Saturday Night Live
is an American
sketch comedy
series created and produced by
Lorne Michaels
for most of the show's run. The show has aired on
NBC
since 1975.
After the
1979?80 season
, Michaels attempted to take a break and appoint writer
Al Franken
his successor. However, then-president of NBC
Fred Silverman
passed on Franken and gave the job to associate producer
Jean Doumanian
, bringing in a brand new cast and mostly new writers, and resulting in the most critically unstable season in
SNL
'
s history. Doumanian was fired and replaced with
Dick Ebersol
, who brought in a new cast, keeping only
Eddie Murphy
and
Joe Piscopo
. Murphy and Piscopo became breakout stars and restored the show's popularity.
During the
1983?84 season
, Murphy left
SNL
and went on to foster a successful film career. Piscopo and several other cast members also left after the season, prompting Ebersol to rebuild the cast for the following year with already-established celebrities such as
Billy Crystal
and
Christopher Guest
. After a successful
1984?85 season
, NBC denied Ebersol a more permanent retool, which led to Ebersol leaving and original producer Michaels returning for the
1985?86 season
.
Doumanian's season and Ebersol takes over (1980-1981)
[
edit
]
Jean Doumanian
took over the show for season six, hiring a completely new cast and new writers, but it was plagued by problems from the start and deemed a commercial disappointment
[1]
by both critics and in the
Nielsen ratings
.
Departing producer
Lorne Michaels
had wanted to make writer and cast member
Al Franken
his successor. Any chance of this happening under then-NBC President
Fred Silverman
was gone when, in a
Weekend Update
segment on the May 10, 1980, broadcast, Franken delivered
a harsh criticism of Silverman
which deeply angered the network president.
Jean Doumanian was a talent scout for
SNL
in the early days and was one of the few members of the staff who remained after season five. In the fall of 1980, Doumanian accepted the job as the new executive producer. NBC almost immediately cut the show's budget from $1,000,000 (about $2,649,417 in 2010 dollars) per episode to about $350,000 (about $927,296 in 2010 dollars) per episode.
Further, Doumanian had only two months to discover and prepare a new cast and crew; she claims she received virtually none of the support that was promised to her by either the network or her staff.
[5]
For much of this season,
SNL
was in turmoil and many critics, including
Marvin Kitman
of
Newsday
and
Tom Shales
of
The Washington Post
, wrote the show off as a pale imitation of its former glory.
First episode
[
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]
The first episode, renamed "Saturday Night Live '80" in the opening credits, aired Nov. 15, 1980, and featured an all-new cast –
Charles Rocket
(groomed to be the new breakout star),
Denny Dillon
,
Gilbert Gottfried
,
Gail Matthius
,
Joe Piscopo
, and
Ann Risley
rounded out the new cast.
Yvonne Hudson
was hired as a featured player and became
SNL'
s first black female cast-member.
[8]
Elliott Gould
had agreed to host the first episode.
Contributing to the sense that season six was doomed, in the first sketch the cast shared a bed with Gould and introduced themselves – Charles Rocket proclaimed himself to be a cross between
Chevy Chase
and
Bill Murray
, and Gilbert Gottfried (prior to adopting his signature screechy, obnoxious voice) referred to himself as a cross between
John Belushi
"and that guy from last year who did
Rod Serling
, and no one can remember his name"
[9]
(referring to
Harry Shearer
).
[8]
At the end of the show, Gould stood on stage and quickly introduced himself to the cast one more time by first name and declared "We're gonna be around forever, so we might as well..."
Eddie Murphy
[
edit
]
In September 1980, talent coordinator Neil Levy received a telephone call from 19-year-old
Eddie Murphy
, who had begged the producer to "give him a shot" on the show, but was rejected since "the black cast member had already been chosen."
Murphy pleaded with Levy that he had several siblings banking on him getting a spot on the show. Levy finally auditioned him, and recommended him to Doumanian. Doumanian, after seeing Murphy's audition, advocated for him with the network, and Murphy was cast as a featured player.
"Who Shot C.R.?", Ebersol starts
[
edit
]
On February 21, 1981 the show featured a
parody
of the "
Who Shot J.R.?
