Saturday Night Live occupies premium real estate in both of the first promos for NBC‘s 100th anniversary, which is being celebrated this year.
The sound of Eddie Murphy declaring, “I’m Gumby, damn it!” follows Joey Tribiani’s “How you doin’?” in the extended “A Century Together” promo (above), which will air throughout the NBC’s weeks-long Winter Olympics coverage as well as during Sunday’s Super Bowl LX, while a bellowing of “Live from New York!” kicks off a shorter, “100 Years of Iconic Lines” supercut (below).
Speaking of the weekly SNL catchphrase, the extended promo features Chevy Chase‘s very first utterance of it, plus deliveries by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey (as Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin) , and “Domingo” and friends from earlier this season.
The Tonight Show is well- (but not fully) represented in the full promo, with footage of OG host Steve Allen plus Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, and Jimmy Fallon, while no iteration of Late Night is to be found.
Outside of late-night programs, the extended promo is chockablock with must-see fare of the past, including Friends, ER, Seinfeld, multiple Laws and a couple of Orders, Cheers, 30 Rock, America’s Got Talent, Olympics and NFL coverage, the original Star Trek, The Office, Parks and Recreation, This Is Us, Heroes, Family Ties, and Today—including the morning newser’s first host, Dave Garraway.
NBC is the oldest of the Big 3 broadcast networks. CBS is close behind at 98, while ABC is a veritable spring chicken at 77.
The network will be commemorating its century mark with a primetime variety special later this year.
You can briefly hear Joey from friends say “How *you* doin’?” just before the Gumby line.
Good catch; edited.
Ok, I’m old. I remember NBC’s celebration of fifty years. Few people watching could have imagined the reach of NBC (as well as CBS and ABC) decreasing to where it is now, where a show with 7 million viewers is a hit. In some ways, this 100th feels like it might also serve. as a self-produced “in memoriam.”
Maybe there will be more versions of this. No David Letterman, Bob Hope, or Dean Martin. Where’s Columbo or Bonanza? Nothing?