NBC has recently highlighted numerous changes to “Saturday Night Live,” especially regarding the cast. However, one of the significant updates within the show went unannounced until the kickoff of its 51st season.
Credits that rolled in the early hours of Sunday following Bad Bunny’s hosting revealed that veteran producer Erin Doyle has been promoted to a key position in the show’s production hierarchy. Doyle now stands alongside seasoned “SNL” figures, Steve Higgins and Erik Kenward, at the top levels of production management, with the series continuing to be overseen by executive producer Lorne Michaels.
An NBC representative for the program declined to provide details about Doyle’s elevated position. Neither the network nor the show has issued formal statements regarding adjustments in the production team.
Doyle’s fundamental responsibilities may remain largely the same. Since joining “SNL” in 2009 as an intern and working closely with Michaels as one of his assistants, she has climbed the ranks within the show. According to a recent biography of Michaels by New Yorker editor Susan Morrison released earlier this year, “She possesses a distinct warmth and, similar to Michaels, has a talent for managing high-strung celebrities; she also produces content for his company, Broadway Video.” Morrison noted that Doyle “occasionally acts as the moral compass of the show, highlighting material that might be deemed offensive by viewers.”
However, she is stepping up to a new role that does not drastically alter the current state of “SNL.” Kenward has been a senior producer since 2011 and originally joined as a writer in 2001, while Higgins, a familiar face on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” has been part of “SNL” since 1995.
