As Saturday Night Live celebrated its silver anniversary, it was on the cusp of a new era. The world was coming up on a new millennium, American culture was heading toward some of the biggest political stories in decades, and a new chapter at SNL itself was taking shape.
SNL’s milestone 25th season is the subject of the Saturday Night Network’s newest entry in its Everything You NEED to Know About Saturday Night Live series, tracing a successful year for the show that commenced with a major anniversary special and ended with the seeds of the show’s future taking root.
The 25th anniversary special offered more than just a chance to parade out the show’s biggest cast members, hosts, and musical guests. It was also a chance for the show itself, and creator Lorne Michaels, to take a well-earned victory lap.
“They never had a 20th anniversary special because the show was in such a bad place at the 20-year mark. The network had to be involved in hiring new cast members and making creative choices on the show,” says Jon Schneider, who co-hosts and co-executive produces the series with James Stephens. But as Season 25 came around, “Lorne finally got his power back, and was able to properly celebrate his legacy at the start of the season.”
Michaels got his flowers outside of the special, too, with honors such as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and an induction into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
“It’s almost like a tale of two halves,” says Schneider. “At the start of it, it’s really a celebration of the show’s history, and that the show is able to rebound.”
Then, when SNL’s look in the rearview mirror was done, the show resumed the work of charting its future. The departures of some of its biggest stars of the late ‘90s were imminent, and the show needed to plan ahead.
“We see some new cast members and some new creative choices,” Schneider notes.
Those choices included the hiring of Rachel Dratch at the start of the season, and Maya Rudolph toward the end. Jimmy Fallon,Chris Parnell, and Horatio Sanz solidified their standing as key players with promotions to repertory status. Behind the scenes, Tina Fey replaced Adam McKay as head writer, and show photographer Edie Baskin handed over the reins to Mary Ellen Matthews.
“And then most importantly, there’s an election coming up,” Schneider adds.
Not even SNL knew just how much the presidential race would dominate the show with its never-ending recount process. But the showdown between George W. Bush and Al Gore was bound to be central to Season 26, and that meant setting up SNL’s take on the duo in Season 25. It did just that with Will Ferrell as Bush and Darrell Hammond as Gore.
Sure enough, viewers would flock to SNL that next year to see how the show mocked the unprecedented mess of the election. And the following year, viewers would again turn to the show—but this time to make sense of a new world amid the 9/11 attacks.
“Season 25 is some of the last calm before the storm,” Schneider concludes, “before there’s all this attention on the show for the next two years.”
