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Lorne Michaels is going to miss YouTube

by Joel Keller, posted Apr 12th 2007 11:22AM

Lorne MichaelsThere's no doubt that one of the biggest benefactors of the explosion of YouTube has been Saturday Night Live. Not only did the video of the SNL sketch "Lazy Sunday" put the service on the map, but YT has repaid the show in spades by popularizing other SNL sketches and Digital Shorts, most notably the Justin Timberlake/Andy Samberg classic "Dick in a Box" from last Christmas.

But, since NBC struck a deal with Fox to create a video site designed to be a "YouTube killer," NBC's lawyers have been going after all YT clips of the show that weren't uploaded by NBC to the channel it maintains on the site. Michaels discusses the issue with the New York Observer and makes no bones about how he feels about the site: "YouTube has been great for us," he told writer Felix Gillette.

Even though NBC has its own YT channel, they are selective when it comes to which SNL sketches they choose to upload. According to Michaels, the reasons for that range from music clearances to union considerations. And, while the network video site has many sketches, but Gillette found the process of doing so to be cumbersome. He goes on to discuss how NBC is short-circuiting the show's popularity because many of the sketches taken down are political in nature, and demand for those will only increase as the presidential race gets hotter.

I really, really hope that the new NBC/Fox video venture is as intuitive and easy-to-use as YouTube, else NBC is going to shoot themselves in the foot by forcing the site to take all these clips down. For his part, Michaels is reserving judgment until the new system comes out. For his sake, he'd better hope his network doesn't screw things up.

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Craig

Drex, that' my point. Make it funny, then I'd care - again. I've watched every new episode since day one (yes, I'm dating myself.) For the last few years I've asked myself: Did the writers really think this was going to be funny? How did Lorne allow this? This year I'll give you Peyton Manning , Alec Baldwin, and JT., But then I'd have to go back to Robert De Niro to find the next funny one. Weekend Update is just lame. I really like the cast. They just need fresh writers.

April 12 2007 at 4:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Drex

Craig, lots of people care.. SNL is true Americana, one of the longest (and best shows IMO) in American history.. While lots of people think it's cool to "hate" they cant deny the popularly and genius of the show..

April 12 2007 at 3:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
nukethewhalesagain

I think the best part of watching SNL clips (or Daily Show or Colbert Report since those are disappearing as well) on Youtube is that we the viewers got to decide what the best skits were. It gave us a very good way of giving back feedback. While, by having NBC and their legal team decide what can be watched online it feels like they're taking that power away from us and those skits they post begin to feel like stuff they're trying to shove down our throats again.

Imagine if it was up to the NBC legal team whether Chronic-what-cles of Narnia was released online. Something tells me Andy Samberg's career wouldn't be what it is now.

April 12 2007 at 3:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TomB

If the new NBC/Fox video venture forces you to watch commercials it will never fly.

April 12 2007 at 3:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Craig

Who cares. Besides Dick in a Box, nothing's been funny for years. SNL's better off changing the writers, THEN worrying about what appears on YT.

April 12 2007 at 2:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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