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"SNL" Stews Over XFL
Thanks to a trouble-plagued XFL broadcast that ran late, last weekend's edition of SNL was not broadcast live from New York.
A bizarre series of circumstances--a power loss before the kickoff, a 14-minute stoppage of play due to a player injury and the game running into overtime--pushed back SNL's opening monologue to 12:15 a.m. ET, 45 minutes after its usual start time.
SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels, who waited in the show's booth for the game to end, was described as enraged by the turn of events that preempted his baby.
Associates of Michaels tell the New York Times that NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol had assured Michaels the XFL games wouldn't affect SNL. But Michaels reportedly still had his doubts. "Lorne had hammered at Ebersol about the games' running over," one associate says, "and was assured they wouldn't."
Then came Saturday's worst-case scenario. Michaels was reportedly so angry with NBC that he considered scrapping the show and telling the network to replace it with a rerun episode.
But he decided against it, because the show had heavily hyped its host, the double-threat Jennifer Lopez. Without many options, Michaels decided to start his show in the studio on time, taping it for broadcast as soon as the local news ended. Neither the studio audience nor Lopez knew the show was not being seen live.
And the combination late start and weak XFL lead-in (the nascent football league's ratings dropped by 50 percent from its opening week) meant SNL was SOL in the ratings race. Because of Lopez's presence and with surprisingly good numbers from its prime-time installment opposite Survivor, Michaels and company were hoping for a 10 rating. According to Nieslen estimages, the show scored a paltry 6.
Michaels isn't talking, but the Times reports he told friends and associates over the weekend that he was "despondent and enraged" by what had happened.
A contrite Ebersol tells the Times he's already modified XFL rules to prevent future overlap with SNL. Next week, the XFL will kickoff five minutes early and the clock will run continuously.
"I couldn't feel more sympathetic or empathetic or however you want to put it, about the situation Lorne was put in," Ebersol says.
Adds Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Entertainment, "Lorne stepped up for this network and we really owe him for that," Mr. Zucker said. "This was an unfortunate series of events that delayed SNL, and everyone is aware of what needs to be done so that it doesn't happen again."
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