So as I read this, they lose five cast members (the three above plus Fey and Dratch), but they keep the same format, length of show, and number of episodes. Sounds like the Bataan Death March for these guys.

I thought the major problem the last two years was the writing—too many “Gays in Space” and “repeating a double-entendre over and over again” and other high-concept, one-joke bits. Not good. I’m hoping they’ll reach out for some fresh writing talent.

In the meantime, I’m guessing “Studio 60” will be more entertaining than the show it’s copying.

Its sad that two of the cuts were minorities since diversity has never been SNL’s strong suit (at least since the Eddie Murphy days which don’t really count since Lorne had nothing to do with it).

I’m assuming that this is a net loss of three, and no new feature players will come on board. The cast was certainly getting a little bloated, but I don’t think that the absence of these 3 is going to make much of a difference.  Nor do I believe that the lower budget or tinkering with number of episodes will make much impact either.

It all starts with the process of how sketches make the final cut.  With as many writers as they have, they surely must come up with a good 7-10 solid sketches each week; however, scant few of them seem to get selected.  I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong, maybe what we see each week is the best the staff could muster, and that would be truly sad.  If that was the case, they definitely need new writers.  That seems unlikely, though.

No amount of money or cast changes will matter.  I predict this season’s quality to roughly mirror that of the last few years.  Even with Tina Fey leaving and Meyers helming the ship solo.