Where did all-star 1990 attempt to make 'The Saturday Night Live Movie' go wrong? (HF)

By Nancy Tartaglione

HitFix today reports on a 1990 attempt to make a theatrical release called "The Saturday Night Live Movie," an anthology comedy film a la "Kentucky Fried Movie" that was written by an all-star cast of writers who have been associated with the show over the years. HitFix received a copy of the original script which includes skits written by the likes of Conan O'Brien, Robert Smigel, Al Franken, Greg Daniels and Jim Downey.

Lorne Michaels is credited as a writer on the title page, says HF. Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner are also listed on the title page, but don't seem to have any sketches in the film.

Daniels is a writer/producer on "The Office" and on "Parks and Recreation." He also has several scripts for "The Simpsons" to his name, and wrote the classic "Seinfeld" episode, "The Parking Space." At "SNL," he was a writer from 1987 to 1990.

Davis and Franken hail from the early days of "SNL" while Downey has been with SNL since 1977. George Meyer is a "Simpsons" legend and Smigel is the man behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

Like an average episode of SNL, there's a lot of hit and miss in the line-up, says HF.

HF's Drew McWeeny says he's been trying to get someone to talk to him about the script since it ended up in his hands and is hopeful the article might turn up someone willing to go on the record about how it started, the development process and where it went wrong in the end.

McWeeny dissects the various skits here.