point, Michaels violently tore his scene cards off of the wall out of frustration, and the network threatened to bump the ill-prepared comic upstarts from their time slot, and replace them with a rerun of Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show, mere moments before the show was scheduled to air.

At least that’s how it happened in the movie. Which wasn’t exactly 100 percent true to life, it seems.

Play

The New York Times recently spoke...

This past weekend, Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night premiered at the Telluride film festival, and has been mostly earning praise from critics, including some rumblings of possible Oscar contention. Although at least one review wasn’t so kind, calling it “109 minutes of tedious SNL cosplay.”

While much of the movie is being heralded for its apparent authenticity, as Vulture’s review revealed, there are a few moments that seem out of step with the historical record, including a scene in which Lorne Michaels receives a threatening phone call from Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, who calls the SNL producer a “benchwarmer” and “a stalking horse.”

Rolling Stone also noted in their review that the movie version of Michaels only landed the 11:30 p.m. Saturday night time slot “because NBC was beefing with Johnny Carson, and this was supposed to be the network’s way of gaining leverage in their negotiations with him.

Note: this article contains detailed discussions of sexual assault.

Norman Lear's seminal sitcom "All in the Family" was known for bringing laughs and thought-provoking discussions, but a 1977 episode entitled "Edith's 50th Birthday" was an outlier. Instead of a comedy, the two-parter felt like a horror show, one with a gravely serious topic: rape. In it, family matriarch Edith Bunker (Jean Stapleton) survives a harrowing, extended assault attempt by a stranger and is forced to muddle through the aftermath of intense trauma. It's a dark point for the series, but it's one that show creator Lear said elicited the strongest live-action response of any moment in the show's nine-season run.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Lear (who died at the age of 101 in 2023) was asked to recall the biggest audience uproar in the show's history. "I never heard a bigger sound on television than when Edith got...

Jeff Margolis will never forget his first time directing the Academy Awards — we won’t let him.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the 61st Academy Awards. You may not remember that “Rain Man” won Best Picture, Barry Levinson Best Director, Dustin Hoffman Best Actor, and Jodie Foster Best Actress for “The Accused.” But seared into our collective subconscious is the production number that opened the show — already, you’re cringing at the thought — featuring Snow White and Rob Lowe.

To this day, clickbait headlines (from The Guardian in 2019: “How Snow White and Some Coconuts Killed the 1989 Oscars”) are a testament to that debacle’s enduring legacy. Hollywood, nor the world, had never seen anything like it, which was kind of the whole point of the thing, according to Margolis, who spoke to IndieWire about his memories of what Collider just last year proclaimed, “the worst moment in Oscars history…...

Tom Shales, a Pulitzer-winning television critic at the Washington Post who spent nearly 40 years at the publication, has died. He was 79.

Shales died Saturday at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va., from complications due to Covid-19 and renal failure, his caretaker, Victor Herfurth, told the Washington Post.

Shales began his career as the Post’s chief TV critic in 1977, and was known for his incisive and sharp commentary on various forms of television such as cable dramas, network sitcoms, nature documentaries and late-night shows. He was first hired by the Post in 1972 as a style writer.

In 1988, Shales won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, becoming the fourth TV reviewer to earn the honor in journalism.

Shales took a buyout from the Washington Post in 2006, but remained on contract for an additional four years, according to the paper, “before being, in his view, unceremoniously edged out because of a salary of about $400,000 per year.

Tom Shales, a Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic for The Washington Post who spent nearly 40 years at the newspaper, has died. He was 79.

He passed away on Saturday at a hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia, from complications due to Covid-19 and renal failure, his caretaker, Victor Herfurth, told The Post.

Shales began his decades-long career as the chief TV critic for the newspaper in 1977 after spending five years there as a writer for its style section. Over the course of his time there, he became known for his sharp commentary on television, stars, trends, network executives and more.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1988, becoming only the fourth TV reviewer at the time to earn that honor in journalism. He reviewed everything from late night shows to nature documentaries, cable dramas to network sitcoms.

In 2006, Shales took a buyout from The Post but remained on contract with the paper...

Tom Shales, a Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic for The Washington Post, died Jan. 13 at a hospital in Fairfax County, Va. He was 79.

The cause was complications from covid and renal failure, said his caretaker, Victor Herfurth.

