How to watch “Saturday Night Live”'s 50th anniversary special, new “SNL” docs, and more

Get ready to kick, and stretch, and kick! Saturday Night Live is turning 50!

The legendary sketch show, which premiered on Oct. 11, 1975, is celebrating its anniversary early by serving SNL fans a feast of abundance that even Debbie Downer would be hard-pressed to refuse.

There are documentaries featuring never-before-seen footage and dozens of new interviews, a curated YouTube playlist with highlights from every season, a movie about the show's origins available to stream, an exciting fan experience in New York, a new biography on the show's creator hitting shelves, and a three-hour live primetime special with an overflow of beloved cast members, fan-favorite guest hosts, and more. It's enough to make any SNL nerd's conehead explode!

Oh, and in the meantime, the show continues its current season 50 with new January episodes hosted by Dave Chappelle and Timothée Chalamet (pulling double duty as musical guest).

Related: Every Saturday Night Live season 50 host and musical guest

Read on for more details on all the SNL anniversary programming, including how to tune in.

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night

What is it? A four-part docuseries featuring rare footage and interviews with more than 60 contributors, including cast members, writers, and execs. Episode 1 focuses on the casting process, with never-before-seen audition footage and firsthand stories from cast members and those who decide who makes the cut. Episode 2 offers a behind-the-scenes look inside the writers' room to show how pitches get approved and everything involved in making sketches into reality. Episode 3 takes a deep dive into the iconic "More Cowbell" sketch, starring Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken. And episode 4 explores SNL's very weird season 11, which saw the return of show creator Lorne Michaels and the ambitious-yet-flawed casting of 17-year-old Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., Randy Quaid, Damon Wayans, and more.

Who is involved? Executive-produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom), the docuseries features interviews with Fred Armisen, Dana Carvey, Stephen Colbert, Pete Davidson, Tina Fey, Al Franken, Heidi Gardner, Bill Hader, Darrell Hammond, Tom Hanks, Chris Kattan, Seth Meyers, Tracy Morgan, John Mulaney, Cheri Oteri, Joe Piscopo, Amy Poehler, Bob Odenkirk, Jay Pharaoh, Molly Shannon, Sarah Silverman, Robert Smigel, David Spade, Kenan Thompson, Bowen Yang, and many more.

How can you watch? All four episodes of SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night will be available to stream on Peacock beginning Thursday, Jan. 16.

Watch the trailer below:

Related: The best Saturday Night Live cast members, ranked

Ladies & Gentleman ... 50 Years of SNL Music

What is it? A feature-length documentary celebrating five decades of Saturday Night Live's legendary music performances and musical-comedy sketches. The three-hour broadcast will include interviews with musical guests, cast members, writers, producers, and more.

Who is involved? Co-directed by Grammy and Oscar-winning musician and filmmaker Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Emmy-winning SNL video shorts director Oz Rodríguez, Ladies & Gentlemen includes interviews with musicians like Bad Bunny, Elvis Costello, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Dave Grohl, Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Dua Lipa, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Kacey Musgraves, Paul Simon, Justin Timberlake, Jack White, and more. Also interviewed are Jane Curtin, Jimmy Fallon, Eddie Murphy, Ego Nwodim, Conan O’Brien, Maya Rudolph, Paul Shaffer, Sarah Sherman, various SNL band members, Lonely Island's Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, and more.

How can you watch? Ladies & Gentlemen ... 50 Years of SNL Music premieres Monday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.

Related: Best and worst movies based on SNL sketches, plus some you may not know are tied to the show

SNL50: The Anniversary Special

What is it? A three-hour live primetime special celebrating a half century of Saturday Night Live. Details are scarce, but if it's anything like the show's 40th anniversary special in 2015, expect exciting cast reunions, revived fan-favorite characters and sketches, tributes to those no longer with us, and more.

Who is involved? No participants have been formally announced, but so many former cast members, guest hosts, and other close friends of the show are expected that Michaels declared years in advance that most invitees won't be allowed plus-ones.

How can you watch? SNL50: The Anniversary Special airs on Sunday, Feb. 16, from 8-11 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

Watch a teaser below:

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Saturday Night

What is it? A feature filmed that debuted at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival before hitting theaters last October, Saturday Night is a heightened account of the 90 minutes leading up to SNL's first live broadcast in 1975. In it, a very green Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) must contend with ornery cast members and writers, a set that's falling apart, meddling network execs, and threats from Hollywood icons.

Related: Saturday Night fact check: The true stories behind movie's wildest tales of SNL premiere

Who is involved? Directed by Jason Reitman, the SNL biopic depicts the show's original Not Ready for Primetime Players — Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), and Michael O'Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) — as well various others involved, like Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun), Andy Kaufman (also Braun), George Carlin (Matthew Rhys), Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany), Paul Shaffer (Paul Rust), Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons), writers Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) and Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener), and more.

How can you watch? Saturday Night is now available to watch on Blu-ray and Digital and will be released on Netflix on Saturday, Jan. 25.

Watch the trailer below:

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