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| Who can pick up the slack? |
Last Saturday, the cast and crew wished SNL star Kristen Wiig goodbye (
video). There's no sugarcoating it - this is a big loss. Without Wiig, the cast is considerably weaker. The loss of Wiig also leaves the show with a weak selection of women cast members. Abby Elliot has been a mainstay on the cast, but has lacked a breakout role or performance. Vanessa Bayer, the second-year featured cast member, has shown limited promise. Bayer's most notable role is
her impression of Miley Cyrus, which is solid but may be getting old for committed SNL viewers. Nasim Pedrad earned repertory status this year, after being a featured player for two seasons. Her most successful character is
Kim Kardashian, but has not shown much range in her roles. There should be more good to come from Nasim. Finally, SNL picked up Kate McKinnon mid-season who has been strong from the start. She has flaunted a variety of great impression, including one of
Penelope Cruz and
Helga Handler, a Swedish talk show host. I expect Kate's future to be bright.
Several news outlets have reported that Andy Samberg and Jason Sudeikis could leave this summer as well. However, I am more hopeful of them staying since they didn't receive any formal send-off during the show. One ominous sign for Samberg was his digital short
Lazy Sunday 2 which ended with these lines:
"On these New York Streets I hone my fake rap penmanship / that's how it began, and that's how I'ma finish it."
I am less concerned that Jason Sudeikis could leave because there hasn't been any concrete hints that he will. The New York Daily News
seems quite sure that Sudeikis will leave, citing how Sudeikis was "choking back tears" during the final sketch. In my opinion, there is still not enough information to predict whether Samberg or Sudeikis bid adieu. In any case, Lorne Michaels has indicated that there may be more changes by the end of the summer.
