"SNL" Preps Last 3 Shows of Season, Gets Ready for Farewells to Long Time Cast Members – Showbiz411

Home Television SNL Preps Last 3 Shows of Season, Gets Ready for Farewells to...

This Saturday, SNL returns for the first of its three final episodes of the season. Benedict Cumberbatch is hosting, and musical guest is Arcade Fire. The hosts/mgs for the last two episodes havent been announced yet.

But soon we will also hear about the exits of several long time cast members. My guess is Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong are done, so is Kyle Mooney. Also probably gone is Pete Davidson, who hasnt been on the show in weeks and has moved on to a Lorne Michaels-produced sitcom for Peacock and life as a Kardashian appendage.

In all likelihood, Kenan Thompson will stick around as captain of the team. His Kenan sitcom is up in the air at NBC with low ratings. But NBC has bigger issues with Mr. Mayor (which has to go), The Weakest Link, and Young Rock, all of which are dead in the water. Kenan may yet survive another season.

McKinnon and Strong have already spread their wings this year. Kate starred in the Tiger King series for Peacock, Strong was off off Broadway in the Lily Tomlin revival. They are each supremely talented. But 10 years is a long time, and with the pandemic subsiding, production picking up, both women could do well with streaming series, Strong also has the return of Schmigadoon coming as Schmicago, as I reported here.

As for Mooney, Id love to see him and Beck Bennett join up and do something clever and unexpected. Cross fingers.

SNL has a strong bench now, and can proceed with Colin Jost and Michael Che, Ego Nwodim, Mikey Day and Alex Moffat, plus Melissa Villasenor, Heidi Gardner, Bowen Yang, James Austin Johnson, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, and so on.

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

See the rest here:

"SNL" Preps Last 3 Shows of Season, Gets Ready for Farewells to Long Time Cast Members - Showbiz411