Saturday Night Live has delivered a regular dose of New York City to millions of TV viewers for a half-century. Now, the city – or at least Midtown Manhattan – is getting a heavy dose of SNL.
Downstairs from the NBC staple’s home at 30 Rock’s Studio 8-H, NBCUniversal has been preparing the area in and around Rockefeller Plaza for the show’s 50th anniversary weekend. While the headline event will be Sunday night’s three-hour live special, the festivities got under way Friday morning with a stock market bell-ringing and final set-up for Sunday’s massive red carpet.
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Banners affixed to neighboring buildings and light poles salute “SNL 50” and streets are blocked to vehicle traffic between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Starting earlier this week, pedestrians have been re-routed around Rockefeller Center, with the area around the center’s signature ice rink dominated by a large series of tall black tents. The police barricades and street closings appeared to be as extensive as those for the annual tree lighting on the same spot every holiday season.
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The anniversary celebration kicks into higher gear Friday night at Radio City Music Hall, next door to 30 Rock, with a three-hour concert, SNL50: The Homecoming Concert. Featuring 20 big-name acts, the show will be streamed live on Peacock and also in select movie theaters around the country.
A few blocks downtown, cast members past and present met show staffers and NBCUniversal execs to ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square.
Current cast member Chloe Fineman was joined by cast alums Taran Killam, Jay Pharoah, Alex Moffat and Garrett Morris. From the NBCU exec suite, Matt Strauss, Chairman of the Media Group gathered with Katie Hockmeyer, EVP, Late Night Programming, and Mark Marshall, Chairman, Global Advertising & Partnerships. Representatives from presenting sponsors of the anniversary season were also in attendance.
Everyone at the MarketSite was given an actual cowbell as a tribute to the enduring Will Ferrell/Christopher Walken “more cowbell” sketch and also to help amp up the cheers as the bell rang.
During brief remarks before the bell-ringing, Marshall gave a shout-out to reps from Allstate, L’Oreal Groupe, T-Mobile, and Volkswagen of America, the five presenting sponsors. “This has been a multi-year journey” for them, he said. “We all know dealing with [creator and exec producer] Lorne Michaels and SNL is not something that anyone has gotten to do as a brand.”
In addition to more conventional spots airing during the seasons, sponsors have had the chance to create special branded shorts. One recent example (watch it HERE) used an electric Volkswagen van to reunite Fred Armisen, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader in a reprise of the recurring soap opera spoof The Californians.