After 50 years on air, the world-renowned sketch comedy show is bound to change and adapt to meet the demands of the nonstop entertainment industry.
It’s clear that Saturday Night Live (SNL) executive producer, Lorne Michaels, is trying to cater the show to a younger, Gen-Z audience. This is evident in the show’s gradual integration into social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Currently, SNL has a combined following of 33 million across all social media platforms and posts each sketch and highlight moment to these platforms separately, gaining hundreds of thousands of likes each time.
The problem is clear, no one wants to sit down and turn on their TV to watch a 2-hour long show on a Saturday night. Now that SNL is becoming increasingly digital, two problems arise: there’s less of a reason for the physical live show to continue, and the sketches now have to compete for attention among millions of other funny videos on TikTok and Instagram reels.
These new short-form videos require way less creative effort, contain relevant pop culture references, and are overwhelmingly popular with young people.
David Chung ‘26 said, “I see clips of the show occasionally, but I mostly watch Instagram reels and send them to my friends.”
Recently, the show has been hiring increasingly younger cast members to connect with the youth. In this season, entire segments are dedicated to fleeting online trends and pop culture references, instead of topical political humor which everyone can understand.
Although some think the show is still funny, not everyone agrees.
Harry Groves ‘26 remarked, “The show is still really funny, but it’s definitely not as good as it used to be.”
SNL is in an increasingly awkward scenario. It can’t decide between either sticking to tradition or going completely online. The show’s switch to social media to maintain relevance seems misguided at best as the show struggles to adapt in a world that has moved onto sources of entertainment like TikTok and Instagram.
Even though the retention of SNL’s 50th season on online platforms remains high, it’s such an extreme departure from the original format that critics strongly believe longtime viewers will forever harbor feelings for the original. As it caters to an uninterested audience, it seems that SNL is no different from the living room TV endlessly playing in the background: you’ll only notice it when it’s gone. So much for a happy 50th-year anniversary.