History of Saturday Night Live (1995-2000)

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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 Late Nineties

The 1995-96 season was a milestone for SNL, marking the last season for David Spade, but also the debuts of a strong batch of new recruits — Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls, Chris Kattan and Colin Quinn. Ferrell, Hammond, Oteri, Kattan and Molly Shannon, who had been a feature player since midway through the preceding season, became mainstays of the show for the rest of the decade and beyond. The last half of the Nineties arguably also produced some of SNL's best material in years, performed by one of the strongest and most versatile ensemble casts yet assembled. Many in this group were prone to mugging and overusing recurring characters, which gained them some success while on the show, but has not translated to fame outside of SNL (Will Ferrell excluded). This group managed to stop SNL's freefalling ratings and reputation, and at their best were highly entertaining. The most unfortunate circumstance was that the lack of subtlety and the refusal to give airtime to more than a handful of "stars" caused sketch comedy veterans like Mark McKinney to be forced out.

Ex-Groundling Ana Gasteyer joined in 1996-97, bringing an excellent singing voice and considerable musical skills, as well as creating some memorable characters — Margeret Jo McCullen, co-host of tedious public radio cooking show “The Delicious Dish”, ultra-square middle school music teacher “Bobbi Moughan-Culp” her hatchet-faced impersonation of home-economics guru Martha Stewart; and, in one of the most popular segments of the late 1990s, her often-scathing impression of Céline Dion hosting a talk show (the real Dion has never appeared on SNL due to her exclusive TV special contract with CBS). Also new this year was another regular black cast member, Tracy Morgan, a move that some cynics have suggested was motivated by persistent criticisms that the show did not feature enough black performers.

Darrell Hammond proved a great find, perhaps the most gifted impressionist in the show's history. He has built up a repertoire of uncanny and hilarious impersonations, including Bill Clinton and Ted Koppel, taking the show's political satire to new heights. This aspect of the writing task was assisted by some of the juiciest and most satire-worthy stories in years, including the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, the O.J. Simpson trial and the various Michael Jackson scandals.

Will Ferrell was undoubtedly the keystone of this new cast and during his stint he performed superbly in all his partnerships, with Oteri, Shannon, Gasteyer and Kattan, as well as creating some devastatingly funny solo characters. One of his most popular impressions was his bellowing, belligerent parody of former US Attorney General Janet Reno. And like Carvey's Bush and Macdonald's robot-like Bob Dole, Ferrell's fake Reno continued the tradition of having the real-life target of the satire appear on the show to confront their tormentor. Ferrell stepped out as the star of the cast during the last show of the 1995-1996 season, where he appeared alongside guest Jim Carrey in nearly every sketch.

This period featured many classic recurring sketches and characters, with radio and TV parodies featuring prominently. They included the NPR parody “The Delicious Dish” (Shannon and Gasteyer), “The Ladies Man” (Tim Meadows), the geeky Spartan Cheerleaders (Ferrell and Oteri), Ferrell and Gasteyer's starchy, husband-and-wife music teacher duo Marty Culp and Bobbi Mohan-Culp, Kattan's campy “Mango”, the brain-dead, disco-loving “Roxbury Guys” (Ferrell and Kattan), Shannon and Kattan's delightful “Goth Talk” and Molly Shannon's star-struck, accident-prone Catholic schoolgirl, Mary-Catherine Gallagher.

This fine ensemble remained substantially unchanged for the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons, although the later series introduced important new cast members — Jimmy Fallon, Chris Parnell and Horatio Sanz. The only surprise departure was Norm Macdonald who left the series under a cloud in March 1998 and was replaced by Colin Quinn as Update anchor. It was reported that Macdonald was fired on the order of Don Ohlmeyer, who claimed the actor was “unpopular and unfunny” but it was widely thought that Macdonald had been fired because the executive — a close friend of O.J. Simpson, a regular Weekend Update target — had taken offense at Macdonald's persistent attacks on Simpson and his blatant suggestions that Simpson was guilty of slaying his wife.

1999-2000 was the last season for Colin Quinn, Cheri Oteri and Tim Meadows, but it also marked the arrival of two strong new female cast members, Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph (daughter of the late singer Minnie Riperton).

