Everything about History Of Saturday Night Live 2000-2005 totally explained
Early 21st century
The
2000-
2001 season of
Saturday Night Live began yet another transitional phase. Old faces like
Colin Quinn,
Tim Meadows and
Cheri Oteri were gone.
Molly Shannon left mid-season (she stayed as long as she did-six and a half years, to ensure that she'd leave as the longest-running female cast member on
SNL, although her record still comes very close to
Victoria Jackson's and would be topped by
Rachel Dratch and later
Maya Rudolph).
Horatio Sanz and Jimmy Fallon
Chris Kattan and
Will Ferrell still dominated the show, but more and more time was given to newer cast members such as
Horatio Sanz (who was groomed to be a new
Chris Farley or
John Belushi) and
Jimmy Fallon. Fallon was the latest example in the marked difference in modern
SNL compared to the early years, in that he was marketed as a personality, and his gift at impressions was slowly but surely sidelined so that he could play variations of Jimmy Fallon in most of his sketches. Although Fallon was quite popular, many believed that he and Sanz were far too derivative of Farley and Sandler, from Sanz's constant bumbling right down to Fallon playing the guitar and singing during
Weekend Update. Both men were also criticized for their "breaking up" during many sketches-laughing through their lines and needling other cast members into doing the same. This became more and more common, in spite of the fact that
Lorne Michaels swore his show would never become so insular or amateurish (one of the things he despised about
The Carol Burnett Show).
Tina Fey
In 1999,
Tina Fey became the show's first female head writer.
SNL had always had female writers but they often had little to no voice over the pacing of the show, sometimes not even their own sketches. With Colin Quinn's highly uneven "Weekend Update" tenure over, Lorne Michaels scrambled to find a different sort of format for the aging concept. He gambled on having Fey co-anchor with Jimmy Fallon, the first co-anchorship since
Christine Ebersole and
Brian Doyle-Murray in the early 1980s. Fallon's frat boy antics and Tina's droll, knowing smirks were warmly welcomed by fans. Tina quickly moved from writer to featured player and within a year was a contract player.
2000 U.S. Presidential election
The 2000 season was also noted for its well-received spoofing of that year's presidential campaign, with adroit critiques of all the primary nominees, but especially
Al Gore and
George W. Bush. The two candidates even appeared (separately) on a prime time special with the cast in fall 2000.
Darrell Hammond's portrayal of Gore parodied the candidate's varying personas at the three presidential debates so well that Gore and his advisers watched the sketches to get a grip on his public perception. Ferrell's Bush impression-full of smirks, tics, and aw-shucks contempt-rocketed him to superstardom and in the process coined the term "
strategery" in a sketch mocking Bush's propensity for mispronunciations.
Fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attacks
The first season premiere after the
September 11, 2001 attacks opened with then
New York City mayor
Rudy Giuliani and police officers, signifying that the New York-based series was both deeply affected by the terrorist attack and also reluctant to harshly criticize the president. As a result, the political commentary was scaled back. As time passed, the show gave more attention to political humor, but earlier attempts were seen by critics as tame, evidence that the show had over the decades gone from counterculture to safe and mainstream. Robert Smigel's cartoons, however, retained their bite and became heavily featured on the show.
Frequent cast turnover
In 2001, supporting player
Chris Parnell was fired. Less than six months later, he was rehired, marking the first time since Jim Belushi's dismissal in 1983 that
SNL had ever fired and then rehired any cast member. The 2001-2002 season also marked the arrival of improvisational mastermind
Amy Poehler, who was well-liked by fans due to her wide range and impressions and high spirits in spite of a lack of strong material. Tracy Morgan left in 2003 to become one of many
SNL alumni to have a flop sitcom (
The Tracy Morgan Show). More changes occurred when Ferrell left in 2002 and Kattan in 2003, followed by Jimmy Fallon in 2004. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler co-anchored Weekend Update, the first time that two women were given the job.
During 2000-2005, the show began a frequent process of cast turnover. In the past, the show had been known for large amount of cast members being added at the same time, but in the early 2000s, the show tended to add and subtract a couple of cast members each season. Some criticize this method, arguing that it results in a lack of chemistry, as you've cast members at various points in their
SNL careers acting together, as compared to a group of new cast members growing up together. On the other hand, adding new cast members each season ensured that there was always someone new to see.
The Ashlee Simpson lip synching incident
An embarrassing event in the career of pop singer
Ashlee Simpson occurred live on
October 23,
2004. Simpson's second performance of the evening opened with the sound of her pre-recorded voice heard singing the song she'd already performed earlier. Despite a quick fadeout, it was obvious that what was heard wasn't the live voice of the singer. A flustered Simpson did an improvised dance and then left the stage.
The New York Times summarized the incident in the words, "Ailing Singer Needed Lip-Sync, Father Says," and said that it "exposed the pop singer Ashlee Simpson's use of prerecorded vocals on live television." Simpson's father said that her use of a prerecorded track was necessitated that evening by hoarseness caused by
acid reflux disease. The incident subsequently inspired several
SNL skits. When questioned by reporters, Lorne Michaels initially denied, then acknowledged, that this wasn't the first time so-called "backing tracks" had ever been used on
SNL. In
October, 2005, Simpson returned as a musical guest, performing without incident.
2000-2001 season
Opening montage
This newest
SNL montage again contains various shots from around New York and has the cast members shown in a night club. This was the first opening montage since 1993-1994 in which the cast members moved on screen. The music that would accompany the opening credits for the next three years would garner some criticism from some
SNL "purists" because of its heavy use of turntables and DJ equipment.
Cast
==
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