Within seconds of the latest SNL digital video short debut “Special Treat in a Box” with Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake, it was clear the piece was designed as much for viral video as it was for SNL. “Lazy Sunday” was an initially unsanctioned accidental tourist that did much to boost YouTube and SNL—and to shove NBCU into the social media age. Now Jacques Steinberg explains how SNL and NBC orchestrated two-version video— altered with 16 bleeps for NBC and released unbleeped online almost immediately after the show on both NBC.com and YouTube. (For reference, the overused word bleeped out is four letters and starts with d.) Another sign of the changing Times: the paper actually links from the story to the unbleeped YouTube.com version. NBC.com offers both the broadcast version and the “exclusive” uncensored version.
But SNL czar Lorne Michaels cautions not to expect frequent use of the internet as an alternate universe for the show. But he told the NYT he expects to see more shows and networks make use of the option: “My sense is that, as always, now that the door has been opened, some things will go through it.”
The process at NBC wasn’t simple. Rick Ludvin, the exec responsible for late-night programming, said his first instinct was the network probably shouldn’t release online material it wouldn’t broadcast: “My thought was that even though it’s going on the Internet, it’s still representing NBC. But I hadn’t seen it yet. So I said it would depend on how dirty it was.” Then he watched it with a rep from legal and came to a different conclusion: “Those people who go on the Internet will not be shocked by this. Obviously there are some people who will be offended. Those people are probably unlikely to go searching for it on the Internet. It’s just funny.” The buck didn’t stop there; eventually it went all the way to Jeff Zucker; all approved and a disclaimer was added before the web version.
By the way, SNL head writer Seth Meyers is right. It’s not funnier unbleeped.