[edit] Season Breakdown

[edit] 1995-96 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

Along with a virtually all new cast, this season also came with an all new opener. G.E. Smith leaves as band leader, and Lenny Pickett takes over. This montage has a theme similar to that of the NBC studios where SNL is broadcast, and consists of black and white images of the cast at a party, with purple and green titling. The SNL logo introduced here is used throughout the 2005-2006 season.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • The only holdouts from the previous season were Meadows, Spade, Shannon, Macdonald and McKinney, and of the five only Meadows and Spade were SNL veterans. The latter three were still brand new to SNL (Macdonald had a few bit parts in 93, but nothing notable; Shannon arrived in early 1995 as a featured performer; McKinney began in early 1995 as well, but as a contract player, having gained much experience in televised sketch comedy as a five-season veteran of the Canadian variety show Kids in the Hall, also produced by Lorne Michaels). Spade only stayed one final year to help bridge the gap between old and new casts. Meadows was allegedly kept mainly because NBC did not want be seen as eliminating all of their African-American performers in one fell swoop.
  • Koechner and Walls are fired at the end of the season. Most of the other new regulars go on to become quite popular.
  • Chris Kattan was added to the cast at midseason and made an immediate impact on the show, thus making Koechner expendable.

[edit] 1996-97 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

This montage also uses a "30 Rock" theme, and is virtually identical to the 1995 montage, but with brand new cast photos.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Fred Wolf was a writer for the show since 1991, and he served a brief run as a featured player in 1995-96 and the first few weeks of 1996-1997.
  • McKinney left at the end of the season.
  • Tracy Morgan and Ana Gasteyer both join the cast, latter one taking the place of Nancy Walls.

[edit] 1997-98 Season

[edit] Opening Montage

This opener is the only montage in SNL's history that did not feature any images of New York City. Instead, it featured colored bars that spun and revealed each cast member photo, along with mention of a TV Funhouse cartoon appearing on some episodes and/or a special guest.

[edit] Cast

This season is the first since 1984-85 to have no featured players.

[edit] Notes:
  • Norm Macdonald's exit was widely publicized, with Macdonald appearing on such shows as Late Show with David Letterman and Howard Stern's radio show to discuss the ordeal. Both hosts comment that Macdonald was the show's sole funny aspect. Additionally, television ads for Macdonald's June 1998 film Dirty Work were initially not shown on any NBC broadcast. Adding to the publicity was Colin Quinn's takeover of Weekend Update in January 1998.
  • Jim Breuer is fired at the end of the season after a three year run. Rumors say he was fired for doing a show for MTV during the summer of 1998, which was a breach of his contract with NBC.

[edit] 1998-99 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

This montage was used for two seasons, including during SNL's 25th Anniversary season. It is similar to the 1997 montage in that various colored bars move and cross to reveal pictures, but the bars also contain various images from around New York, possibly due to criticism for the lack of New York culture in the previous season's montage.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • The changing of the guard begins yet again as Parnell, Sanz and Fallon are groomed for stardom, replacing several reliable players who will leave over the next couple of years.

[edit] 1999-2000 Season

[edit] Opening Montage:

This montage is the same as the 1998 season with little-to-no changes. One difference is that the SNL logo now has a small "25" superscript after it to commemorate its 25th Anniversary and season 24 featured players, Jimmy Fallon, Horatio Sanz, and Chris Parnell are now added to the main cast while Rachel Dratch (and later Maya Rudolph for the last 3 episodes of the season) would be added in the featured player credits.

[edit] Cast

Featuring

[edit] Notes
  • Quinn and Oteri leave at the end of the season, as does Meadows after nearly a decade on SNL.
  • The season was preceded by a live primetime broadcast commemorating the show's 25-year history. Over three hours in length, the Emmy-winning special included appearances by not only current and former cast members, but also from a wide variety of past guest hosts and musical acts. Pre-recorded segments were interspliced into the live broadcast; some of these did not make it to air and were shown on later 1999-2000 season episodes. Chris Rock performed the monologue. The featured musical acts were Elvis Costello featuring the Beastie Boys, Al Green and the Eurythmics. Former SNL band leader G.E. Smith played with the current house band during the special. According to the IMDB, each and every living host and musical guest was invited to the show, except for O.J. Simpson.
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