" craze from the soap opera
Dallas
. In a cliffhanger titled "Who Shot C.R.?", cast member Charles Rocket was "shot" in the last sketch of the episode, after a
running gag
in which other members of the cast shared their grievances about Rocket with one another. Onstage for the goodnights,
Dallas
star and that week's host
Charlene Tilton
asked Rocket (still in character and sitting in a wheelchair) his thoughts on being shot. "Oh man, it's the first time I've been shot in my life", he replied. "I'd like to know who fuckin' did it."
[12]
The cast, along with some of the audience, reacted with laughter and applause, but inside the control room, there was no laughter. Director
Dave Wilson
, fearing that the show was finished for good, simply threw his script papers in the air and said "Well, that's the end of live television" and walked out of the room.
As a semi-joke, on the following week's episode hosted by
Bill Murray
, Murray snubbed Rocket for his behavior the previous week and told him to "watch his mouth and clean it up".
[14]
After Bill Murray hosted the following episode, the next episode was scheduled for March 14, 1981 and would have been hosted by
Robert Guillaume
and
Ian Dury and the Blockheads
.
[16]
Subsequent reruns of the episode partially edit the good nights segment to remove the announcement for next week's episode. The cast and writers were also unaware that
Brandon Tartikoff
, the head of programming for NBC, invited
Dick Ebersol
, the original developer of
SNL
, to watch the show in secrecy in the control booth and was totally in despair over how the quality of the show sank.
Doumanian was officially replaced by Ebersol after the Murray episode.
In his first two weeks, Ebersol fired Gottfried, Risley, and Rocket,
replacing them with
Robin Duke
,
Tim Kazurinsky
,
and
Tony Rosato
. At the end of the season, he would eliminate the rest of the 1980 cast except for Murphy and Piscopo. Ebersol originally wanted to bring in
John Candy
and
Catherine O'Hara
from
SCTV
; Candy turned down the offer. O'Hara initially accepted the job, but changed her mind after a production meeting where
Michael O'Donoghue
, the original head writer for SNL and had been hired to save the show, screamed at the cast and writers for the show's poor performances and sketches.
Writers' strike
[
edit
]
Ebersol's first show aired April 11, with appearances by
Chevy Chase
on
Weekend Update
, and Al Franken asking viewers to "put
SNL
to sleep".
[8]
Ebersol, wanting to establish a connection to the original cast, allowed Franken's mock-serious routine on the air.
Ebersol had promised Al Franken and Tom Davis that in addition to appearing on the April 11 show, they could host the next week. During the following week, with a
writer's strike looming
,
[23]
Franken and Davis wrote material and mailed it to themselves so that their postmark could be used to prove they did not violate the strike.
After seeing copies of the material, Ebersol (never a fan of Franken and Davis) caved to the writer's strike and called off the rest of the season, promising the duo they could host the season premiere that fall.
As the summer ended, Ebersol, confident in his new cast, decided he no longer needed a link to the original cast.
Franken claims Ebersol never returned his calls, and Franken and Davis never hosted
SNL
. Franken would not return to
SNL
until four years later, as a featured cast member.
Other episodes cancelled due to the strike were scheduled to air on April 25, 1981 (with host
Dan Aykroyd
, former cast member), May 9, 1981 (with host
Steve Martin
, an
SNL
favorite), May 16, 1981 (with host
Brooke Shields
), and May 23, 1981 (with another frequent
SNL
host,
Buck Henry
).
[25]
Aykroyd wouldn't get a chance to host until the 28th season finale in 2003, Martin didn't come back until 1986, Shields has yet to host, and Henry never hosted again.
Cast
[
edit
]
Repertory players
|
Featured players
- Yvonne Hudson
(first episode: December 6, 1980/last episode: March 7, 1981)
- Matthew Laurance
(first episode: November 22, 1980/last episode: March 7, 1981)
- Laurie Metcalf
(first episode: April 11, 1981)
(uncredited, but appeared)
- Emily Prager
(first episode: April 11, 1981)
(credited, but did not appear)
- Patrick Weathers
(first episode: December 6, 1980/last episode: November 14, 1981)
|
bold
denotes Weekend Update anchor
Ebersol era (1981-1982)
[
edit
]
New cast members for the 1981 season included
Christine Ebersole
,
Mary Gross
, and 1979 featured player
Brian Doyle-Murray
, who ran the
Weekend Update
(under the title
Saturday Night Live Newsbreak & Current Affairs
) desk for one season.
