History of TV program published

NEW YORK -- A new season, the 28th, dawns on "Saturday Night Live" this week and, as always, the question is how the pendulum will swing. \nThe NBC comedy institution is uniquely elastic in quality. You can chart its health on a graph like the stock market, from glory years to gory years and all sorts of middling seasons in-between. \nRight now, the show is on a high. After a descent into bathroom humor during the mid-1990s, the comedy is now sharp and topical. \nThe "Saturday Night Live" writing staff, largely together for about seven years, returns to work this week with a new Emmy Award in hand. \nBut the loss of two performers -- Ana Gasteyer and Will Ferrell -- may herald a challenging year. Ferrell, in particular, was a valuable utility player in the mold of Dan Aykroyd or Phil Hartman. \n"Is it a transition year from several good years into one of its lulls?" asked Tom Shales, a television critic.\nHe's anxious for the answer, and so is Lorne Michaels, the show's founder and executive producer. \n"I think it's a big loss," Michaels said. "But the nice part of the show is, having lived through these transitions a lot of times, from the audience's perspective, people are patient with it." Even during the down years, there are still a handful of good shows, he said. \n"When a cast is at its peak and the writing staff is solid, you get an evenness," Michaels said. "It never goes below a certain level. You never worry that when people are up there they're going to sort of forget why they're funny." \n"SNL" was the first network television program controlled by baby boomers and has changed with each succeeding generation, Shales said.