History of Saturday Night Live (1975-1980)

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History of Saturday Night Live series:
1975–1980
1980–1985
1985–1990
1990–1995
1995–2000
2000–2005
2005–Present
Weekend Update

Contents

[edit] The Seventies

In 1974, NBC Tonight Show host Johnny Carson requested that the weekend broadcasts of “Best of Carson” come to an end (back then "The Tonight Show" was a 90-minute program), so that Carson could take 2 weeknights off and air repeats on those nights rather than on the weekend. To fill the gap, the network drew up some ideas and brought in Dick Ebersol—a protégé of legendary ABC Sports president Roone Arledge—to develop a 90-minute late-night variety show. Ebersol's first order of business was hiring a young Canadian producer named Lorne Michaels to be the show-runner.

Television production in New York was already in decline in the mid-1970s (the Tonight Show had departed for Los Angeles 2 years prior), so NBC decided to base the show at their studios in Rockefeller Center to offset the overhead of maintaining those facilities. Michaels was given studio 8H, a converted radio studio that prior to that point was most famous for having hosted Arturo Toscanini and his orchestra in the 1950s, but was being used largely for network election coverage by 1974.

When the first show aired on October 11, 1975, with George Carlin as its host, it was called NBC's Saturday Night, because ABC featured a program at the same time titled Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. When the ABC program went off the air in 1976, the NBC program changed its name to Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977 (and subsequently picked up Bill Murray from Cosell's show in 1977, as well).

The original concept was for a comedy-variety show featuring young comedians, live musical performances, short films by Albert Brooks, and segments by Jim Henson featuring atypically adult and abstract characters from the Muppets world. Rather than have one permanent host Michaels elected to have a different guest host each week (Albert Brooks was originally booked to be a permanent host, and claims it was his idea to have a different host each week).

The original (1975-1980) repertory company was called the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players”.

The first cast members were Second City alumni Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner and National Lampoon "Lemmings" alumni Chevy Chase (whose trademark became his usual falls and opening spiel that ushered in the show's opening), Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Garrett Morris. The original head writer was Michael O'Donoghue, a writer at National Lampoon who had worked alongside several cast members while directing The National Lampoon Radio Hour. The original theme music was written by future Academy Award-winning composer Howard Shore, who--along with his "All Nurse Band"--was the original band leader on the show. Paul Shaffer who would go on to lead David Letterman's band on "Late Night" and then "The Late Show," was also band leader in the early years.

Michaels fought and cajoled network executives to accept his vision for the show, which was far removed from standard variety-show conventions (one executive, visiting a dress rehearsal, noticed that the band was in blue jeans and asked when their tuxedos would arrive). Before the show began Michaels had remarked that he knew what the “ingredients [of SNL] would be, but not the proportions,” and that the show would have to “find itself” on-air. Indeed, the Not Ready for Primetime Players were hardly featured in the premiere, but quickly became the focus of the show, with the guest host and musical act playing a secondary role. Albert Brooks and the Muppets were also dropped after the first season, but short films by writer Tom Schiller continued to be shown under the title “Schiller's Reel,” as well as Walter Williams' popular budget claymation segment "Mr. Bill".

Perhaps due to his recurring news parody sketch "Weekend Update" (which survives to this day, albeit with new anchors), Chevy Chase was the first breakout star of SNL, garnering magazine covers, in-depth interviews, and even some speculation that he would succeed Johnny Carson if Carson ever left The Tonight Show (eventually, Chase did host his own talk-show, but it failed miserably and was cancelled after less than two months). Though Chase had never been friendly with most of the cast (a rivalry with John Belushi went all the way back to their work on the The National Lampoon Radio Hour, and by the time he left for greener pastures early in the second season he couldn't even get along with Lorne Michaels), Chase returned to host the show several times over the next few decades, and relations were often strained, with the cast (whatever their own personal conflicts) usually uniting in opposition or disgust towards him, even hiding en masse so that they would not have to share an elevator with him. Perhaps the low points were 1978, when he got into a brawl with Bill Murray mere moments before broadcast, and 1985, when he horrified many of the cast by suggesting a sketch where openly gay performer Terry Sweeney develop AIDS and then show the audience how much weight he loses each week. In 1997, he was banned from ever hosting again.

