To our viewers:
I want to address last night’s unfortunate error during the conclusion of the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special.
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First and foremost, we sincerely apologize for cutting the broadcast of the SNL special short. This was not an intentional programming decision; it was simply human error, and we understand your frustration. NBC had communicated to us Friday afternoon that the live show would run long – with a scheduled end time of 11:15 pm. We had our technical teams ready for this planned 15-minute overrun. When the show ran even later, we didn’t make the real-time adjustments, and that’s why the final 13 minutes were missed. This meant missing a performance by Sir Paul McCartney who sang a medley of three songs from The Beatles Abbey Road album, as well as the on-stage farewell led by Martin Short.
We are actively working with NBC this morning to present an encore presentation of these moments as soon as possible. We’ll communicate that to you as soon as we know more.
We value these special moments in television history as much as you do and we’re taking immediate steps to prevent similar technical issues in the future. We know this information doesn’t fix your viewing experience last night, but know we are doing everything in our power to make sure this type of thing doesn’t happen again.
Again, please accept my sincerest apology.
Jaimie León
WSLS VP & General Manager
What you didn’t see included a performance by Sir Paul McCartney, who sang a medley of three songs from The Beatles Abbey Road album. We also missed the on-stage goodbye led by Martin Short that included former cast members holding up a photo of Gilda Radner. Both of these clips have been attached here:
For all the videos from SNL’s 50th anniversary special, click here.
