First episode returns for “SNL” 50

NBC has added one more touch to its 50-year “Saturday Night Live” celebration.
Instead of airing a new episode on Feb. 15, as planned, it will rerun the show’s first episode. (The cast is shown here.) That night, it will also show a documentary about “SNL” music; the next day (Feb. 16) is the live reunion special.
The weekend now looks like this:
— ALREADY HERE: Two documentaries, on the Peacock streamer. “SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night” is a four-parter. “Ladies & Gentleman … 50 Years of SNL Music” is the film that will also air Saturday to NBC.
— FRIDAY (Feb. 14): Peacock has a live concert at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), with Jimmy Fallon hosting from Radio City Music Hall.
The music marathon includes Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Vedder, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Brittany Howard, Jelly Roll, Brandi Carlile, Chris Martin, Robyn, Jack White and David Byrne.
It also has several bands: Arcade Fire, Devo, Backstreet Boys, The Roots, Mumford & Sons, The B-52s and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.
— SATURDAY (Feb. 15): The music documentary, already on Peacock, airs at 8 p.m. It’s by Questlove, who’s become busy as a filmmaker (his “Summer of Soul” won the Academy Award for best feature-length documentary) and a musician: His The Roots is the band on Fallon’s show and also will be in Friday’s concert.
Then the first “SNL” episode will air at 11:30 p.m. ET … just as it did on Oct. 11, 1975.
Back then, the cast – much smaller than these days – was full of unknowns: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris and Laraine Newman. George Carlin hosted, with music from Billy Preston and Janice Ian and extra bits from Andy Kaufman and Muppet-master Jim Henson.
— SUNDAY (Feb. 16): At 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT), NBC has the red-carpet. At 8 (5 PT), it’s the reunion show; if it’s anything like the 40th reunion, it will aim for laughs.
The night will have past hosts, music guests and others. That includes Steve Martin, Tom Hanks, Paul McCartney, Scarlett Johansson, Dave Chappelle, Quinta Brunson, Paul Simon, Kim Kardashian, Robert De Niro, Sabrina Carpentr, John Mulaney, Martin Short, Ayo Edebiri, Adam Driver, Pedro Pascal, Woody Harrelson, Peyton Manning and (fresh from the concert the night before) Bad Bunny and Miley Cyrus.