This is the first episode after Norm MacDonald was officially fired from doing the news after almost 4 years. NBC West Coast President at the time Don Ohlmeyer hated MacDonald and thought that his jokes were offensive and too insular. It was not Lorne Michaels decision to replace him. Colin Quinn did the news for the first time this episode and continued to host it through the end of the 1999-2000 season. The set was redone for him and he opened the news with a nod to MacDonald. The cast was clearly not happy with what was done and when Will Ferrell appeared on the news as Harry Carey he deliberately called Colin Quinn Norm. Quinn seemed to be in on it.