Lorne Michaels might retire from Saturday Night Live in time for its 50th season
The SNL creator already has some idea of how to keep the show going in his absence
It’s been nearly 50 years since Lorne Michaels created Saturday Night Live, and he’s been running it and executive producing it ever since—save for a stretch when he left to do other things in the ‘80s that was so infamously disastrous it seemingly proved that he’s never allowed to leave ever again. NBC better start coming up with a better plan to replace him than last time, though, because Michaels might be ready to retire from the show fairly soon.
This comes from an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings, during which Michaels suggested the show’s 50th anniversary could be a “really good time to leave.” That’s three years away still, so NBC doesn’t need to panic yet about finding a replacement or losing its direct line to Michaels’ best friend Paul Simon, but Michaels did note to King that he has “a sense of where we’re headed” in terms of who might serve as showrunner/executive producer after him. Maybe they could have a long “audition” process like Jeopardy! did and then choose the worst option and then a back-up option that is also bad when the first one doesn’t work out?