Flying high on the success of Saturday Night Live‘s season-long 50th anniversary celebration, NBC is planning to eventize its own 100th anniversary this coming season in a similar fashion.
Though light on details, NBC announced upcoming project this morning at its upfonts presentation at Radio City Music Hall, enlisting SNL alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to make the big reveal.
“We are going to celebrate this birthday hard with a once in a lifetime television event, NBC 100,” Poehler announced. “It will be a star studded variety special commemorating 100 years of culture-defining content from iconic moments to unforgettable stars.”
“Hosted by a mix of legendary NBC alumni and today’s biggest stars, the night will be filled with memorable music performances, comedy tributes, behind the scenes stories and surprise reunions,” added Fey. “You’ll be hearing more soon, but I can guarantee this, because it’s twice the age of SNL, it’s going to be twice as long as the SNL anniversary special. That’s right, folks, six hours of a fun decade-by-decade, look back.”
NBC aired a similar special in May of 2002 for its 75th anniversary. That special was helmed by Lorne Michaels, produced out of SNL’s Studio 8H, and featured several of the show’s stars at the time (as seen in the clip below).
Though Michaels is not (yet) attached to the network’s 100th anniversary celebration, it’s a safe bet that NBC is working to bring him on board.
As we’ve reported, more than 220 million viewers watched some portion of NBC’s three official SNL50 broadcasts: The Homecoming Concert, The Red Carpet, and The Anniversary Special itself, with content from the three specials topping 3.9 billion minutes viewed. Per NBC, the specials helped deliver “record-setting revenue for any SNL season in the history of the franchise.”
NBC has not yet announced an air date for its 100th anniversary special.
