Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
"Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special" (also billed as "SNL40") is a three-and-a-half-hour prime-time special that aired on February 15, 2015, on NBC, celebrating Saturday Night Live's 40th year on the air, having premiered on October 11, 1975, under the original title NBC's Saturday Night.[1][2] It is produced by Broadway Video. This special generated 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast (excluding Super Bowl lead-outs) since the Friends series finale in 2004.[3][4][5][6] It is the third such anniversary special to be broadcast, with celebratory episodes also held during the 15th and 25th seasons.
"Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special"
Season 40
February 15, 2015
211 minutes (with commercials)
The special was preceded on NBC by an hour-long SNL 40th Red Carpet Live, hosted by Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Carson Daly and Al Roker, who interviewed past hosts, current and previous cast members, and musical legends who had previously performed on the show.[7]
Production[edit]
Of those former hosts, musical guests, former cast members and writers invited, the people who sent back an RSVP were then considered to be written for.[21] Dan Aykroyd was asked by Lorne Michaels about doing a "Bass-O-Matic" sketch, while Mike Myers and Dana Carvey requested to reprise Wayne's World.[22] Michaels stated that since different generations of former cast members were coming, they wanted to do sketches featuring mashups between different casts.[23]
Writer Jim Downey conceived the idea of Nick the Lounge Singer singing the theme to Jaws way back in the 1970s, but was never able to pull it off during Bill Murray's tenure on SNL. They were unsure if they could obtain the necessary copyright clearance to show footage of Jaws on a monitor in the background until they realized that, since NBC had already acquired the rights to Jaws with its purchase of Universal Pictures in 2002, they could just ask director Steven Spielberg, who was in attendance.[22]
Eddie Murphy was originally asked to play Bill Cosby in the "Celebrity Jeopardy!" sketch, but refused.[24]
Nora Dunn was asked to participate in the musical medley as Liz Sweeney, but refused because Jan Hooks (the other Sweeney Sister) had died.[25]
NSYNC were scheduled to appear in this special but their appearance was cancelled at the last minute.
Marketing and promotion[edit]
A 15-second spot premiered during the Super Bowl XLIX broadcast and – along with two other 15-second clips – was uploaded on to the official Saturday Night Live YouTube page.[26][27][28] While the clips promoted appearances by Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd, neither of these occurred during the live show.[28] Numerous articles, features and interviews were published in the weeks prior to the broadcast.
VH1 Classic aired a 19-day marathon of SNL-related programming that ended on the day of the special, featuring notable episodes in a reverse chronological order (alongside theme blocks focusing on specific cast members, and films featuring them), concluding with the original series premiere.[29][30]
Ratings[edit]
The special drew 23.1 million viewers, becoming NBC's most-watched prime-time, non-sports, entertainment telecast (excluding Super Bowl lead-outs) since the Friends series finale in 2004.[3][4][5][6]