As The Post’s chief TV critic starting in 1977, his column was widely syndicated, bringing him national attention and influence.

Shales covered of all forms of the medium, from nature documentaries to late-night talk shows, network sitcoms to cable dramas.

In 1988, he won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, the fourth TV reviewer to earn the top prize in journalism. He was an early advocate for cable TV.

In addition to his work for The Post, he wrote for TelevisionWeek, Huffington Post (now the HuffPost) and Roger Ebert’s website about film and television. His books included Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002) and Those Guys Have All the Fun:...

In Entertainment Weekly's 1993 cover story on Moose, the beloved Jack Russell Terrier that played Eddie on "Frasier," the dog was described as "the hottest pooch to be unleashed on the airwaves in years." The story itself was proof of Moose's popularity — what other TV pet was getting an EW cover story? On the show, Eddie belonged to Frasier's dad, Martin (John Mahoney), and was just as beloved by the characters in the series as he was by the audience. The only character that wasn't too fond of Eddie was Dr. Frasier Crane himself.

Moose appeared in 192 episodes of "Fraiser," with his son, Enzo, also standing in as Eddie in the later seasons. As such, he was arguably just as integral a part of the series as any other member of the ensemble cast, and one of the best characters on "Frasier." However, in the world of the show itself, Frasier...

The idiom “national treasure” tends to get thrown around quite a bit in the entertainment-journalism sphere, but no one is more worthy of it than Julia Louis-Dreyfus. After all, she’s appeared in two of the greatest television comedies ever in Seinfeld and Veep, cut her teeth on Saturday Night Live, is now a ubiquitous presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and has won the most Primetime Emmys of any actor (eight, tying Cloris Leachman for the distinction).

She’s now mainly focusing her attention to film.

Toronto’s favorite son turns his eye toward New York, and back to 1975 for his next project. Jason Reitman is currently producing the next “Ghostbusters” picture with director and co-writer Gil Kenan and leads Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon, but he’s got his next project lined up at Sony Pictures.

As per Deadline, the “Juno” and “Up in the Air” director will be back behind the camera for an untitled “Saturday Night Live” opening night project. Kenan will co-write the script.

Casting has not been announced, but somebody out there is (probably) going to be playing producer Lorne Michaels and first-episode cast members like Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and Garrett Morris. Also, potentially, writers like Michael O’Donoghue, Al Franken, Anne Beatts, Alan Zweibel, and others. The first guest on “SNL” was George Carlin so maybe someone will be doing an impression of the comedian during his “Toledo Window Box” era,...

For a live television show that is assembled on the fly over a six-day period, "Saturday Night Live" has suffered remarkably few on-air disasters. The f-bomb has been uttered more than a few times, Jimmy Fallon used to co-host the Weekend Update, and there was the whole Ashlee Simpson lip synching snafu. But SNL, overall, goes on as it must.

This doesn't mean every episode has been a party. If you've read Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad's "Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live" or Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller's "Live from New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live as Told by Its Stars, Writers and Guests," you know there've been behind-the-scenes scraps, scrapes, and scenic malfunctions. Worst of all, there have been multiple lousy guest hosts: stars who didn't get the show or bristled against its collaborative nature. Madonna, Steven Seagal,...

When "Saturday Night Live" hit NBC's airwaves on October 11, 1975, at 11:30 p.m. Edt, numerous broadcast standards were about to be skirted if not outright flouted. Lorne Michaels had assembled a supremely talented cast of Baby Boomer comedic performers and Chevy Chase to, hopefully, transform the once undesirable time slot into a must-watch 90 minutes for people who were busy closing bars or turning in early on their last night off for the weekend.

Michaels needed everything to feel counterintuitive, if not ragged. It was a bracing olio of sketches, music performances (from Billy Preston and Janis Ian), pre-filmed bits, and Jim Henson's proto-Muppet project, "The Land of Gorch." There'd never been anything like it on American television, and the first episode evoked enough laughs to keep viewers coming back for more.

The debut episode's ace in the hole was George Carlin. The brilliant stand-up comic had become a...

When "Saturday Night Live" hit NBC's airwaves on October 11, 1975, expectations were tempered. With its 11:30 Pm time slot and cast of fringe comedy talents, the show was a hedged bet. If the Nielsen ratings were poor, it'd be exceedingly easy for the network to pull the plug after a few episodes.

