According to a source who spoke on the matter to the New York Post, the star of “30 Rock” could soon be making her return to TV comedy, as Tina Fey is currently being considered and courted as a replacement for current SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, who could depart soon.
The New York Post notes that though Michaels, who is 78, has not yet announced an intention to leave SNL and give up his role with the show, he has left the door open to leaving sometime soon, as he told Gayle King on “CBS Mornings,” “I think I’m committed to doing the show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years … I’d like to see that through and I have a feeling that would be a really good time to leave.”
Though SNL has not yet hit its 50th year of being broadcast, it was started in October of 1975, that time is getting close and so Michaels, who has been the executive producer from the start, could be leaving the show relatively soon.
As the New York Post notes, “The 50th season of “Saturday Night Live” is set to start in fall 2024, when the all-powerful Michaels will turn 80 years old. That will also coincide with another presidential election — when “SNL” reliably gets its best ratings — likely featuring Donald Trump.”
The source, speaking on why Fey is being considered so strongly for the role, told the New York Post, “I would be surprised if it wasn’t her. Seth Meyers has his own show. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg won’t come here. Judd Apatow passed [on the job] years ago. Amy Poehler has her own stuff. Bill Hader is directing a movie. Kate McKinnon is too hot.”
The source added that Fey would probably be interested in the role not only because of her experience on SNL, but also because she currently lives in New York with her husband and two daughters and so it’d fit with her family life, saying, “I think she’d do it. It would keep the husband employed and the kids in school here.”
The SNL Fey would take over, however, is not the one she left. Rather, it’s one that went from being leftist but funny to one that immolated itself on the altar of wokeism. Conservative SNL alum Rob Schneider said that the show ended itself when it went full woke and had Hillary singing “Hallelujah,” saying, “I literally prayed, ‘please have a joke at the end.’ Don’t do this. Please don’t go down there. And there was no joke at the end, and I went, ‘It’s over. It’s over. It’s not gonna come back.’”
Comedy legend @RobSchneider tells me the moment he knew Saturday Night Live was "OVER": "I literally prayed, PLEASE have a joke at the end…" pic.twitter.com/Eyqh3GFnUG
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 29, 2022
So, in the eyes of many conservatives and apolitical people who found SNL unfunny and tuned out because of that in the Trump era, SNL is “dead” and not really coming back. But, Fey, who wrote “Mean Girls,” is funny and could potentially turn it around, so maybe the once-funny show will make something of a comeback.
Featured image credit: By Peabody Awards – Tina Fey, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54839201
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