Neville tells Deadline that he was initially approached a couple of years ago.
Theyve told their story before.
He was also keen to showcase different directors across the four episodes.
Amy PoehlerPeacock
You could still make all those episodes, he says.
Its like a comedy emergency room, says Poehler.
Emergency rooms are hectic, theyre filled with risk takers and theres some trauma involved.
Oh my gosh, did other people cry?
I just had never seen that at all.
And I didnt think I could because I was scared I would be a little too critical.
Its a big corporation.
NBC did throw out all the original Carson shows … maybe they learned from that.
I loved that show, I was on it, a tearful Moynihan concludes.
Written By: A Week Inside The SNL Writers Room
DoSaturday Night Livewriters get the requisite credit?
Its the biggest sketch Ive ever been part of.
Written by Ferrell, the sketch depicts the recording of Blue Oyster Cults (Dont Fear) The Reaper.
Ferrell plays Gene Frenkle, an overzealous cowbell player, while host Christopher Walken plays music producer Bruce Dickinson.
Walken refuses to discuss the sketch it ruined his life apparently, according to Ferrell.
Neville says Walken told him he was happy to discuss anything else involvingSNL, but not that sketch.
Is it pathetic if I laugh at my own sketch, says Ferrell.
Season 11 marked the return of Michaels as executive producer after a five-year hiatus.
Damon Wayans was also on the show before he was fired midseason.
Lorne Michaels returned to save his first love.
Its a spin of the wheel to see if the show is going to live or die.
I wanted to go younger, perhaps I went too young, Michaels says.
Michaels admitted that when he left in 1980 he wanted the show to die.
Neville says despite having the likes of Downey, Cusack and Hall it didnt work.
Part of it was the separation between the performing and the writing.
Youre the only one who can save this sinking ship, jokes Sweeney on the episode.
I didnt know itd be such a difficult year, says Franken.
I thought the 85 season was two steps forward, one step back.
I realized it was not meshing, says Michaels.
This was exemplified by the season finale, where co-host Billy Martin sets the cast and show on fire.
Only Lovitz, Dunn and Miller survived and made it to Season 12.
Or, maybe, as Madonna said at the top of Season 12, it was all a dream.
Michaels himself has been flip-flopping on the retirement question for years.
What does Neville, after speaking with numerous former and current cast members and producers, think will happen?
It comes up all the time … the amount of kind of Kremlinology that happens aroundSNL… he says.
My sense of it is the shows not going anywhere, that Lorne is not going anywhere soon.
Though I feel like all that saidSNL50 is a huge thing that everybodys been thinking about for years.
I think after it happens, it will feel different.
Replacing Michaels is also kind of impossible, he says.
There are so many times when people have wanted to change the show.
Theres a Vatican quality to it.
