Sports

‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’

AnyFans 2025-09-19

By Justin Klawans

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Less than $3 per week

View Profile

The Explainer

Talking Points

The Week Recommends

Newsletters

From the Magazine

The Week Junior

Food & Drink

Personal Finance

All Categories

Newsletter sign up

instant opinion

‘The problem isn’t solved by simply swapping out the faces on screen’

Opinion, comment and editorials of the day

Newsletter sign up

Lorne Michaels seen at the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in New York City

(Image credit: Jamie McCarthy / Peacock / Getty Images)

Justin Klawans, The Week US

18 September 2025

‘SNL cast exits highlight cracks in the show’s armor’
Jason Bailey at Bloomberg

Recent cast exits “highlight two cracks in ‘SNL’s armor — cracks that deserve more attention, but that creator and long-time producer Lorne Michaels seems intent on ignoring,” says Jason Bailey. “SNL” is “no longer the trampoline that propels comedy stars to bigger and better things” because of the “splintering of a once-homogenous comedy culture that helped ‘SNL’ become ubiquitous in popular culture.” Michaels should “take a hard look at his creation and acknowledge the role he’s played.”

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

‘An attack on diplomacy itself’
Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi at The Washington Post

Qatar has been a “trusted mediator in some of the world’s most complex conflicts,” says Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi. Israel’s “missile attack on Doha last week violated the most basic principles of sovereignty and nonintervention enshrined in international law.” If “mediators can be bombed with impunity, then who will host peace talks? Without safe channels for diplomacy, war becomes the only option, civilization recedes, and the rule of law is replaced with brute force.”

‘The podcast presidency’
Noah Rothman at the National Review
We have “ample evidence to support the conclusion that Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show was placed on ‘indefinite’ hiatus for cause,” says Noah Rothman. It’s “not beyond the realm of comprehension that ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s network and affiliates were genuinely put off by the host’s initial comments.” We “can at least hold out the possibility that a private firm with a fiduciary responsibility to investors and shareholders would take a dim view of such conduct in any employee.”

‘Remembering Robert Redford, star of one of the greatest movies ever made about journalism’
Tom Jones at the Poynter Institute
Robert Redford was “much more than an actor,” says Tom Jones. Aside “from his remarkable career on the big screen, Redford was an Oscar-winning director, an activist and a champion of independent movies through his founding of the Sundance Film Festival.” But “most of all, he was a movie star in the truest sense of the words.” Redford’s film “All the President’s Men” about the “Post’s coverage of Watergate is considered one of the greatest movies ever made about journalism.”

Explore More

Saturday Night Live

Justin Klawans, The Week US

Social Links Navigation

Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.

3 officers killed in Pennsylvania shooting

Police did not share the identities of the officers or the slain suspect, nor the motive or the focus of the still-active investigation

Fed cuts interest rates a quarter point

‘The cut suggests a broader shift toward concern about cracks forming in the job market’

ABC shelves ‘Kimmel Live’ after Trump FCC threat

‘A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the president doesn’t like what they say’

You might also like

ABC shelves ‘Kimmel Live’ after Trump FCC threat

‘A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the president doesn’t like what they say’

‘Mental health care is health care’