How can Saturday Night Live possibly replace (fill in the blank)?
How many times have we asked that question across nearly four decades?
"Impossible!" said some in 2006 when Tina Fey, Chris Parnell, Horatio Sanz and Rachel Dratch headed for the door, only to be followed two years later by her friend and Weekend Update co-host Amy Poehler.
But in their wake grew one of the most versatile, multi-threat casts in SNL history, one that firmly established its own SNL era. Kristen Wiig, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis all became cast members in the 2005-2006 season, joining a group that already included Seth Meyers, Fred Armisen and Kenan Thompson.
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At the time, SNL creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels pronounced them "the wave of the future" and Fey likened herself to a senior seeing "exciting freshmen" arrive. But as this latest season of the sketch institution came to a close recently (with host Mick Jagger, and musical guests Arcade Fire and the Foo Fighters), there's a growing sense that another SNL class is nearing graduation.
Wiig left recently, and Samberg and Sudeikis have been reported to be leaving, though Michaels has said any decision will wait until the summer. With a presidential election looming, an immediate exodus of all three is unlikely. Sudeikis plays both Republican candidate Mitt Romney and Vice President Joe Biden, and SNL has previously taken an all-hands-on-deck approach to election season shows.
Of course, the 2008 election season was a historic one for SNL, one that saw record ratings for the show as Fey returned — to much fanfare — to play Sarah Palin. This time around, no one is expecting Romney to choose a running mate that looks exactly like Andy Samberg.
Younger members
A transition period, whether sooner or later, seems on the horizon. Perhaps more than any previous cast, this one has already expanded considerably from the show.
With a cast of half-a-dozen stars, there hasn't always been a lot of airtime for younger cast members. Most avid viewers would like to see more of featured player Jay Pharoah, whose knack for impressions of Denzel Washington and Will Smith is so good that he deserves a chance to show more range. The same goes for the more consistently used Bobby Moynihan (who's made his strongest impact on Weekend Update appearances, including as "Drunk Uncle" and as Jersey Shore's Snooki) and Nasim Pedrad, most famous for her sharp Kim Kardashian impression.
But this season has made clear that if anyone is being groomed for a larger role, it's Taran Killam. As a featured player, he's become a regularly highlighted performer, including impressions of Brad Pitt, Michael Cera and Andy Cohen. More than the other of the younger cast members, he's frequently gotten sketches into the show, like the Parisian parody Les Jeunes de Paris and J-Pop America Fun Time, a similar, Japanese spoof of American perspectives on foreigners.
When SNL is firing on all cylinders, it can be as good as it's ever been. This year, those moments have typically come when an alum has hosted. Such occasions usually bring back other former cast members, as well. If anything, the SNL universe has grown larger, spread out across TV shows and myriad movies — making a kind of constant revolving door for SNL cast members, past and present.
In that way, Saturday Night Live has more in common with the mafia than any other TV show: No one ever really leaves.
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