The Not Ready for Prime Time Project: An SNL Retrospective

The Early Years of SNL: Saturday Night Live's Original Era (Part 1)

We made it! Our look back on the original era of Saturday Night Live comes to a close. We’ve revisited every episode, talked about every sketch, discussed every host and musical guest, and explored the behind-the-scenes stories that brought this iconic show to life. In this first part of our retrospective of “The Early Years of SNL,” we look back on why we set out on this journey in the first place and look to answer if we succeeded in our goals. We discuss what we enjoyed the most about the process, what we learned, and what surprised us. We take a moment to celebrate some of the writers that were responsible for some of the most iconic and classic sketches and characters in the show’s history and – finally – look back at the legendary cast. We discuss all the classic characters we loved, the iconic impressions that blew us away, and shine the spotlight one last time on the group that went from “not ready for prime time” to larger than life in just a few short years. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media:  Twitter: @NR4PTProject  [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

Deep Thoughts: SNL Without Lorne Michaels

A companion to our discussion about the end of the original era of SNL, we talk with biographer Susan Morrison about Lorne Michaels’ side of things. Susan joins us to discuss Lorne’s mindset going into Season Five, how much he (like everyone else) was looking towards life beyond Saturday Night Live, and where NBC’s decision - made behind his back - to move on without him left him. Susan helps explain the thinking behind Lorne’s need to put the show on an extended break, his (naïve) belief that the show was actually his, and how he eventually learned of NBC’s decision to move on without him – while in a honky-tonk bar in Texas. We discuss Lorne’s attempt at getting into movies and how that unsuccessful foray eventually led him back to where it all started – television. Susan talks both about The New Show (which she had personal experience with) and the reasons behind Lorne’s decision to return to Saturday Night Live when asked by NBC after its 10th season.   --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media:  Twitter: @NR4PTProject  [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

Deep Thoughts: The End of SNL?

Why did Lorne Michaels leave SNL? How hard did NBC try to keep him? Did a future US senator really sabotage everything? Saturday Night Live historians and authors Doug Hill & Jeff Weingrad join us once again to answer these questions (and more) as we look back on the end of SNL’s original era. Beginning with Season Four (which they would argue was the beginning of the end), we connect the dots as to what brought about the eventual end of Lorne Michaels’ original run of the show.  Doug and Jeff take us inside the negotiations between Lorne & the network, try to make sense of NBC’s decision to replace him with Jean Doumanian, and explain the outlook everyone had heading into Season Six. From exhaustion and failed prime time deals, to a bitter (and personal) contract negotiation and an infamous Weekend Update piece that just might have killed the whole deal, we examine all that went into one of the biggest turning points in Saturday Night Live history – one that was made behind the back of its creator, Lorne Michaels. If for some reason you haven't gotten a copy of Doug & Jeff's book, Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live you can get it HERE [https://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Night-Backstage-History-Live/dp/1611877091/ref=sr_1_1?crid=U7IN90N8ZXLT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.bIXonS03xHEwU4pTznJeL0LUi4v-vCk_IOVwj2FU7MT1bn2Y0bKehmb-vsp7PbPd7VqrLJQrSu2QqBN70zoX3Ay48kxDYVBKHI76WHHAVKdJIt1StjrAhD5BZcJw_mAyhpS4iPN7euqrri4IotBcxEmRU6N3AzWxiYL9gck8a2SCU6g2iNMPGfWpL1xyJKaj7TGWzefqj4RlmwvKrDDx5VF3vC9zEK0EE_iZ3I_i3ko.mkT8b_sapGqNCxSbk5GU_srPbJeLNwiV7RX7Z2zz7VY&dib_tag=se&keywords=doug+hill&qid=1773596724&sprefix=doug+hill%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1], or anywhere you buy books. --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media: Twitter: @NR4PTProject [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

Bill Swerski's Tournament Talk: Best Bits of SNL's Original Era

As we bring our look back on the first five years of SNL to a close, we rounded up some of our favorite and most knowledgeable guests for a very special Tournament Talk. Together, they help us discuss and debate the “Best Bits” of Saturday Night Live’s original era. Five years, over one hundred episodes, and a countless number of sketches, performances, and moments get sifted through as we look to pick out the very best. From iconic impressions and classic characters to memorable Weekend Update pieces and legendary pre-tapes, our panel takes on the near-impossible job of narrowing them all down to the very best of the best. Do you agree with what makes the final cut? What iconic and all-time favorite bits were left out (there are a few)? And did our panel succeed in crowning the champion of BEST BIT of SNL’s original era? --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media:  Twitter: @NR4PTProject  [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com

The Early Years of SNL: Season 5 Recap

Well, we made it! Season Five of Saturday Night Live has come to an end. Brad and Gary look back and discuss what they liked (and didn’t), what they learned, and what surprised them from the final season of SNL’s original era. They pick their favorite hosts and musical guests, rank the best (and worst) episodes, and – of course – pick their Best Bits of the season.  In addition, they highlight forgotten and underrated moments from the season as well as try to agree on who it was that picked up the mantle in the absence of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.  They look back at quality contributions from Harry Shearer as well as lament the too-often absence of Garrett and Laraine (and sometimes Gilda). And, after all is said and done, they try to decide if this season really is as bad as history would have you believe. The final season of “The Early Years of SNL” has come to a close. One last season wrap-up. Here we go…  --------------------------------- Subscribe & Follow today! And follow us on social media:  Twitter: @NR4PTProject  [https://twitter.com/NR4PTProject] Instagram: @nr4ptproject [https://www.instagram.com/nr4ptproject/] Bluesky: @nr4ptproject.bsky.social [http://@nr4ptproject.bsky.social] Facebook: The Not Ready for Prime Time Project [https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Project-100089010324178/] Contact Us: Website: https://www.nr4project.com [https://www.notready4ptpod.com] Email: nr4ptproject@gmail.com