Everyone from creator Lorne Michaels on down were confident that they'd pulled together something special, if not revolutionary, but they were also concerned that their target audience might not show up. There was also the matter of executing a live television show with a bunch of boob-tube neophytes. There were so many moving pieces that had to click into place, and zero leeway for mistakes. One slip-up could set off a domino effect of snafus, resulting in a live TV debacle for the ages.

As the premiere approached, the cast members mulled their uncertain future. They believed in their work,...

Bill Murray was such an integral part of the success of "Saturday Night Live" that many people will assert he was there for the entirety of the show's pioneering first five seasons. He was a member of the "National Lampoon Radio Hour" ensemble that included John Belushi, Gilda Radner, and Chevy Chase, and left an indelible mark on SNL as trend-chasing Nick the Lounge Singer and Todd DILAMuca, the noogie-administering boyfriend of Radner's Lisa Loopner.

Murray, however, was effectively red-shirted for the first season of SNL. Though he was clearly, abundantly talented enough to crack the first season's lineup, producer Lorne Michaels, who was overseeing NBC's late Saturday night experiment, had to kill a darling or two at the last second to appease the network's miserly budgeting. The 25-year-old Murray wound up being the odd oddball out.

Not Quite Ready For The Not Ready For Prime Time Players

According...

When Lorne Michaels set out to shake up the late-night television landscape with "Saturday Night Live," there were certain, long-standing traditions he was willing to observe. One of those was the assemblage of a house band. Though the show wasted no time filling America's living rooms with the provocative music of Gil Scott-Heron, Jimmy Cliff, and Frank Zappa, the Saturday Night Live Band was an impressive if unexciting assortment of solid session musicians. And the man who brought them together was a then relatively unknown composer named Howard Shore.

The Toronto-born Shore had the inside track to the gig thanks to a friendship with Michaels that stretched back to summer camp. But while Shore had made a name for himself via the jazz fusion band Lighthouse and his score for magician Doug Henning's popular stage show "Spellbound" (which eventually transferred to Broadway as "The Magic Show"), he wasn't overly...

Lorne Michael's sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" debuted in 1975 and, despite many, many ups and downs, has remained a television staple ever since. "SNL" launched so many comedians' careers, it would take too much space to list them all here. Needless to say, the series was and is a springboard for superstars, and many cast members have gone on to appear in numerous blockbuster movies and TV shows after their stints.

For the purposes of this article, Canadian performer Dan Aykroyd will be our focus. Prior to "SNL," Aykroyd appeared in a sketch comedy show called "The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour" starring Michaels and his comedy partner Hart Pomerantz. The show also featured Andrea Martin and Victor Garber. Michaels and Aykroyd would move together over to "SNL" shortly thereafter, and Aykroyd, initially hired as a writer, quickly joined the cast as well. He would remain a regular cast...

John Belushi was a force of comedic nature. He made a name for himself in the early 1970s via his raucously hilarious bits in "National Lampoon's Lemmings," an Off-Broadway showcase for up-and-coming talents like Christopher Guest, Chevy Chase, and Tony Hendra. He also joined as a cast member of the "National Lampoon Radio Hour" alongside Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis. He slayed in the former when he broke out his hilariously spot-on parody of Joe Cocker, and seemed on the cusp of New York City theater stardom at the same time Lorne Michaels began assembling the cast for a wild swing of a variety show called "NBC's Saturday Night."

Michaels' vision appeared doomed at the outset. How was a show pitched at hip young folks going to find an audience in an 11:30 Pm time slot, i.e. the exact hour most of these people were carousing at bars and parties?...

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

"Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return"First "Andor" ClipNew "Star Wars Jedi" Books RevealedMarvel's Upcoming "Star Wars" ComicsAnd More!Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return

"Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi's Return," a new documentary that chronicles the making of the Disney+ series, arrives on September 8 (Disney+ Day). The documentary will feature behind-the-scenes footage and new interviews with Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, director Deborah Chow, and more. Check out the official trailer above!

First Andor Clip

Lucasfilm has released the first clip from "Andor," which you can check out above. Titled "Steal from the Empire," the clip shows the first meeting between Diego Luna's Cassian Andor and Stellen Skarsgård's Luthen Rael. The three-episode premiere begins streaming September 21 on Disney+.

