JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
"Saturday Night Live U.K." launched just over two weeks ago, and we asked London-based reporter Ilya Marritz to find out whether it has a shot at success.
ILYA MARRITZ: The prelaunch publicity campaign for "Saturday Night Live's" British spin-off did not produce the kind of eager anticipation the showrunners were probably hoping for. More the opposite.
SCOTT BRYAN: The general vibe on the way towards the first episode was so negative.
MARRITZ: Scott Bryan is a TV critic who wrote about the show for Variety.
BRYAN: I think there was this mentality of, oh, here comes America trying to show Britain how to do comedy. Good luck.
MARRITZ: So the negativity built and built. And then, two weeks ago, the very first episode went live.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE U.K.")
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Ladies and Gentlemen, Tina Fey.
(CHEERING)
MARRITZ: And guest host Tina Fey, an "SNL U.S." veteran, took questions from the audience, including Irish actress Nicola Coughlan, who's known for "Derry Girls" and "Bridgerton."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE U.K.")
NICOLA COUGHLAN: Is it possible that many of us were a little reluctant to be in the first show because this is going out in Britain? And British people tend to root for the failure of others.
(LAUGHTER)
MARRITZ: But a funny thing happened on the way to "SNL U.K.'s" much-anticipated failure.
AARON KEMP: I saw a lot of stuff afterwards, which was like, all British people were, like, pleasantly surprised, and that's, like, the best compliment a British person can give.
CAMERON HOWE: I think it was a very strong first episode. Very happy. Very proud of the cast.
ROSIE MARTIN: It's good. I love it. I like the comedians.
MARRITZ: I met Aaron Kemp, Cameron Howe and Rosie Martin in line for the live broadcast of the second episode outside the Television Centre in West London on Saturday night.
MARTIN: We're having a great time. I think this is the cool queue.
MARRITZ: Sasha Marlow watched from home last week. Now she's the first one in line.
SASHA MARLOW: I thought it was amazing.
MARRITZ: But she would say that, wouldn't she?
MARLOW: Our cousin's in it.
MARRITZ: Cast member Annabel Marlow, Sasha's cousin, is not a household name. Like most of the cast, she's young and known mainly on the comedy circuit. The show Sasha saw that night opened with a skit set in 1997, in which British intelligence agents introduce a plan to make then-Prince Charles more popular by making his younger brother Andrew unpopular. They need to convince Andrew to go along with it.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE U.K.")
JACK SHEP: (As Prince Andrew) And you actually want me to do all of this stuff?
AYOADE BAMGBOYE: (As MI5 officer) Sadly, yes.
(LAUGHTER)
SHEP: (As Prince Andrew) Even the part about befriending a notorious pedophile?
(LAUGHTER)
CELESTE DRING: (As MI5 officer) That's an important part of it, yeah.
(LAUGHTER)
MARRITZ: It's gotten over a million views on YouTube. Still, at least one observer I talked to isn't ready to say "SNL U.K.'s" many doubters were wrong.
NICK HILTON: No, no, no. It's doomed. It's doomed. It's doomed.
MARRITZ: Nick Hilton is chief TV critic for the U.K. Independent. He says the short eight-episode season and the challenge of breaking through on live TV are going to make things difficult for the parent network, Sky.
HILTON: The question will be when they appraise it after this season run, do they think it's cut through on socials; it's making a name for itself - we're going to commission more of it and we're going to work out the strategy for finding an audience down the line?
MARRITZ: The show has six more episodes, six more chances to prove itself. For NPR News, I'm Ilya Marritz in London.
(SOUNDBITE OF KOFFEE + KANDEE SONG, "LOTS OF FUN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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