When KSL finally started airing "Saturday Night Live"
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Jim Breuer and Will Ferrell in the "Food, Sex, or Cars?!" skit that didn't air in Utah in 1997. Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Twenty-two years ago this week, Utahns were howling at the first "Saturday Night Live" to broadcast on NBC's Salt Lake City affiliate in almost two decades.
- This is Old News, our uncensored version of Utah history.
The big picture (on the small screen): When KSL, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, switched from CBS to NBC in 1995, it stopped airing the popular, subversive comedy show.
What they said: "'SNL's' content is frequently objectionable, not to mention its overall quality has been in decline for years," KSL's then-manager told the Ogden Standard-Examiner.
- Instead, KSL ran a locally produced sports show at 10:30pm.
Between the lines: KUTV, which had swapped networks with KSL, continued airing "SNL" as the new CBS affiliate — but only for a few months.
- Then the show was unavailable here for about two years.
Why it mattered: Utahns missed iconic sketches like:
- "The Roxbury Guys"
- "Cobras and Panthers"
- "Janet Reno's Dance Party"
- the early "Celebrity Jeopardy" and "Delicious Dish" installments
- most appearances of Mary Katherine Gallagher and the Spartan Cheerleaders.
Meanwhile, radio shock-jock Howard Stern launched a CBS alternative to "SNL," but that proved too edgy for KUTV.
Between the lines: Household internet access was nascent in the '90s, so Utah's weekly comedy blackout was more of a black hole.
Catch up quick: A local WB station picked up the show in 1998, where it ran until KSL restored the program to its schedule for season 39 in 2013.
- That year saw the rise of Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong.
Yes, but: Earlier that year, KSL pulled "Hannibal" due to "graphic" content, prompting the show's producer to compare the station to a Soviet-era newspaper.
- In the two years prior, KSL canceled "The Playboy Club" and "The New Normal."
Flash forward: Utah's TV viewers were plunged back into late-night comedy darkness this month, as Nexstar-owned ABC 4 temporarily replaced "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" with news programs.
Catch up quick: Disney had pulled the show after criticism for comments Kimmel made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's death but brought it back days later.
- Nexstar and Sinclair — another broadcast group — kept the show off the air for a few extra days amid threats from President Trump. Both companies are pursuing business transactions that require government approval.