New Star Wars Jedi Books Revealed

Lucasfilm recently announced two major book releases tied to the "Star Wars Jedi" game series. First, there's "Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars,...

Ken Aymong, a key producer at NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” who has helped maintain the business of the venerable late-night program for more than three decades, is stepping down from his post.

The cast nodded to Aymong’s departure early Sunday morning during the final minutes of the first episode of “SNL’s” 47th season, with Colin Jost holding up a placard that read, “We’ll miss you, Ken.” Aymong has decided to retire, according to a person familiar with the matter, after joining the program in the mid-1980s.

Aymong has been a key lieutenant of executive producer Lorne Michaels for many years, along with current and former producers like Erik Kenward, Steve Higgins, Lindsay Shookus, Erin Doyle, Mike Shoemaker and Marci Klein. Others deal with booking guests, managing talent and keeping the sketches moving from idea to script. Aymong has long kept his eye on the flow...

Exclusive: Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert are to be the subject of a narrative documentary podcast series.

The Spotify Original series Gene & Roger comes from Bill Simmon’s The Ringer and host Brian Raftery. The series will document their rise with a focus on the cultural footprint they left behind.

The pair, known for their Thumps Up, Thumbs Down reviews will chronicle their lives and careers and feature never-before-heard commentary and sound bites from Siskel and Ebert and those closest to them. Ebert died in 2013 and Siskel died in 1999.

Guests will include Siskel’s widow Marlene Iglitzen, Ebert’s widow Chaz Ebert, Quentin Tarantino, Tom Shales, Justin Lin, Carrie Rickey, Thea Flaum, Nancy De Los Santos, Ray Solley, Ramin Bahrani, Carie Lovstad, Jesse Beaton, Richard Roeper, Erik Rydholm and David Price.

The eight-episode series, which will launch on July 20, is produced by Noah Malale and Bobby Wagner.

Raftery has written for Wired,...

You don’t have to be perpetually “live, from New York” to flourish these days at “Saturday Night Live.”

In years past, the show’s cast members focused their all on the venerable late-night program and, when outside opportunity knocked or contracts ran out or media economics forced a tightening of the group, they left. This season has provided the clearest indication yet that those rules are changing: cast members are increasingly taking on new projects even as they continue with the NBC show.

On Thursday, HBO Max will launch a six-episode comedy-sketch series led by Michael Che, who also happens to be one of the head writers at “SNL” and a co-host of the program’s long-running “Weekend Update” segment. “That Damn Michael Che” will feature appearances by other “SNL” cast members, including Cecily Strong, Heidi Gardner and Colin Jost. How did Che launch his own series and keep...

The most politically fraught part of the Oscars these days seems to be the choice of a host. Whoever ends up hosting is seen as a representative of the whole American film industry to the entire world, and every aspect of their personal beliefs and public statements are dissected and examined on social media. Naturally, a lot of people who get asked to host are reluctant to take up the responsibility. Billy Crystal is one of the most successful Oscar hosts in the history of the organization, but even he admitted in a recent interview that he would be hesitant to take the job nowadays.

"No, they haven't [asked me to host the Oscars], but that's okay. I had nine wonderful experiences for me, some better than the others. But most of them were really wonderful experiences, to host a show and be funny and keep the audience awake, both at home and in the audience.

Among Oscars hosts, few are as beloved as nine-time emcee Billy Crystal. Over the years, Crystal received critical and commercial adulation, as well as four Emmys, for his work on the big stage, but to do it again? Eh, not so much. Asked if Oscars brass had asked him back in recent years, Crystal told IndieWire during a recent interview, “No, they haven’t, but that’s okay.”

It’s a few days before the 2021 Oscars ceremony, and Crystal is promoting “Here Today,” a dramedy he co-wrote and stars in opposite Tiffany Haddish; it also represents the first time he’s directed a theatrical feature since “Forget Paris” in 1995. (Sony releases “Here Today” in theaters on May 7.) The last time Crystal hosted was when he stepped in after Eddie Murphy dropped out. The Oscars have had no host since Jimmy Kimmel in 2018, and Crystal said that today it’s an almost impossible role to fulfill.