Also returning were
Second City
veterans Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky, and Tony Rosato, who had debuted April 11.
Ebersol ran a very different show from Michaels had in the 1970s. Many of the sketches were built less on "smart" and "revolutionary" comedy that was abundant in the early days and followed a much more "straightforward" approach.
This shift alienated some fans and even some writers and cast members. Ebersol was eager to attract the younger viewers that advertisers craved.
He dictated that no sketch should run longer than five minutes, so as not to lose the attention of teenagers.
Having come from the ranks of management, Ebersol was adept at dealing with the network.
Ebersol was also not fond of political humor, and he and NBC mostly eschewed jokes about
President Reagan
during his time as showrunner.
Later in his tenure, he was handling much of the business aspects and day-to-day production affairs, leaving producer
Bob Tischler
in charge of most of the creative facets of the show.
Unlike Michaels,
Ebersol had no difficulty firing people. Among the first casualties after the 1981 season were Rosato (who later said that the firing was the best thing to ever happen to him, as he felt that the show's atmosphere encouraged his drug addiction)
and Ebersole, who got the axe because of her frequent complaints that the women on the show had little airtime and what they did receive cast them in sexist and humiliating light.
Michael O'Donoghue was fired in December 1981, after repeated arguments with Ebersol over the creative direction of the show, and because of his abusive treatment of the cast.
Murphy's rise
[
edit
]
Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only performers from Doumanian's cast to appear on
SNL
for
season seven
. Murphy, who had already emerged as a breakout star on Doumanian's season, continued to thrive under Ebersol, and his soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings.
He created memorable characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star
Buckwheat
and an irascible, life-size version of the
Gumby
toy character, complete with life-size star ego. Piscopo was also popular, renowned for his Frank Sinatra impersonation, as well as his character
Paulie Herman
.
[8]
Cast
[
edit
]
Repertory players
|
Featured players
|
bold
denotes Weekend Update anchor
New cast members, continued success of Murphy (1982-1983)
[
edit
]
Ebersol hired new members from
The Practical Theatre Company
, including
Gary Kroeger
,
[38]
Brad Hall
,
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
(who later married Hall), to join in the fall of season eight.
With the release of the film
48 Hours
during season eight, Murphy's star began to eclipse the other cast members.
Murphy's co-star in the film,
Nick Nolte
, was scheduled to host the show, but canceled at the last minute. Ebersol offered Murphy the chance to host, a move that Piscopo would perceive as a major slight.
Piscopo would later claim that Ebersol used Murphy's success to divide the two erstwhile friends and play them against one another.
Murphy also performed an uncanny impression of
Stevie Wonder
(Wonder sportingly hosted in 1983 and appeared in a fake ad for the "Kannon AE-1" camera, which is "so simple, even Stevie Wonder can use it".
[43]
)
Recurring characters and sketches
[
edit
]
Brad Hall hosted
Saturday Night News
throughout the season. Recurring characters featured during this season include
The Whiners
,
Mister Robinson
(host of a parody of
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
), and
Buckwheat
.
Cast
[
edit
]
Repertory players
bold
denotes Weekend Update anchor
Murphy leaves (1983-1984)
[
edit
]
Second City alumnus
James Belushi
, the late
John Belushi
's brother, joined the cast three episodes into the season.
Midway through season nine in February 1984, Eddie Murphy left the show. His appearances for the remainder of the season consisted of sketches he had pre-taped in September 1983.
Duke, Piscopo, Hall, and Kazurinsky were not invited to return after season nine. Piscopo was offered a chance to guest host during season ten, but declined.
Cast
[
edit
]
Repertory players
bold
denotes Weekend Update anchor
"All-Star" cast, end of the Ebersol era (1984-1985)
[
edit
]
Upon the departures of Murphy and Piscopo, Ebersol, having lost his key players, began rebuilding the cast for season ten, enlisting what is in retrospect known as the "All-Star" cast.
Along with veteran players
James Belushi
, Gross, Kroeger, and Louis-Dreyfus, Ebersol added, for the first time in the show's history, well-known names to the repertory. This new cast included
Soap
star
Billy Crystal
;
Martin Short
, who had made a name for himself as
Ed Grimley
(a character he would bring to
SNL
that year) on Canada's
SCTV
;
Christopher Guest
and
Harry Shearer
(who was also a cast member in 1979) from
The Credibility Gap
and
This Is Spinal Tap
;
Pamela Stephenson
from
Not the Nine O'Clock News
and
Superman III
; and
Rich Hall
from
HBO
's
Not Necessarily the News
.
