Part of the brilliance of "Saturday Night Live" is the show's ability to continue for 38 seasons with a revolving door of cast members. Each season's finale marks the last time a few cast members will take the stage and leaves critics to question if the show will be able to fill the void left by the departing stars.
Bill Hader is confirmed to be leaving the show one season after Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg left. Also leaving the show in February 2014 will be head writer and Weekend Update host Seth Meyers who will replace Jimmy Fallon on "Late Night." The New York Post reports that sources at NBC confirmed that Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis will also be leaving the show.
All of the departures led Andrew Wallenstein of Variety to wonder if the show could be headed for a rough season.
"2013-14 could very well shake out to be one of those tricky transitional seasons that every now and then seems to threaten 'SNL' over a history that has seen its share of low points," Wallenstein said.
This won't be the first time in the history of the show that a number of cast members left at once. Large portions of the cast left after the 1985-1986 season and after the 1994-95 season, according to Variety. Although the immediate season following each exodus was a bit rough each season also boasted a banner crop of new talent including Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman in 1986 and Will Ferrell, Colin Quinn and Chris Kattan in 1995. Wallenstein argues that a new crop of talent won't be necessary for next season.
"2013-2014 doesn't necessarily require a fresh infusion of talent to salvage 'SNL'; the series did a fantastic job of grooming in-house this season," Wallenstein said.
Wallenstein expects Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan to have a breakout season now that they will have to handle more of the burden. Other than those two the talent on the men's side of things is a little bare and may need to be beefed up a bit with some new additions. On the women's side Wallenstein says that two of the shows greatest talents are Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong.
It's easy for the fans of the show to see who is leaving and start to freak out a bit about the future of the program. Wallenstein is convinced that fans need not panic.
"While there is every indication 'SNL' is on the verge of a serious manpower outage, don't fret yet," Wallenstein said. "There's already a lot of talent waiting in the wings at Studio 8H."
