“Saturday Night Live” is pushing its 50th year celebration, as we know from its logo.
But last night was the actual 49th anniversary of the show’s premiere. No mention was made of this because it might confuse viewers. The show has now entered its 50th season.
The actual 50th anniversary would be next fall. But NBC will celebrate year 50 in February, during sweeps, with a prime time special and a big party at 30 Rock.
Last night’s show was overall very enjoyable, with the multi-talented Ariana Grande promoting the “Wicked” movie coming November 22nd. Grande has a wicked sense of humor and is a very good mimic. She imitated fellow singers like Miley Cyrus and Gwen Stefani, and also was hilarious as Jennifer Coolidge.
Stevie Nicks was the musical guest, the oldest one in eons. She sang her new song, “The Lighthouse,” and an old favorite, “Edge of Seventeen.” A much wanted duet with the two singers didn’t materialize, although Ariana made reference to it in her monologue. Sounds like Stevie wasn’t interested.
Not on the show for the third week in a row was the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy. The three guys had been making fun videos for the last couple of seasons that were a breath of fresh air. No annoucement has been made, but they seem to be gone. One of their members, John Higgins, is the son of Steve Higgins, a long time “SNL” producer who is seen on camera and works on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. That would seem a little awkward.
Minimized: James Austin Johnson’s Donald Trump imitation. Last week there was nothing. This week he was thrown into the mix of a “Family Feud” parody but not featured. Is JAJ doing this? Or is “SNL” downplaying the caricature rather than promote Trump?
Ratings from last night should be very good. And this week coming up Billie Eilish is appearing to promote her Grammy Award chances. Lorne Michaels is pulling out all the stops for the 49th or 50th anniversary!