Bill Murray replaced Chase in 1977, after Chase left to pursue a movie career. Murray had a shaky start, forgetting his lines and seeming awkward on camera. Many fans of Chevy Chase saw him as a replacement for him, and had been sending hate mail as well. By the end of his first season, he began to develop a following with a sleazy, know-it-all persona. Many of his characterizations, such as Nick the Lounge Singer and Todd DiLamuca (originally Todd DiLabounta but the real DiLabounta threatened to sue), were instant classics.

By its second season, SNL developed into something of a television phenomenon. It was, in many ways, the first show of its kind to appeal to a younger audience, making it very attractive to advertisers. Recurring characters and catch-phrases (see below) soon entered the popular vernacular, and the cast was often described as “The Beatles of comedy.”[citation needed] It was also one of America's only mainstream national TV shows that consistently featured topical political satire. In 1976, Ron Nessen, press secretary for President Gerald Ford, hosted the show. Ford himself appeared in a pretaped opening sequence. The show had been very critical of Ford and promised to give him a break that night. Instead, they humiliated Nessen as well as Ford with tasteless "gross-out" skits like "Super Bass-O-Matic '76", "Fluckers Jam" and "Autumn Fizz, the carbonated douche". In November 1976 Weekend Update played the 1974 broadcast of Ford pardoning President Richard Nixon -- many backstage felt that decision was instrumental in helping Jimmy Carter win the '76 election.

Two notable “featured players” on the show included writer Al Franken and (for the 1979-80 season) Harry Shearer, who later acted in several films (including This is Spinal Tap) and television series, including The Simpsons. The show also featured frequent guest appearances by comedians Steve Martin and Andy Kaufman.

Aykroyd and Belushi departed after the 1978-1979 season and subsequently found worldwide fame in the movie version of the Blues Brothers sketch. Belushi famously died of drug-related causes in 1982. Aykroyd had major roles in several hit comedies and even earned an Academy Award nomination.

The final season with the remnants of the "Not Ready" crew was underwhelming by most standards. Drugs were a major problem backstage by the last season. According to Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live, by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, various members of the cast and crew were using cocaine, and this affected the program in myriad ways. A burly bodyguard was stationed directly outside the studio gates to warn Michaels if the cops were on the way. Laraine Newman had developed serious eating disorders as well as a cocaine addiction -- she spent so much time in her dressing room playing Solitaire that for Christmas that year Gilda gave her a deck of playing cards with a picture of Laraine on the face of the card. Garrett Morris, who felt degraded from years of small roles and what he saw as racist sketches (at one point the writers were going to have him do a fake ad for "Tar Baby" toothpaste, which would make blacks' teeth stop glowing in the dark -- only when black crew members walked off the set in protest did Michaels drop the idea), began free-basing cocaine and became unreliable. During rehearsals for the Kirk Douglas show, Morris ran screaming onto the set, saying that someone had put an "invisible robot" on his shoulder who watched him everywhere he went. He pleaded with them to get the robot off of him.

Radner, meanwhile, was resented by many because she and Michaels had spent much of the year working on a Broadway play, and album, Gilda Live. She had recently broken off a relationship with Bill Murray, and they could barely speak to one another. Murray resented that the other male cast members had left him stranded and essentially forced him to play every male lead on the show. Exhausted, Gilda had few starring roles in the 1979-80 season. Indeed, the most energetic and diverse performer in that last year was Jane Curtin, who was thrilled to see the "Bully Boys" as she called them (Aykroyd and Belushi) depart and who debuted a number of hilarious new characters and impressions while she had the chance. Other major contributors included Harry Shearer as well as writers Al Franken and Tom Davis (longtime writing partners who had given themselves meatier roles as the heavyweights departed) and Don Novello, a writer whose "Father Guido Sarducci" character was especially popular and appeared repeatedly during the 1979 season.

By May of 1980 the show was finishing up its fifth season, and Lorne Michaels was ready for a break. Knowing that most of the cast and many of the writers would be departing, he attempted to persuade the network to put the show on hiatus for six months to re-cast. Unfortunately NBC refused this attempt to let the show survive in reruns for half a year (a decision that would come back to haunt them the next season). Michaels' contract was up for renewal, and he felt somewhat slighted by NBC in negotiations. Michaels had always had a tense relationship with NBC President Fred Silverman, and it was not improved by the SNL's numerous on-air taunts about NBC's abysmal prime time performance during Silverman's tenure. In fact, SNL was one of the few truly popular shows on the network during this period, but Michaels and his representatives felt renewing his contract was a secondary priority to NBC executives behind Johnny Carson's, which was also up for renewal.

