Peacock’s Docuseries ‘SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night’ Continues Celebrating ‘Saturday Night Live’s’ Ongoing Fiftieth Birthday Bash
by David Lewis
Saturday Night Live launched its fiftieth season this year. You didn’t really think NBC would let you get away without a in-depth documentary series on the iconic show, did you?
The four-part series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, from executive producer Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain), launches this January on Peacock and promises to be the most thorough behind-the-scenes look yet.
The series includes interviews and commentary from more than 60 contributors, including numerous SNL alumni, and spans all the ups and downs of the late night hit’s five-decade run. The series will explore different elements and time periods of the show’s history on each episode, featuring segments focusing on the writers’ room, the audition process, the show’s soft reboot for season 11 (1985-86), and a deep dissection of the overly memefied 2000 “More Cowbell” sketch that featured Will Ferrell at his best and the deadpan genius of guest host Christopher Walken.
“I’ve been obsessed with Saturday Night Live as long as I can remember,” Neville said in a press release. “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 episodes give a new perspective of SNL and what makes it work.”
All four episodes of SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night will premiere on Peacock on January 16th. The series will make a good double-header with Jason Reitman‘s recent biopic Saturday Night, which chronicles the behind-the-scenes chaos of the very first episode’s 1975 premiere.
