'SNL' slims down
Smaller cast hopes to resuscitate show in its 32nd season
Gary Levin
USA Today
Sept. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
NEW YORK - Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers are all about good chemistry.
The new anchor duo at "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live, making their debut this weekend, point out that they're both from New England. Both got their starts as comedians in Chicago. And they've already played a team in a popular SNL sketch: Dan and Sally Needler, "the couple that should be divorced."
"Seth and I have a very familial, dare I say fraternal, relationship," Poehler says in a joint interview at SNL's offices. "We have a very similar sensibility."
Meyers also "writes great jokes, and I'm really looking forward to saying them and getting credit," she says.
Meyers has other plans. After Poehler snatched the "Update" anchor slot from him two years ago in an audition faceoff, "My vengeance was to get it with her and torpedo her."
Wisecracks aside, how they gel may be crucial to determining the health of the late-night staple, which begins its 32nd season. Behind the desk, they follow such storied anchors as Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller and Norm MacDonald.
Under the surface, SNL is weathering its biggest shake-up in years. Producer Lorne Michaels, stuck with what he called "massive" budget cuts, trimmed three cast members: eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell, who joined in 2003.
Two others - Rachel Dratch and head writer and "Update" anchor Tina Fey - left to work on 30 Rock, Fey's NBC sitcom, due Oct. 11. It's about the goings-on backstage at a show suspiciously like SNL.
SNL had its worst ratings last season, averaging 6.5 million viewers, a 6 percent drop from 2004-05. And amid the cutbacks, a new director was named.
"There's a ton of transition going on," says Poehler, 35.
Though she says she'll miss her co-stars, "we're kind of excited about the idea of a slimmer (cast)," she adds brightly. "Skinny is in right now."
But Meyers, 32, one of three head writers, says that when sketches are planned, "a lot of your obvious choices that you've been making in casting are gone."
Without Sanz, Meyers says, "I hope Gene Shalit doesn't turn up in the news, because that would be seriously heartbreaking."
The show's lean team of 11 cast members - including Meyers, who will appear only on "Update" - is its smallest since 1987, when Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz were on the show. But those who remain "will get a chance to develop different muscles," Meyers says.
Look for more short films from newer cast members in the wake of Parnell and Andy Samberg's Internet-fueled Chronicles of Narnia rap, the show's most talked-about recent clip.
Comedian Dane Cook hosts tonight's opener, with musical guest the Killers, and Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl) hosts the show Oct. 7, with singer Corinne Bailey Rae as guest.
Gary Levin
USA Today
Sept. 30, 2006 12:00 AM
NEW YORK - Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers are all about good chemistry.
The new anchor duo at "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live, making their debut this weekend, point out that they're both from New England. Both got their starts as comedians in Chicago. And they've already played a team in a popular SNL sketch: Dan and Sally Needler, "the couple that should be divorced."
"Seth and I have a very familial, dare I say fraternal, relationship," Poehler says in a joint interview at SNL's offices. "We have a very similar sensibility."
Meyers also "writes great jokes, and I'm really looking forward to saying them and getting credit," she says.
Meyers has other plans. After Poehler snatched the "Update" anchor slot from him two years ago in an audition faceoff, "My vengeance was to get it with her and torpedo her."
Wisecracks aside, how they gel may be crucial to determining the health of the late-night staple, which begins its 32nd season. Behind the desk, they follow such storied anchors as Chevy Chase, Dennis Miller and Norm MacDonald.
Under the surface, SNL is weathering its biggest shake-up in years. Producer Lorne Michaels, stuck with what he called "massive" budget cuts, trimmed three cast members: eight-year veterans Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz, and Finesse Mitchell, who joined in 2003.
Two others - Rachel Dratch and head writer and "Update" anchor Tina Fey - left to work on 30 Rock, Fey's NBC sitcom, due Oct. 11. It's about the goings-on backstage at a show suspiciously like SNL.
SNL had its worst ratings last season, averaging 6.5 million viewers, a 6 percent drop from 2004-05. And amid the cutbacks, a new director was named.
"There's a ton of transition going on," says Poehler, 35.
Though she says she'll miss her co-stars, "we're kind of excited about the idea of a slimmer (cast)," she adds brightly. "Skinny is in right now."
But Meyers, 32, one of three head writers, says that when sketches are planned, "a lot of your obvious choices that you've been making in casting are gone."
Without Sanz, Meyers says, "I hope Gene Shalit doesn't turn up in the news, because that would be seriously heartbreaking."
The show's lean team of 11 cast members - including Meyers, who will appear only on "Update" - is its smallest since 1987, when Miller, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz were on the show. But those who remain "will get a chance to develop different muscles," Meyers says.
Look for more short films from newer cast members in the wake of Parnell and Andy Samberg's Internet-fueled Chronicles of Narnia rap, the show's most talked-about recent clip.
Comedian Dane Cook hosts tonight's opener, with musical guest the Killers, and Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl) hosts the show Oct. 7, with singer Corinne Bailey Rae as guest.
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