Hope somebody has been stopping by to feed and water Gilly for the past few months. After finishing out the show’s 45th season by shooting sketches remotely in cast members’ homes, Lorne Michaels and NBC are reportedly crafting a plan to return Saturday Night Live to studio production this fall for the late-night series’ 46th. While NBC declined to comment for the story, Variety says two sources indicate that the wheels are in motion for a return to Studio 8H, provided the show can create a “controlled,†safe environment, which would likely preclude the return of SNL’s live audience.
If Saturday Night Live does return to 30 Rock in a few months, they won’t be the only late-night entertainment back in the building. Jimmy Fallon brought The Tonight Show back, too, the first late-night show to do so. (Meanwhile, on the West Coast, Conan is no longer recording from home, but is instead filming from L.A.’s Largo Theatre in support of the comedy venue.) NBC’s optimism about putting SNL back in the studio is likely due to New York entering phase four of reopening from the coronavirus quarantine today, following a decrease in new daily COVID-19 cases. Though if the last four months have taught us anything, it’s that the situation can change pretty quickly if people don’t wear their masks. Probably a sketch idea in there somewhere.