‘Saturday Night Live’ wishlist: Why Omari Hardwick of ‘Power’ should host
Over the course of the weekends during the month of February, what we’ve done is cultivate a series of “Saturday Night Live” articles that serve one primary purpose: Trying by whatever means necessarily to get the show to hire more people who are actually currently starring on TV to host! Getting Aziz Ansari of “Master of None” recently was a good start, but it should be far from the end of what the show should do.
“SNL,” we get it — you want to have actors on to promote their movies. You also want to have a couple of totally-random wildcards / singers / athletes / whoever else. However, can’t you at the very least bring five or six TV stars on board a season? (We’re not just talking about former cast members here.)
So far in the series, we’ve discussed people like Bob Odenkirk, Gillian Anderson, and Gina Rodriguez; today, we’re moving the needle over to “Power” and its super-charismatic star in Omari Hardwick.
Why he should host – He’s the lead performer of an incredibly successful series that somehow is still underrated. It doesn’t get the awards attention it deserves, and there are probably a number of people out there who’d love to check it out but simply haven’t had a chance to hear about it yet. Doing this show would be a heck of a platform on the road to getting it even more attention.
Aside from that, we do think that Hardwick would be great in the hosting role — he’s got a sense of humor, and with his theater experience, we think he’ll be prepared for at least the part of the show that involves a live studio audience. A show like “Power,” which is so gritty and dark, is probably ripe for some potential parodies. With his background (which includes sports and poetry) and his journey to become the star of a hit series, there’s a lot in terms of his story that he could mine for a potential monologue. It’s a chance to get to know him better, and forge that personal connection between the host and audience that’s so important at the start of a show.
Could it happen? – The ball is really in NBC’s court when it comes to that. As referenced, they haven’t shown this great indication to give a lot of TV stars a chance, but if “Power” breaks out further or if Hardwick lands a big movie role to go along with the show, you could foresee him getting the opportunity. Given that he already works in New York City, it wouldn’t be some huge scheduling inconvenience for him, either. It’d probably have to happen after “Power” finishes production for a season, but given that should happen at some point before the end of this “SNL” season, there could be a window — whether it be now or in some future time — where it could happen.
Do you want to see Omari get the gig on “SNL”? Share some of your thoughts below, and head over here to get some other editions of our Wishlist series! (Photo: NBC.)