James Franco is in negotiations to direct the movie “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” for Focus Features.

The project is based on the 2011 book of the same name by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, which recapped the formation of the sports network, based on interviews with more than 500 people. ESPN was launched in 1979 by Bill Rasmussen and his son Scott as the world’s first 24-hour cable TV network. It saw success by telecasting the early rounds of the Ncaa basketball tournament and the NFL Draft.

“Halt and Catch Fire” co-creator Christopher C. Rogers has been hired to re-write the script. Miller was tapped to adapt the script in 2015. Michael De Luca, Jamie Patricof, and Julie Yorn are producing the film.

Franco produced, directed, and starred in “The Disaster Artist,” which received strong reviews and earned one Academy Award nomination for adapted screenplay...

James Franco is reportedly in talks to direct an upcoming adaptation of James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales’ 2011 nonfiction book “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN” (via Collider). The book provides an oral history of the creation of ESPN, the network that has dominated sports news since its creation in 1979. Collider reports Focus Features is behind the project.

In addition to Franco being eyed to direct, “Halt and Catch Fire” co-creator Christopher C. Rogers is being tapped to rewrite the script. The story centers around the efforts made by ESPN creator Bill Rasmussen and his son, Scott, to launch the 24-hour sports network. Bennett Miller was originally hired to write the screenplay in 2015, which is described as being in the same vein as “Moneyball” and “The Social Network.”

The report is notable since Franco has not announced any major directing projects since being accused of sexual misconduct in January.

Back in 2011, authors James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales released a book titled Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN that chronicled the formation of the powerhouse sports network in oral history form. It caused something of a stir in Bristol, and the following news may as well, as Collider has exclusively learned that James Franco is in negotiations to direct an adaptation of the book for Focus Features. Collider has also learned that Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher C. Rogers has been tapped to rewrite the script, which will follow Bill Rasmussen, …...

James Franco is in negotiations to direct Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN at Focus Features, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The project is based on a 2011 book James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales that offered an exhaustive chronicle of the birth of the now ubiquitous sports network, told through some 500 interviews with current and former staffers.

Although Franco sometimes appears in the movies he directs, he is not expected to take a role in Those Guys Have All the Fun.

Franco, who has stayed just as busy as a director as an actor in ...

James Franco is in negotiations to direct Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN at Focus Features, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The project is based on the 2011 book of the same name by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales, which offered an exhaustive chronicle of the birth of the now-ubiquitous sports network, told through some 500 interviews with current and former staffers.

Although Franco sometimes appears in the movies he helms, he is not expected to take a role in Those Guys Have All the Fun.

Franco, who has stayed just as busy as a director ...

God bless Gilda Radner for having the foresight to know that people wanted to know her. In Lisa D’Apolito’s intimate new documentary, it’s the late, beloved comedian and original “Saturday Night Live” breakout star who gets to tell her own story. Aided by a trove of diary-style audio tapes that serve as voiceover narration and reams of handwritten pages, the woman behind Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella opens up about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

By no means a vanity project — Radner’s diaries are as clear-eyed as anything when it comes to her struggles involving fame, relationships, and her health — “Love, Gilda” offers the kind of keen personal insight that few documentaries can pull off.

D’Apolito directed the film with the full support of Radner’s estate — when she introduced the film at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, where it kicked off...

Exclusive: The long-gestating film about the early days of Espn has added James Andrew Miller as screenwriter, Focus Features confirmed. Miller is author with former Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales of Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World Of Espn, an exhaustive chronicle of the sports giant’s rise and reign, featuring such very big personalities as Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Stuart Scott and Chris Berman. Focus confirmed the news after Miller acknowledged…...

The world premiere of "Live From New York!," Bao Nguyen's documentary exploring 40 years of American politics, tragedy and popular culture through the comedic lens of the television institution, will open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday, April 15. "'SNL's' contribution to the arts and to pop culture has been — and continues to be — groundbreaking, and 'Live From New York!' offers an inside look at the show's inimitable ability to both reflect and impact American news, history and culture," said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival. "This is the story of a creative journey from pilot to institution and a tribute to the moments that kept us laughing and talking long after the episodes aired." Rosenthal's partner Robert De Niro added that the selection is "personally gratifying…having hosted 'SNL' three times, and guested on several occasions." Nguyen's film explores the early years of the show,...

