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'Weekend
Update' Takes on Super Bowl
Variety - 1/13/03
NBC is tackling the Super Bowl
again, pitting a 20-minute edition of "Saturday Night Live"
against ABC's Shania Twain halftime spectacular on January 26.
The network saw modest success
last year with a two-part, Playboy-themed edition of "Fear
Factor" that aired during halftime and after the big game.
This year, NBC brass have decided to focus solely on halftime.
At around 7 p.m. EST, NBC will begin airing a repeat 90-minute
edition of "Fear Factor." When the Super Bowl hits
halftime, NBC will interrupt "Fear" with a live broadcast
of "SNL's" Jimmy Fallon/Tina Fey-anchored "Weekend
Update," which will likely include several popular characters
and bits from the sketch laffer.
The rest of "Fear"
will air once "Update" ends.
NBC brass are still hammering
out a deal with "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels
and key talent to do the special, but a pact is expected. "We
just hate the idea of rolling over on any night," NBC Entertainment
president Jeff Zucker said. "It's not in our DNA."
NBC isn't the first network to
attack on Super Bowl Sunday. Fox pioneered such cheeky stunts
in 1992, when it aired a special live edition of sketch comedy
"In Living Color" during halftime of CBS' coverage
of the game. The special stole a huge chunk of CBS' viewers.
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