Saturday Night Live at Home was the branding used on episodes in the latter half of Season 45, which were composed of individually filmed sketches and videoconference spoofs due to the ongoing quarantines.
Background[]
In March 2020, the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic reached a critical level, demanding quarantines in most states, and SNL's home city of New York saw theatres closed and studio-audience productions similarly restricted. As a result, an episode planned for March 28 with John Krasinski and Dua Lipa was put on indefinite hold. (The episode had already been announced the previous week.)
As it became obvious that the quarantines would last for an extended period of time, likely to the planned end of the season, the At Home episodes were devised to create new content, following several other programs (including most late-night talk shows) transitioning to a similar format. As of September 2020, the cast and crew returned to studio for season 46, making SNL at Home, over, in the meantime.
Additionally, longtime cast members such as Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant, who initially planned on leaving at the end season 45, ended staying on two more seasons, and leaving in 2022, due to COVID.
On April 7, 2020, the Tuesday before the first show started, longtime musical producer Hal Willner died from COVID-19, a day after his 64th birthday. He had worked at SNL for 40 years at that point, and SNL paying a tribute to him on the April 11, 2020 episode.
The last episode of SNL at Home, and season 45, premiered on May 9, 2020. After that, the cast and staff returned to Studio 8H for the season 46 premiere on October 3, 2020.
Design[]
The episodes featured a new intro, showing several members of the Saturday Night Live Band (including Lenny Pickett and Leroy Pendarvis) in separate videos playing their parts of the theme. Each cast member was shown in new videos filmed in their homes, with their names superimposed in the same style as the standard season 45 montage. The end credits simply scrolled over a static shot of an empty home base.
Opening montage[]
SNL at Home