VH1 Classic announced it will host a mega-marathon of "Saturday Night Live" to celebrate the NBC sketch comedy show's 40th anniversary.
"The SNL Rewind: 2015-1975 Mega-Marathon" will air back-to-back episodes for 19 days in a 433-hour marathon starting on Wednesday, Jan. 28. The special event will start with the final episode of season 39 and work back to the first episode hosted by George Carlin in 1975.
NBC will wrap up the marathon with a three-hour special on Sunday, Feb. 15, which will feature past and present cast members, special guests and musical acts from the show's five-decade run.
"Building a 19-day marathon seemed pretty daunting at first, but when we started mapping it out the days filled up quickly," Ben Zurier, Executive Vice President of Programming Strategy for VH1, VH1 Classic and Palladia, said in a statement. "There are so many tremendous stars, memorable characters, great music performances and unmatched comedy writing, that my biggest concern now is about all the great stuff we didn't find room for!"
The marathon will also feature special showcase blocks for particular hosts, skits or musical artists including six episodes of Justin Timberlake, past "SNL" cast members who returned as hosts and a half-day of episodes that featured the "Wayne's World" sketch.
On each Saturday of the event, a three-hour block will be dedicated to screening movies that starred "SNL" alumni. The films include "Macgruber" (Will Forte and Kristen Wiig), "Black Sheep" (Chris Farley and David Spade), "Trading Places" (Eddie Murphy) and "The Blues Brothers" (John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd).
VH1.com will host a "Best Character Ever" tournament, a 19-day interactive bracket that fans can vote on each day to determine the greatest "SNL" character of all time. Fans can also find their favorites on the website and the VH1 app for any episodes the marathon couldn't squeeze in.
VH1 Classic will also feature "pop-up video" style trivia and surprise social hosts will interact live with fans to provide their insider secrets on the long-running series.
