The days of Roseanne Roseannadanna and "Jane, you ignorant slut!" are long gone. But to those who cannot remember them, the Saturday Night Live of the mid-1990s must seem like some flavorless leftover that Mom and Dad--those mockable aging baby boomers--refuse to discard from the fridge. Still, the fate of Lorne Michaels' legendary, revolutionary late-night comedy show continues to fascinate as almost no other show on TV does; what happens to it matters.
The show has successfully weathered SATURDAY NIGHT DEAD headlines in the past, but this year it is facing its gravest crisis yet. Last season SNL was bombarded with...