| Saturday Night Live Season 16 | |||
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The Saturday Night Live title card as seen in the opening credits of the 16th season. |
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| Country of origin | United States | ||
| No. of episodes | 20 | ||
| Broadcast | |||
| Original channel | NBC | ||
| Original run | September 29, 1990 – May 18, 1991 | ||
| Season chronology | |||
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Saturday Night Live aired its sixteenth season during the 1990-1991 television season on NBC. 20 episodes were produced. The sixteenth season began on September 29, 1990, and ended on May 18, 1991.
The 16th season of SNL was a transitional one: Several longtime cast members left, and a large number of additions were made to the roster. To ensure that he was not short on talent, Michaels chose to retain most of the late 1980s cast while in the process of hiring the people that would make up the early 1990s cast. At one point during the season, sixteen people were listed as cast members or featured players. Michaels stated in the SNL in the 1990s special that "...it was basically like adding a full cast to [my] full cast."[1]
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Many changes occurred before the start of the season. Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz were both dropped from the show. Following her boycott of the episode hosted by Andrew Dice Clay the previous season, Dunn was not in good standing with Lorne Michaels. Because of the dispute, Michaels fired her.
Before the season began, Jon Lovitz requested time off so he could film a movie, which would cause him to miss the first several episodes of the season. Michaels refused, because he did not view this to be fair to the other cast members. Lovitz subsequently quit. However, he made several cameo appearances throughout the 16th season.
With Dunn and Lovitz gone, Michaels was put in an awkward situation. Most of the cast had been on the show for five seasons. He did not want to be put in the spot of having to replace the entire cast all at once (as not to repeat Jean Doumanian's folly from her stint as executive producer in the early 1980s after the original cast left). Instead, Michaels promoted writers Rob Schneider and David Spade to the cast and hired Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Julia Sweeney. He then hired Tim Meadows and Adam Sandler to the cast mid season.
This would also be the final season for Jan Hooks and Dennis Miller, who ended his consecutive six-year reign as Weekend Update anchor.
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bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Notable writers from season 16 included Jim Downey, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Jack Handey, Conan O'Brien, Rob Smigel and Bob Odenkirk.
Season 16 would prove to be the final year for O'Brien and Odenkirk as Saturday Night Live writers. O'Brien left to write for The Simpsons, and would later host NBC's Late Night and Tonight Show late night talk shows. Odenkirk would go on to write for Chris Elliott's Get a Life, The Andy Dick Show and The Dennis Miller Show. In 1995, he would co-create and co-star on HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David.[2]
| Episode # | Air Date | Host(s) | Musical Guest(s) | Remarks |
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| 287 (16.1) | September 29, 1990 | Kyle MacLachlan | Sinéad O'Connor |
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| 288 (16.2) | October 6, 1990 | Susan Lucci | Hothouse Flowers |
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| 289 (16.3) | October 20, 1990 | George Steinbrenner | The Time |
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| 290 (16.4) | October 27, 1990 | Patrick Swayze | Mariah Carey |
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| 291 (16.5) | November 10, 1990 | Jimmy Smits | World Party |
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| 292 (16.6) | November 17, 1990 | Dennis Hopper | Paul Simon |
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| 293 (16.7) | December 1, 1990 | John Goodman | Faith No More |
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| 294 (16.8) | December 8, 1990 | Tom Hanks | Edie Brickell & New Bohemians |
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| 295 (16.9) | December 15, 1990 | Dennis Quaid | The Neville Brothers |
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| 296 (16.10) | January 12, 1991 | Joe Mantegna | Vanilla Ice |
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| 297 (16.11) | January 19, 1991 | Sting |
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| 298 (16.12) | February 9, 1991 | Kevin Bacon | INXS |
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| 299 (16.13) | February 16, 1991 | Roseanne Barr | Deee-Lite |
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| 300 (16.14) | February 23, 1991 | Alec Baldwin | Whitney Houston |
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| 301 (16.15) | March 16, 1991 | Michael J. Fox | The Black Crowes |
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| 302 (16.16) | March 23, 1991 | Jeremy Irons | Fishbone |
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| 303 (16.17) | April 13, 1991 | Catherine O'Hara | R.E.M. |
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| 304 (16.18) | April 20, 1991 | Steven Seagal | Michael Bolton |
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| 305 (16.19) | May 11, 1991 | Delta Burke | Chris Isaak |
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| 306 (16.20) | May 18, 1991 | George Wendt | Elvis Costello |
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