The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has continued to strike the entertainment industry, with many shows shutting down production for a least a few weeks, in efforts to stop the spread and keep people healthy. Saturday Night Live has now announced that it will join the list of television series (and movies) which have entered production shutdowns. But, when the show finally returns, will we still see the scheduled hosts and musical guests perform?
Saturday Night Live had been scheduled to air its next new episode on March 28, with host John Krasinski and musical guest Dua Lipa, but, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the long-running sketch show will be shuttering its doors for the next three weeks. As we know, SNL tapes in front of a live studio audience, and with self-isolation and social distancing becoming the norm to try and stop the coronavirus from spreading, the chances of people showing up for that were going to be slim.
There's also the fact that in New York City, where SNL tapes, the mayor recently issued an order that all night clubs, concert venues and movie theaters needed to close by today, and the studios at 30 Rock would certainly seem to fall under that type of order. Of course, other late night programming and shows that tape in front of live audiences, like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers (both of which share a building with SNL) have already gone on hiatus or chosen to tape without live audiences.
Of course, as mentioned above, a lot of movies have had their releases pulled because people are staying at home and unlikely to go see movies in theaters, and no one wants to release their film only to have it fail to turn a profit for such obvious reasons. Saturday Night Live usually has actors on the show host when they're looking to help promote their latest movie release, and John Krasinski was clearly set to appear in support of A Quiet Place Part 2. But, that movie's March 20 release was cancelled just last week, with no new date yet set.
We don't know right now who SNL was looking at the host the remaining five episodes of its 21-episode season, but it does beg the question if any of them will show up when the series comes back. Krasinski was set to host Episode 16, but since A Quiet Place Part 2 doesn't even have a new release date right now, will he still want to do it, even if the country's coronavirus situation really is better by then? And, will other stars who've had their movie releases delayed or productions halted still be on board to host?
Obviously, this is a situation that's evolving for every production that has, for very good reason, decided to go into a production shutdown for at least a few weeks, so time will tell whether or not Saturday Night Live can still book the hosts it was hoping to for the latter part of the season. My guess is that there will be at least some of them who'll be game to rally and help audiences relieve some stress by acting a fool on live television.
We'll see what happens with Saturday Night Live in a few weeks, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest!