Michaels subsequently took his name off the show and left at the end of the fifth season along with the rest of the original cast and the writing staff, most of whom followed suit due to loyalty towards Michaels. Harry Shearer, who had zero allegiance to Michaels, informed the incoming Executive Producer, Jean Doumanian, he would stay as long as she let him completely overhaul the program. Doumanian refused, so Shearer also bid farewell (he would return briefly in 1984-1985).

The remaining "Not Ready For Primetime Players" appeared together for the last time on May 24, 1980 for the final episode of the fifth season. The episode, hosted by long-time loyal host Buck Henry, gave a heartfelt goodbye from all the members of the cast, and Henry himself who--after hosting 10 times in five years--has yet to return to the show again, save for an appearance in the September 24, 1989 15th Anniversary special. At the end of the episode, the entire cast, writers, and Henry stood onstage for the goodnights. After a short farewell speech, Buck Henry signed off saying, "Goodnight...and goodbye..." The band began playing the traditional closing music as Henry led the cast and crew off the stage, and through the studio exit. The camera panned upward above the door to reveal the flashing "On-Air" light shut off for the final time that season, signaling what was indeed the end of an era.

[edit] Season Breakdown

[edit] 1975-76 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

SNL's first opening montage basically consists of different pictures from around New York, with plain white lettering for the titles. Note that at this point, the cast members do not have pictures, and are simply listed on the screen all at the same time. When the show first began, the "Not Ready For Primetime Players" were considered secondary to the host and musical guests. By mid-season, the players had made a name for themselves and became the focus of the show. Around this time, each cast member was individually announced with his/her picture.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Notes
  • Though they were only credited for the first part of the season, Coe and O'Donoghue appear regularly throughout the first year.

[edit] 1976-77 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

This montage originated in the latter part of the 1975 season, and carried over into 1976. This version is from later in the season, and does not include Chevy Chase. Another version of this was used in the spring of 1977 and uses the SNL title that it finally was able to use beginning in early 1977. Bill Murray's photo is added in late January 1977.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Bill Murray joins the cast in January '77. Chase leaves in fall '76.
  • The February 20, 1977 episode is the only one that was not broadcast from New York. It was broadcast from the middle of Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, Louisiana, on a Sunday.

[edit] 1977-78 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

1977's opener had three different variations of a lighted marquee theme. The first consists of the cast members in Times Square standing in front of their names being displayed on the large screen as they are introduced. Another showed the cast members' names and animated portrait on a binary-light marquee with their face superimposed over the display (used only in two episodes). The third simply introduced each cast member as they walked out of the subway (with the exception of Aykroyd and Radner, who curiously, are introduced using their Times Square opening from earlier in the season).

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Head writer, and featured player O'Donoghue leaves at the end of the season.

[edit] 1978-79 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

The montage for the 1978 season is somewhat of an "oil painting" theme. Various photos from around New York are again shown, but have an oil painting overlay. This montage would carry over into the first part of the 1979 season with a few minor changes.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi leave the cast after this season.

[edit] 1979-80 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

1979 had two montages. The first was much like the 1978 opener, but with a few different pictures and paintings. The second was a semi-animated opener, which also had somewhat of an oil painting theme. It was used only during the latter part of the 1979 season (possibly because it took several weeks to complete). Fans consider the second opener the best in the entire 75-80 period.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Shearer joins the show as a featured player and is made contract in late 1979.
  • Shaffer is a major part of the show's band and had a role in several sketches (mainly a Don Kirshner impression) before 1979. Schiller was a longtime filmmaker for SNL (off and on from 1976-1994). Downey had been a writer and bit player since Season 2 would continue to write for SNL on and off for the next 25 years. Schiller's first airdate is 12/15/79. Zweibel, a writer for the series, debuts on the same day, as does fellow writer Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill Murray's older brother). Doyle-Murray will return to the cast two years later for a brief period.
  • Almost every writer and cast member on the show, including Lorne Michaels, left SNL at the end of the season. Brian Doyle-Murray was the only writer from Season 5 to stay onboard for Season 6.
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