History of Saturday Night Live (1985–1990)

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Saturday Night Live is an American sketch comedy series created by Lorne Michaels, who also produced many episodes. The show has aired on NBC since 1975.

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After the 1984–85 season, producer Dick Ebersol pitched a retool of the show that emphasized taped material over live material; NBC declined and Ebersol left, reinstating Michaels. Michaels hired a new and younger cast, but the 1985–86 season received unfavorable reviews. [1]

Michaels fired most of the cast before the 1986–87 season, hiring a new cast that included members Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey. This cast would remain relatively stable until the 1990–91 season.

Michaels' return and near cancellation (1985-1986)

Dick Ebersol left SNL because NBC refused his request to shut the program down entirely for six months in order to shift most of the material from a live broadcast onto tape. NBC briefly considered cancelling the show, but programming head Brandon Tartikoff (a fan of SNL) decided to keep it, re-hiring former producer Lorne Michaels.

Michaels wanted a younger cast for the show. [2] [3] He hired Academy Award nominee Randy Quaid, best known for his work in The Last Detail and National Lampoon's Vacation , as well as Robert Downey Jr. and Joan Cusack. Damon Wayans was hired as a featured player.

Michaels later said about the 1985-1986 cast that "perhaps I was too young". As Al Franken stated, "You couldn't do a Senate hearing [sketch] with Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., [or] Terry Sweeney. I mean, those guys aren't senators." [3]

Ratings were weak, and some cast members did not expect the show to be renewed. NBC briefly did cancel the show at the end of the 1985–1986 season. Michaels asked for another season. He ended the season's last show with a sketch in which the cast (playing themselves) get caught in a fire, and Michaels chooses to rescue only Jon Lovitz. [2] [4]

Wayans was fired on March 15, 1986. He had been frustrated with the lack of creative freedom on the show and sought a way to go off-script in a sketch to anger Lorne Michaels. [5] He did this by intentionally playing the small character role of a police officer as effeminate, leading to his firing. [6] [7] Wayans was invited back for the season finale and returned as a host in season 20. [8]

Terry Sweeney was the first openly gay male cast member. Sweeney was also the first openly gay actor ever to appear on an American television show, and the second of two SNL writers from Jean Doumanian's 1980–1981 season to be hired as a cast member in a later season. [9]

Cast

Carvey, Hartman and SNL's "second Golden Age" (1986-1987)

When the 1986-1987 season began, only Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, and featured player A. Whitney Brown returned as cast members. Michaels went back to his original tactic of assembling a strong ensemble of relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon. [10]

The first show of the 1986–1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, telling the audience that the entire 1985–1986 season had been a "horrible, horrible dream". [2]

Dana Carvey's impression of George H. W. Bush is widely remembered, and Hartman's send-up of President Ronald Reagan kickstarted the most fruitful and successful period of political parody on SNL. [11] [12]

Cast

Writers' strike (1987-1988)

The season ended early due to the 1988 writers' strike. Gilda Radner had been scheduled to host the season finale in the spring. [13]

Notable writers that joined the writing staff this season included Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, and Greg Daniels. [14]

Cast

Myers joins (1988–1989)

Mike Myers was cast and debuted midseason. The first Wayne's World sketch debuted on February 18, 1989 and went on to become a popular reoccurring segment that spawned a successful 1992 film. Ben Stiller, whose short film spoof of The Color of Money caught the attention of SNL and was aired in season twelve, [15] had a very brief stint as a featured player. [16] However, he left after four episodes because he wanted to focus more on making short films, while the show only wanted him to perform sketch comedy. [16]

Gilda Radner died in May 1989 after her cancer returned. Steve Martin, Radner's close friend, hosted the season finale and paid tribute to Radner. In lieu of his planned monologue, he presented a sketch from the 1970s featuring himself and Radner dancing. [17]

Cast

1989–1990 season

This season included SNL's 15th Anniversary Special. [18] The season would be Jon Lovitz's last, but he would continue to make cameo appearances throughout the show's sixteenth season.

Andrew Dice Clay episode

Nora Dunn made headlines in 1990 when she, along with original musical guest Sinéad O'Connor, boycotted an episode hosted by comedian Andrew Dice Clay because they found his misogynistic humor offensive. After this incident, Dunn was fired from the show. [19] [20]

Cast

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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.

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<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 22 Season of television series

The twenty-second season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 28, 1996, and May 17, 1997.

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The eighteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 26, 1992, and May 15, 1993.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 13 Season of television series

The thirteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 17, 1987 and February 27, 1988. Although the changes to the cast and writers were minimal, the season was cut short due to the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 12 Season of television series

The twelfth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 11, 1986 and May 23, 1987.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 11 Season of television series

The eleventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between November 9, 1985, and May 24, 1986.

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The tenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 6, 1984, and April 13, 1985. This was the only season to feature renowned comedians Billy Crystal, Martin Short, and Christopher Guest as cast members, and became known as the "All-Star" cast season. Only 17 episodes were produced due to a writers' strike and budget constraints. This was the final season of the Ebersol-run era.

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References

  1. ↑ Rabin, Nathan (October 3, 2012). "Younger, Sexier, Inherently Doomed Case File #25: Saturday Night Live's 1985-1986 season". The A.V. Club . Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Saturday Night Live in the '80s: Lost and Found". Saturday Night Live. November 13, 2005. NBC.
  3. 1 2 Shales & Miller 2002, p. 299.
  4. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, p. 314.
  5. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, p. 309.
  6. ↑ Wright, Megh (October 22, 2013). "Saturday Night's Children: Damon Wayans (1985-1986)". Splitsider . Archived from the original on October 24, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  7. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, pp. 309–310.
  8. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, p. 312.
  9. ↑ Hartinger, Brent (January 5, 2011). "Interview: SNL's Terry Sweeney was the First Openly Gay Regular on Network Television (and Lived to Tell About It!)". The Backlot. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ Gendel, Morgan (September 30, 1986). "Another Groundling Hops To 'Snl'". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  11. ↑ Sims, David (December 3, 2018). "Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush Was an All-Time Great 'SNL' Impression". The Atlantic . Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  12. ↑ Adalian, Josef (June 2, 2017). "How Each Era of SNL Has Ridiculed American Presidents". Vulture . Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  13. ↑ Hoglund, Andy (May 5, 2023). "'SNL' hosts whose episodes were canceled amid strikes: John Candy, Gilda Radner, more". EW.com. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  14. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, pp. 326–330.
  15. ↑ "Episodes | 03.28.1987 #11 - The Hustler of Money". SNL Archives. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Simpson, Connor (February 16, 2022). "Revisiting Ben Stiller's Brief Stint as an SNL Cast Member". primetimer.com. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  17. ↑ Evans, Bradford (March 22, 2012). "The Lost Roles of Gilda Radner". Vulture. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Live from New York (by Way of Chicago), It's…". Chicago Tribune . September 24, 1989. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  19. ↑ Bonaime, Ross (October 27, 2011). "The 10 Most Shocking Moments on Saturday Night Live". Paste . Archived from the original on October 29, 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  20. ↑ Shales & Miller 2002, pp. 338–339.

Works cited

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