The beloved sketch comedy series made an unusual return to TV with a whole new, non-live format after going on temporary hiatus.
Saturday Night Live made its big return to TV after having to suspend production last month amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The unique situation that America finds itself in required the sketch series to think outside the box and turn to a unique and very different style of comedy for SNL, which relied on almost entirely pre-taped sketches.
And who did they task with helming this strange yet exciting new format? None other than SNL favorite and coronavirus survivor Tom Hanks!
The star introduced the episode with a monologue filmed inside his home, and joked about how things were "going to look a little different."
"For one thing, it is has been filmed by the SNL cast who are currently quarantined in their homes," Hanks explained. "There's no such thing as Saturdays anymore. It's just, 'Everyday is today' and we're not really live, but we are doing everything we can to make this feel like the SNL you know and love."
For this first-ever Saturday Night Live: At Home, the show's brief cold-open started with a Zoom meeting between all the show's castmemebers, as they introduced the unusual new format.
Notably, there was no traditional "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" intro -- since it's obviously not live -- and instead quickly moved into the show's new title credits.
This time, they ditched the traditional credits -- which mostly show the cast out and about having a good time in the Big Apple -- and instead was made up of self-shot videos of the stars at the homes, having a good time with their families, their pets or by themselves.
SNL airs live coast-to-coast Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET, 8:30 p.m. PT on NBC.
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