Saturday Night Live: Will Tina Fey replace Lorne Michaels?
While the future of Lorne Michaels on Saturday Night Live is not an immediate concern, let’s just say this: The questions are out there. They have been for a while, and we don’t tend to think that this is changing in the near future.
Why is this? Well, he’s been in charge of running the show for a good majority of its run, and he is also now 79 years old. Given his influential status, he’s not going to be an easy person to replace — yet, Tina Fey’s name has been brought up time and time again. It does make sense — she has experience both on-camera here and behind the scenes, and she’s also done a great deal of producing now even away from the late-night institution.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight while at the Emmys last night, Michaels confirmed that Fey is a strong candidate — but she also is not the only person potentially on his radar:
“It could easily be Tina Fey, but you know, there are a lot of people who are there now who are also [capable] … Tina’s brilliant and great at everything. She’s a very important person in my life.”
Michaels confirmed that he will also be with the show until at least the 50th anniversary show next year, but we tend to think that over the next twelve months a lot will be figured out. We tend to think that the ideal candidate here is someone familiar to longtime fans, mostly for the sake of having some measure of inherent trust. Seth Meyers probably would be a good candidate were it not for the fact he has his own show. Honestly, we wouldn’t be shocked if Colin Jost and Michael Che eventually graduate the position, having done Weekend Update for so many years. We do think the goal here will be to makethings as seamless as humanly possible.
Do you think that Tina Fey will eventually replace Lorne Michaels on Saturday Night Live?
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