[50]
[51]
Billy Crystal became the show's breakout star. Crystal had been scheduled to appear in the first
SNL
in 1975, but walked when his airtime was whittled away during rehearsal.
Already known for his stand-up comedy and even more for his role as
Jodie Dallas
on
Soap
,
Crystal became the show's latest sensation, bringing the catchphrases "It is better to look good than to feel good" and "You look mahvelous!" (both uttered by his "
Fernando
" character) into popular culture.
Harry Shearer would depart after the January 12, 1985, broadcast, citing "creative differences".
Shearer would later remark, "I was creative...and they were different."
Shearer would go on to greater fame as a cast member of
The Simpsons
in which he voiced several characters including
Mr. Burns
and
Principal Skinner
.
At the end of the season, Ebersol requested to completely revamp the show to include mostly prerecorded segments.
Short, Guest, and Rich Hall had grown tired of the show's demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning for another season, leaving Crystal the only "A-cast" member available for season 11. Like Michaels at the end of season five, Ebersol made it known to NBC that he would only return to
SNL
if the network would take the show off the air for several months to recast and rebuild. Another idea was to institute a permanent rotation of hosts (Billy Crystal, Joe Piscopo, and David Letterman) for "a hip
Ed Sullivan Show
".
NBC turned down Ebersol's requests and decided to continue production only if they could get Lorne Michaels to produce again. Ebersol and Tischler, along with their writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season (those who wished to stay, such as Billy Crystal, were eventually not re-hired for 1985),
which closed the book on an inconsistent, yet memorable, era in
SNL
history.
Cast
[
edit
]
Repertory players
bold
denotes Weekend Update anchor
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Handy, Bruce (September 1999).
"Return From Planet Pee-wee"
.
Vanity Fair
.
Archived
from the original on April 13, 2020
. Retrieved
May 4,
2024
.
- ^
Atwater, Carleton (January 6, 2011).
"Looking Back at Saturday Night Live, 1980-1985"
.
Vulture
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Rabin, Nathan (September 5, 2012).
"How Bad Can It Be? Case File #23:
Saturday Night Live'
s aborted 1980-81 season"
.
The A.V. Club
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
Douwsma, Ben (August 12, 2011).
"Classic SNL Review: November 15, 1980 ? Elliott Gould / Kid Creole & The Coconuts"
.
Existentialist Weightlifting: Grumblings on the Arts and Pop Culture
. Retrieved
February 27,
2013
.
- ^
"Charlene Tilton / Todd Rundgren, Prince"
.
SNL Transcripts
. Retrieved
September 24,
2016
.
- ^
"SNL Transcripts: Bill Murray: 03/07/81: It Just Doesn't Matter"
.
SNL Transcripts
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
"80|: Bill Murray / Delbert McClinton (Goodnights)"
.
SNL Transcripts
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
Wallace, Charles P. (April 12, 1981).
"Script Writers for Films, TV Vote to Strike"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Archived from
the original
on August 5, 2011
. Retrieved
August 24,
2009
.
- ^
Hoglund, Andy (May 5, 2023).
"
'SNL' hosts whose episodes were canceled amid strikes: John Candy, Gilda Radner, more"
.
EW.com
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
Kroeger, Gary (July 25, 2014).
"What It's Like Getting Hired - and Fired - by 'SNL'
"
.
Vulture
. Retrieved
May 6,
2024
.
- ^
"Stevie Wonder: 05/07/83: Kannon AE-1"
.
SNL Transcripts
. Retrieved
November 10,
2005
.
- ^
Kornbluth, Jesse (October 1, 1984).
"Revived From New York, It's 'Saturday Night'!"
.
New York
. pp. 52?57
. Retrieved
May 17,
2024
.
- ^
Martinsen, Dan (November 6, 1984).
"
'Saturday Night Live' Turns to Proven Talent"
.
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
. LA Times-Washington Post News Service. p. 9D
. Retrieved
May 17,
2024
.
Works cited
[
edit
]