It’s no exaggeration to say that 100 years ago, NBC changed broadcasting forever. America’s first original broadcasting network lays claim to the first coast-to-coast radio show, first paid television commercial, first regularly scheduled TV news program, first TV morning show, and first televised presidential debate. It also served as the incubator for programming that defines the American sensibility, like Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, and Star Trek.
Over the decades, NBC has minted stars and watched them take flight, birthed shows that captured the zeitgeist before leaving the air, and witnessed the arc that brought audiences’ attention from the radio to the TV screen to YouTube Shorts and streaming. For CULTURED, a few of the network’s current and returning faces weigh in on NBC’s centennial.
Bobby Moynihan and Veronika Slowikowska
Bobby Moynihan starred on SNL from 2008 to 2017, returning to NBC this year for The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins—which sees fellow SNL alum Tracy Morgan as a former football star and Daniel Radcliffe as a filmmaker, both trying to revive their careers—now airing its second season. Veronika Slowikowska, on the other hand, is currently embarking on her second season as a cast member on SNL.
Let’s start with the moment you were both hired for SNL.
Veronika Slowikowska: Did Lorne [Michaels] call you?
Bobby Moynihan: I got a call from Lorne. It was terrifying.
Slowikowska: I don’t think he does that anymore.
Moynihan: You know what’s crazy is the day before, I got a call from my agent saying, “Hey, Bernie Brillstein passed away today, so you’re probably not going to hear [from SNL].” I relaxed a tiny bit, and I am not a big drinker at all, but I had a couple glasses of wine, watched a couple episodes of Lost, and passed out. I remember it was like 1 o’clock in the afternoon. I never slept late and my phone rang—I was still in bed—and they were like, “We have Lorne Michaels for you.” He went, “Bobby, how are you?” And I went, “huh?” And he went, “I just wanted to say hi, and I think America’s gonna love you this season on SNL.” I believe I said, “You made my day.” And I think he went, “Well, I hope it lasts longer than that. You sound busy. I’ll talk to you later.” I was like, I just got fired.
Slowikowska: I grew up watching SNL around your era, Bobby.
Moynihan: That’s bonkers.
Slowikowska: That was me staying up with my dad on Saturday and falling asleep to whatever the cold open was, because I was like, “I can stay up,” but you couldn’t find it on YouTube quite yet. And then The Lonely Island, that’s when YouTube really came around.
Moynihan: I have a very distinct memory of standing in Andy [Samberg]’s office and him going, “They’re putting our video on this thing called YouTube,” and me being like, “What the hell is that?” He’s like, “I don’t know, but they gave us stock in the company.” I was like, “Good luck, bro. It sounds like you got screwed.”
Slowikowska: Oh my god! Even though the world’s changing and people can make stuff online, there’s still no [better] stamp of approval from the world than Lorne Michaels choosing you. Now it’s even more special, I’d argue, because of the algorithm. You’re being fed so many different things, whereas this is all one live thing. It’s more rare than ever.
Bobby, you’re back on NBC now with Reggie Dinkins. How does it feel?
Moynihan: I mean, it feels great. Tina [Fey] and Robert [Carlock] and Sam [Means] have gathered a team of people with SNL mentality, but without the anxiety and the father figure. I’ve watched every episode of this show twice. I’m not embarrassed to say it. You have to come do it, Veronika.
Slowikowska: Please, I would die.
Moynihan: I’m gonna pitch that Rusty needs help with Reggie’s Instagram account, so he has to hire a media manager.
Slowikowska: I’m free.
Bobby, do you have any advice for an SNL second year before we go?
Moynihan: I have no advice other than, you’re killing it. It’s crazy, too, when you realize you’re talking to the next Cecily [Strong], somebody who’s gonna be an asset to that place for a long time, who can do a great deal. I’m still such a nerd about the show and a fan of it, so I’m a fan of Veronika’s.
Jenna Bush Hager and Kat Cunning
Jenna Bush Hager joined the Today show in 2009 as a correspondent, eventually becoming a co-host and, this year, an executive producer of the new primetime series Line of Fire. Musician and actor Kat Cunning stars on that series as the daughter in a family of law enforcement agents who struggle to balance commitments to each other with commitments to their country.
I would love to hear how you both came to this project, Line of Fire.
Jenna Bush Hager: Well, Josh [Safran, the show’s creator] and I discussed this idea at my niece’s second birthday party. He is friends with my sister. He and I just, as one does at a birthday party for a toddler, started talking about this idea that he had of a family of people working in different units of protective services and what that does to the family unit. And because I have the unique history of being protected by Secret Service, we got really deep about these people who would have to miss their kid’s birthday party to follow around a 19-year-old who didn’t always understand what they were sacrificing. We were like, “Oh my God, this is a show.”
Kat Cunning: I was actually singing at the Faena hotel in New York. I literally was in my full lounge singer drag, and then I got the audition in my inbox. I look sort of like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, and I’m like, “FBI, who’s gonna believe me?”
Bush Hager: You kill Kat. Every single person that watches is completely obsessed with your work.
Cunning: This isn’t really my genre usually, but everything about this has been a surprise to me. I’m so easily spooked by things, but I am a fan of the long lineage of amazing FBI women. Jodie Foster vibes. I’m pulling from that. I’m pulling from Scully. I love this situation and what it gives women the opportunity to play.
What excites you both about working in TV right now?
