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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for October 11

Both “30 Rock” and “Saturday Night Live” both debuted on this day and funny enough, Tina Fey wrote for both of them.

October 11, 2020

2–3 minutes

1975: Live, It’s Saturday Night!

Ever wonder when the announcer for Saturday Night Live comes on and he always says, “…it’s Saturday Night” instead of “Saturday Night Live?” That’s because when the show began on this day in 1975, it was originally called simply Saturday Night. During that year, another show had a similar-sounding name (Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell) on ABC. While the latter variety show fizzled out rather quickly, SNL is still alive and kicking.

Created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol, SNL became an instant hit and has become one of the longest-running TV programs in the U.S. Over the years, it has received numerous Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award and a few Writers Guild of America Awards, not to mention a revolving door of cast members.

The original cast of “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players” performing spoofs of TV shows and political satire included Laraine Newman, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris, and Chevy Chase. After Chase left the show (after the first season), he was replaced with Bill Murray. In 1980, Michaels left the show to explore other projects, and the show found itself on the brink of cancellation but recovered when Ebersol took the helm. Michaels returned in 1985. He’s been there ever since. (Image: TVDB)

1957: TV’s First Toilet

The edgy program to show a toilet on TV for the first time was none other than … Leave it to Beaver. In the episode, Captain Jack, Beaver and Wally had ordered a pet alligator from a comic book and decided to keep it in the toilet tank. ABC was dead set against showing the whole commode though. Only the tank was shown. It wasn’t until 1968 when the Ty-D-Bol man lived there regularly. (Image: Pixabay)

2006: ’30 Rock’ Premieres

Though fully satirical, it is said that Tina Fey loosely based 30 Rock on her experiences working as a head writer for Saturday Night Live. The name refers to 30 Rockefeller Plaza located in New York City where SNL is created and performed. The series debuted on this day in 2006 and starred Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, John Lutz, Sue Galloway, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, Maulik Pancholy, and Rachel Dratch.

There is one story that claims the show took three days to build a set that was only used for six seconds of airtime. Over the show’s seven seasons, 30 Rock was nominated for 103 Emmy Awards winning 16. Despite the show’s high praise, its ratings did not match. The show ended its seven-season run on January 31, 2013. (Image: TVDB)