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Longtime fans of Saturday Night Live know the drill: an opening sketch, then "Live! From New York! It's Saturday Night!" followed by the opening credits and then "with your host....." Usually the host is someone whose name is instantly recognizable, but sometimes I find myself thinking "Who?"

Who knows why people who are relatively unknown make it onto the show. Maybe they couldn't find someone for that week, maybe a more famous person had to drop out, maybe the company who owns NBC has a deal with a movie studio that has a movie coming out and the host just happens to be the star of that movie. On April 14, 2007 Shia LeBeouf hosted SNL, primarily because the movie he's in, Disturbia, is coming out soon. Also he is going to be in Indiana Jones 4.

So LeBouf is an up and coming actor, but right now no one knows who he is. There was a day when only accomplished, well known actors were chosen as hosts for the weekly sketch show. But then again, there was a time when the show was incredibly hip and people would stay home on Saturday nights to watch it. That time was approximately 1975-1977.

Deals with the movie industry aside, it seems like SNL tries to do a few shows a year that appeal to the under 21 crowd. They usually have someone on that no one over the age of 30 has heard of, and then get a music guest such as Avril Lavigne or Ashley Simpson to play.

Lately it seems like SNL has been trying to appeal to the younger crowd with it's semipermanent cast members as well. Most of the new members are relatively young and star in sketches that are geared toward the college crowd. The show has also been testing the limits of the network's censors by showing sketches such as "D-ck in a box" which had to be bleeped out but was available in it's uncensored version on NBC's website.

As a long time fan of SNL I'm not sure if I like the new trend. I'm also not sure how many college aged people are going to be sitting around watching TV on a Saturday night the way that us older parents are. It seems like there was a day when SNL would only choose the already famous stars of sports or entertainment to host the show, but now it seems they're willing to take a chance on an unknown if they're likely to attract to a younger crowd and if they have a movie coming out.

Learn more about this author, Helen Richardson.
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