DETROIT – I know the best way to address the error last night with the ending of the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary special is with you directly.
We sincerely apologize for cutting short the SNL special. This was not an intentional programming decision; it was simply human error, and we understand your disappointment. NBC had communicated to us Friday afternoon that the live show would run long -- with a scheduled end time of 11:15 p.m. 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.
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 Detroiter Gilda Radner. Those clips are embedded at the bottom of this page.
Click here to view SNL’s full playlist of videos from the 50th Anniversary special.
Know we are working hard with NBC this morning to present an encore presentation of these moments as soon as we can. 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 steps today 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.
Bob Ellis
WDIV VP & General Manager
