Saturday Night Live: Old vs. New

Live from New York! It’s Saturday Night. 

But for some audience members, it will never be that Saturday Night. The Saturday Nights when they laugh at every punch line, giggle at every premise, and await the next episode with the same high expectations. 

Indeed, Saturday Night Live has never been a flawless, 10/10 show. There will always be gripes about cast members, sketches, and the performance of hosts and musical guests. Yet, why do people claim that older seasons of SNL foster this perfection? For every modern live taping of SNL comes an abundance of comments rejecting sketches from the 2020s to the 2010s, 2000s, and onwards. 

Even SNL’s showrunner Lorne Michaels claims that “everyone's favorite cast was when they were in high school”. Though this belief is not scientifically proven, this behavioral response can be linked to a psychological effect: nostalgia. 

Coined in the late 17th century, nostalgia refers to a sentimental desire for the past. Nostalgia merges two Greek words: Nostos, meaning “homecoming”, and Algos, meaning “pain” or “longing”. Swiss medical student Johannes Hofer coined the term to describe soldiers suffering from intense homesickness and longing to return home. For audience members who had previously viewed SNL in its–for example–30th season, they may view this season as superior compared to the newer seasons. Though SNL has followed the same format and has its highs & lows in each episode, the nostalgia of older episodes resonates with viewers and often serves as a place of comfort towards new and unfamiliar content. As a result, older seasons of SNL are often seen as “funnier” and “better” than modern SNL because of the audience’s emotions and memories.

This positive outlook on past SNL episodes may also reflect another psychological concept: rosy retrospection, which may be familiar through the common idiom of viewing something with “rose-tinted glasses”. This cognitive bias is defined as perceiving a past event as “objectively” better compared to the present. Psychologists believe rosy retrospection occurs because people generalize the positive aspects while downplaying the nitty-gritty details. 

For older SNL fans, it is likely that they have compared older episodes to newer episodes of this sketch show and automatically reacted negatively to the current sketches, cast members, and overall episode quality. Due to the rosy retrospection bias, there is a lack of open-mindedness and thus enjoyment for season 52, as audience members long for the older, “better” episodes. This is unfair to new cast members like sketch performer Ashley Padilla, who juggles physical comedy and tension-building. While many hope Padilla will bloom into a breakout star, viewers with rosy retrospection could instantly compare her to previous cast members like Kate McKinnon or Heidi Gardner.

Furthermore, while Jeremy Culhane rises through the ranks with his impeccable Tucker Carlson impersonation, rosy retrospection bias pushes viewers to compare who is funnier: Jeremy Culhane, Mikey Day, or even Bobby Moynihan. Yes, there are a variety of comedians that seem familiar to the new counterparts of SNL. However, cognitive bias and nostalgia shape our perception of SNL's future. The landscape of this sketch comedy show relies on viewers’ retention and capacity for laughter. However, a lack of willingness to embrace novelty in new hosts, writers, and cast members limits creativity and deepens willful ignorance. Saturday Night Live is still running and thriving, so have fun and watch new tapings without worrying about the absence of Andy Samberg or Norm Macdonald.