I always worry when Saturday Night Live makes changes to the cast. I have watched Saturday Night Live from the beginning. Even thought I was only 12, I could appreciate the humor of great comedians like John Belushi, Bill Murray, and Dan Aykroyd. So I remember the bad years, the really, really bad years when Saturday Night Live went from being one of the smartest shows on television to a big, unfunny joke. It was so unfunny at times, that people were tuning out in droves. Then, they rebuilt it with talent. Right now, I think this cast is as funny as any, but today, I read that they have dropped players Chris Parnell, Horatio Sans, and Finesse Mitchell.
I think these guys are funny and I suppose I could understand them wanting to leave, but what upset me was reading that they were reportedly let go and how. It wasn’t a pink slip, but the fact that their names were left off the press release announcing the 32nd season of the show. 32 seasons? Wow, writing that just makes me feel old!
Parnell and Sanz had both been on the show for eight years while Mitchell finished his third year last season. NBC Representative Marc Liepis said that he thought the decision for those three to leave was a “mutual choice.” But, Sanz told the Chicago Sun-Times less than a month ago that he had not been approached with anything that lead him to believe he would not be back. So the lack of his name on that press release may have come as a shock.
I hope that these dismissals along with the loss of Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch won’t plunge Saturday Night Live back into one of those dark periods where it just isn’t funny anymore. No new players have been named to take the place of the five are missing from last season’s cast.