On the eve of its 40th anniversary special (though the anniversary itself isn't until October), what is left to say about "Saturday Night Live"? There have been multiple books written about the show, several documentaries, countless essays — riding the never-ending roller-coaster between "Saturday Night Dead" and "Saturday Night Lives Again!" — best-ofs, worst-ofs, and every other kind of list you can think of. I don't know that anything I write over the next few pages will provide new insight into one of the most influential comedy shows ever made, but I wondered if you could tell the story of the show — through good times and bad, through revolutions and evolutions and retrenchments — by looking at its sketches. I wound up picking 21 in all: some among the show's most famous, some obscure but important. These aren't meant as a definitive breakdown of the best "SNL" ever had to offer, but as a...

Chris Rock—writer, director, actor, comedian, Emmy winner, Grammy winner, former Oscar host, and all-around likable dude despite his tendency to make Grown Ups movies—is hosting SNL Saturday night, for only the second time ever, and the first time since 1996. (At the time, Rock was only a few years removed from being a cast member on Saturday Night Live himself.) But you'd barely know this going by the episode's two sets of promos—both of which focus exclusively on how exciting it is that Prince is also coming back to Studio 8H. (The Purple One hasn't been on Saturday Night Live in awhile either,...

Sunday Update: Click over to read Hillary Busis' full recap of Sarah Silverman's episode as SNL host. Original Post: The perfect way to wind down after Yom Kippur? By watching an episode of SNL that features two famous Members of the Tribe, of course. (And, you know, the other guys in Maroon 5.) Count on host Sarah Silverman to bring up her Jewish heritage early and often when she takes the stage for the first time as host tonight. You can also expect her to focus her monologue on two facts: One, that Silverman was a writer and featured...

In 2002, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales released Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. For fans of the show both devoted and casual, the oral history was an incredible read — full of great stories from the show's raucous early years and beyond. Miller has updated the book, a new version of which comes out today, with interviews from more recent cast members. Vulture's Jesse David Fox spoke with Miller about how times have changed on the show since the first book came out and whether or not SNL could survive if Lorne Michaels ever left.How has SNL changed — in terms of content, but also behind the scenes — since the book first came out 12 years ago? There’s probably three headlines here. One is obviously the emergence of women in a different way. There’s always been powerful female cast members on Saturday Night...

In 2002, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales released Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. For fans of the show both devoted and casual, the oral history was an incredible read — full of great stories from the show's raucous early years and beyond. Miller has updated the book, a new version of which comes out today, with interviews from more recent cast members. Vulture's Jesse David Fox spoke with Miller about how times have changed on the show since the first book came out and whether or not SNL could survive if Lorne Michaels ever left.How has SNL changed — in terms of content, but also behind the scenes — since the book first came out 12 years ago? There’s probably three headlines here. One is obviously the emergence of women in a different way. There’s always been powerful female cast members on Saturday Night...

In 2002, James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales released Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. For fans of the show both devoted and casual, the oral history was an incredible read — full of great stories from the show's raucous early years and beyond. Miller has updated the book, a new version of which comes out on September 9, with interviews from more recent cast members. In this excerpt, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and Lorne Michaels discuss Wiig's emotional, Rolling Stones–soundtracked farewell.Considering all the dozens of cast members who’ve left Saturday Night Live since the first group packed up and followed Lorne Michaels out the door in 1980, it would have been virtually impossible to make a fuss every time somebody split. How did it happen, then, that in May of 2012, cast and crew said elaborate and tearful good-byes to Kristen Wiig in an...

Bill Hader was left less than impressed when Justin Bieber came on to host Saturday Night Live earlier this year.

Bill Hader Slams Justin Bieber

Hader names Bieber as won of the worst hosts he worked with during his lengthy tenure on Saturday Night Live in the new edition of Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live , written by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales.

“I really didn’t enjoy having Justin Bieber around,” Hader admits in the tell-all, according to the New York Post. “He’s the only one who lived up to the reputation. I think that’s the only time I felt that way in eight years.”

Hader’s opinion was shared by other members of the SNL cast who worked with the pop singer. Kate McKinnon, for one, noted that he wasn’t the best sport when it came to weathering an impression of himself.