“Saturday Night Live” became the latest topical comedy series to suspend its season amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. “S.N.L.,” the late-night NBC variety sketch program, had been on a scheduled hiatus after its March 7 broadcast and was expected to return on March 28. But the series “will now not resume production until further notice,” NBC said in a statement on Monday. The network added, “We will monitor the situation closely and make decisions about future shows on an ongoing basis as further information develops.”
“S.N.L.,” which is currently in its 45th season and is broadcast from NBC’s New York headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, joins the ranks of other programs like “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” which have all halted their seasons during the spread of the coronavirus.
During its many years on the air, “S.N.L.” has occasionally been suspended in midseason by writers’ strikes. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the show was back on the air in less than a month; its Sept. 29 season premiere that year opened memorably with an introduction by then-Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and the singer-songwriter Paul Simon, who performed “The Boxer,” a song about showing resilience in the face of hardship.
Source: Television - nytimes.com