Bush Hager: Everybody would say this is not the right time. Yes, it’s a hard time in this landscape. It would be silly not to admit that, and I truly think that it would be silly to be like, “It’s over,” before it’s over. I love that it’s on NBC. I love that anybody that has a TV can watch this on Monday nights, old school like we used to. It reminds me of how I grew up watching television, which was not streaming and all at once. That reminds me of turning on 90210 and Melrose Place, and not being able to wait for Thursday nights. Now my children just have access to whatever they want all the time, and that bums me out a little. Waiting, longing for something, whatever it is, is a lost art.
Cunning: Yes, yearning.
Bush Hager: Don’t we all want to yearn, man?
Cunning: I think, like a lot of the cast members, that my personal interests are more niche and indie. But the magic of mainstream media and network TV is the chance to be the bridge from the niche thing you love about your art form to the wide array of people who ingest it. It feels like the most generous thing to do with your craft as an actor, as an artist, as a performer of any kind. It’s actually so rock and roll that NBC is where Line of Fire landed, especially for its 100th, because they’re doubling down on being like, “Yeah, you guys might think this is a dying art, but we’re going to do a full-court press.” It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to be in something that feels like it could have legs for multiple seasons. We’re deciding to have faith in it and give it a chance to breathe.
Bush Hager: Which is like choosing hope. It feels good.
I wondered if you could share something that you’re still chasing in your career, whether it’s a small personal goal or a larger project that you want to work on. What are you looking ahead to?
Bush Hager: This feels like it. I’m working and publishing and all these things I love. I feel like I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do. It kind of feels like a moment. I’m turning 45. I’ve been at this since I was in my 20s. It sort of just feels like, live in it and appreciate where we are. because this is sort of what I’ve been hoping for and working for and dreaming for, and, I guess, chasing.
Cunning: I want to be Nicole Kidman, where she is right now. Everywhere, baby. But it’s true that right now, I can’t believe where I am. My mom texted me yesterday and was like, “Are you okay? You’re everywhere. Are you handling this all right? Are you addicted to drugs yet? What has fame gotten you?” All I said to her was, “I’m the best I’ve ever been.” I’m walking in my purpose.
Steven Weber and Darren Barnet
Steven Weber, who acted across all eight seasons of Wings in the ’90s, returned to NBC in 2021 to join Chicago Med. Darren Barnet followed him into the ensemble cast in 2024. Both are currently on air as emergency department doctors in the show’s 12th season.
Canyon start by telling me how you came to Chicago Med?
Steven Weber: Are you asking a handsome boy or an old man?
Whichever wants to go first.
Weber: Alright. Go, pretty boy.
Darren Barnet: It was a weird time in the industry at that point. I was lined up to do some movies, and then the strike happened. I got a call from my team, and they said, “We have good news and bad news. Bad news: movies are not going to be a thing for a while because of the strike. Good news: you have a straight offer from Chicago Med.” I called my mom about it, and she was like, “You absolutely better take it,” because she’s been a fan of the show since season 1.
Steven, you’ve been in a couple ensembles at this point. How did this one strike you when you joined?
Weber: I was originally offered four to five episodes, and my character was supposed to actually end in a blaze of glory, as it were. This couldn’t have come at a better time, as Darren said. Post-Covid, things were not good. Things are generally never great for actors, but this really hurt everything. It hurt the community and the feeling of community. I think both Darren and I could probably speak to this. We both have really interesting characters here. There’s a lot of texture that they’ve started to really tease out, and more to come. It’s kind of a great machine.
Darren, one of the things people talk about with these longer running projects is that it’s a great training ground. Are there some things that you feel like you’ve picked up over your time on the show?
Barnet: The best training ground for an actor is to be on set, and we get to do it more than most every day. Directing and writing is also something that’s always been an interest of mine, and I’m very close with each director, our producing director, our showrunner. To be a director, one of the best training grounds is to be an actor and really pay attention, and we get that opportunity every day. I go to video village quite often and just try to observe.
Steven, what do you see as the biggest difference between the period of time when you were on Wings and now?
Weber: I mean, the biggest change that I’ve seen isn’t exclusive to this show, but it certainly is very apparent. Networks are a slimmed-down version of what they used to be. The thing that’s very apparent on this show, and I’m not just speaking about it because we’re on it, is that everybody on the show has such intense gratitude and is so good at what they do. There’s nobody who’s faceless here. Everybody is unique and conjoined in a way. The stripping down of the network experience has made it more precious, and I think people are more understanding of what that was and what it means now. Our show may not have the critical clout of big streaming shows, but it has real, genuine artisanship and craftsmanship and it’s good that way.
Throughout all of these changes, people still love medical shows. They love procedurals. They love sticking with these characters. Were you both fans of the genre before starting on this? Do you have an idea of what keeps drawing us in?
Barnet: Everyone in the world has, unfortunately, lost someone, had a loved one fall ill, or experienced a medical emergency themselves. It’s very relatable. You see fire trucks and police cars pass you every day with their sirens on without knowing the stories unfolding there, and I think these shows do their best to reflect those in network drama fashion. It’s an everyday thing. The life of a first responder never stops. I’m glad we get to shed a little bit of light on it.
And what about you, Steven? Had you ever watched the genre before?
Weber: I was a huge ER fan, and even before that, there were always medical shows on when I was growing up in the ’60s and ’70s. Just technically speaking, they’re a great source of drama. The thing that ER seemed to do very well is to tell us about the lives of the doctors and the nurses and the aides working at these hospitals. Very coldly speaking, it’s a great source. It’s like a big soap opera, man. Like Darren said, everybody has their connection to this world. It’s not sci-fi. It’s not war. It’s not even Cops. This has heroes and villains and everybody in between. It’s a genre that’s been on the air since radio, for crying out loud.
NBC100: The Live Celebration” airs Thursday, Dec. 10 at 8/7c on NBC and Peacock.
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