Saturday Night Live (season 13)
| Saturday Night Live (season 13) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 17, 1987 – February 27, 1988 |
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.
Minimal changes occurred before the beginning of the season. Kevin Nealon was promoted to repertory status.
Although the changes to the cast were minimal there were, however, major events that impeded the show's production. During production of the season premiere, a fire broke out near Studio 8H during dress rehearsal.
Despite plans to cancel the show for the week, Steve Martin (the episode host) pushed the cast to perform, making the Steve Martin/Sting episode the only episode without a dress rehearsal.[1]
On March 7, 1988, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, cancelling many planned episodes (and ultimately cutting the season short), including one originally planned to be hosted by original cast member Gilda Radner. (Radner would never get the chance to host due to her death from ovarian cancer the following year.) The host for the March 12, 1988 broadcast (the first episode to be cancelled due to the strike of 1988) was never confirmed.
Cast
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bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Writers
New hires this season were Greg Daniels, Conan O'Brien and Bob Odenkirk.
The writers for this season included A. Whitney Brown, Tom Davis, Greg Daniels, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Jack Handey, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Conan O'Brien, Bob Odenkirk, Herb Sargent, David Borowitz, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner and Christine Zander. The head writer, like the previous season, was Jim Downey.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 234 | 1 | Steve Martin | Sting | October 17, 1987 |
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| 235 | 2 | Sean Penn | LL Cool J & Michael Penn | October 24, 1987 |
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Michael Penn, older brother of host Sean, performed "This and That" with his band The Pull. LL Cool J performed "Go Cut Creator Go."[2] | ||||
| 236 | 3 | Dabney Coleman | The Cars | October 31, 1987 |
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Guest appearance by Cassandra Peterson as Elvira. The Cars performed "Strap Me In" and "Double Trouble."[2] | ||||
| 237 | 4 | Robert Mitchum | Simply Red | November 14, 1987 |
| Simply Red performed "Suffer" and "The Right Thing."[2] | ||||
| 238 | 5 | Candice Bergen | Cher | November 21, 1987 |
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Cher performed "We All Sleep Alone" and "I Found Someone".[2] Guest appearance by Paul Shaffer. | ||||
| 239 | 6 | Danny DeVito | Bryan Ferry | December 5, 1987 |
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Bob Odenkirk's first credited episode as a writer. Bryan Ferry performs "The Right Stuff" and "Kiss and Tell."[2] | ||||
| 240 | 7 | Angie Dickinson | Buster Poindexter David Gilmour | December 12, 1987 |
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Buster Poindexter performed "Hot Hot Hot."[2] David Gilmour performed "Ah, Robertson, It's You"[2] and an instrumental guitar jam with the SNL house band called "Song For My Sara." | ||||
| 241 | 8 | Paul Simon | Linda Ronstadt | December 19, 1987 |
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Namesake U.S. Senator Paul Simon, a presidential candidate at the time, makes a cameo in the monologue. Dana Carvey appeared during Weekend Update as Dennis Miller for the first time. Linda Ronstadt performed "Under African Skies" with Paul Simon, and "Los Laureles, La Cigarra."[2] | ||||
| 242 | 9 | Robin Williams | James Taylor | January 23, 1988 |
| James Taylor performed "Lonesome Road", "Sweet Potato Pie", and "Never Die Young."[2] | ||||
| 243 | 10 | Carl Weathers | Robbie Robertson | January 30, 1988 |
| Robbie Robertson performed "Somewhere Down the Crazy River" and "Testimony."[2] | ||||
| 244 | 11 | Justine Bateman | Terence Trent D'Arby | February 13, 1988 |
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| 245 | 12 | Tom Hanks | Randy Travis | February 20, 1988 |
| Randy Travis performed "What'll You Do" and "Forever and Ever, Amen."[2] | ||||
| 246 | 13 | Judge Reinhold | 10,000 Maniacs | February 27, 1988 |
| 10,000 Maniacs performed "What's the Matter Here" and "Like the Weather."[2] | ||||