Vanessa Bayer says being on “SNL” is not wholly unlike doing QVC, where her “I Love That for You” character works. Well, that Showtime character technically works at the ficticious SVN — which is basically QVC without Showtime getting sued by QVC.
Bayer said that “a lot of the live-TV elements from ‘SNL’ do cross over” into her new gig.
“With ‘SNL,’ you always want your sketches to make it into the live show. You never really know if they’re going to make it in. You always want your sketches to be earlier in the show because they’re safer there and less likely to get cut,” the show’s co-creator, executive producer and star said Tuesday at the Television Critics Association (TCA) Winter Press Tour. “With home shopping, it’s a similar thing… you want to have better time slots.”
And like they might say on QVC/SVN, but wait, there’s more.
“I think the thing with both of these live shows is that, even if the people are the best people in the world, just the way that the (home-shopping) network and [‘SNL’] are set up– they’re set up in such a way that you sort of have to compete,” she continued. “Like, competing is just part of how it is run.”
Like “SNL” writers and actors, home-shopping hosts want to have “better time slots,” Bayer, who spent seven years at “Saturday Night Live,” said.
“And also just the fact that the show must go on,” Bayer said. “Things don’t always go exactly to plan, but you have to keep moving because people are watching you live.”
“And people are winging it, like, big time,” her co-creator Jeremy Beiler, a fellow “SNL” alum, chimed in.
Inspired by Bayer’s own story of overcoming childhood leukemia, “I Love That for You” centers on Joanna Gold (Bayer) who dreams of becoming a host at a home-shopping channel. Molly Shannon plays Jackie, the charismatic star of the network and Joanna’s idol. Jenifer Lewis plays Patricia, the network’s icy, enigmatic founder and CEO.
Not only does “I Love That for You” draw on Bayer’s childhood-leukemia (she’s fine now) story, it also pulls from her real-life love of QVC-esque programming. So they’re not laughing at it, they’re laughing with it.
“I Love That for You,” formerly called “I Love This for You,” is co-created and executive produced by Bayer and Beiler. Jessi Klein serves as showrunner and executive producer along with Michael Showalter. Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle of Annapurna, Jordana Mollick of Semi-Formal and Allyce Ozarski also serve as executive producers.
The series has an eight-episode order.