Saturday Night Live (season 7)

Saturday Night Live (season 7)
The title card for the seventh season of Saturday Night Live.
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 20
Release
Original network NBC
Original release October 3, 1981 (1981-10-03) – May 22, 1982 (1982-05-22)

The seventh season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 3, 1981, and May 22, 1982.

Following the dismissal of producer Jean Doumanian and most of her cast members (repertory players Gilbert Gottfried, Ann Risley, and Charles Rocket and feature players Yvonne Hudson, Patrick Weathers, and Matthew Laurance), the show was shut down because of the 1981 Writers Guild of America strike.

Dick Ebersol, the program's developer, was hired as Doumanian's replacement. The new cast of Saturday Night Live for this season were the same ones from the episode Ebersol produced for April 11, 1981: Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato along with the Doumanian era's sole survivors Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo. Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius were fired following the April 1981 episode while Laurie Metcalf and unseen cast member Emily Prager were not asked back as cast members. Ebersol then hired two new cast members, Mary Gross and Christine Ebersole, to fill the gap left by Metcalf and Prager.

Wanting to distance the show from its first five seasons, Ebersol cut the popular opening line Live from New York, It's Saturday Night! from the cold openings. In fact, sometimes cold openings were not even shown and the monologues were skipped over almost entirely. These changes were not permanent, as Ebersol decided to reverse them for the eighth season. The beginning of each episode was marked by the announcer saying "And now from New York, the most dangerous city in America, it's Saturday Night Live!".

Another thing he changed was Weekend Update. The segment went through its first name change and became "SNL Newsbreak". At the newsdesk was feature player Brian Doyle-Murray with Mary Gross and Christine Ebersole alternating as co-anchor. Doyle-Murray also became the first Weekend Update anchor to be a featured player while serving as anchor. The only other anchors to do this were Tina Fey, Colin Jost and Michael Che.

Additionally, this was the first season without Don Pardo (season 40 would become the next due to Don Pardo's death in 2014) as the show announcer. Instead the voice-overs were done by Mel Brandt, except for two episodes that aired in December 1981 when veteran NBC News announcer Bill Hanrahan handled such duties.

During the season, original cast member John Belushi died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. The original airing of the episode hosted by Robert Urich had a tribute to Belushi.

This was also the final season for Doyle-Murray, Ebersole and Rosato. All were let go to make room for new cast members in the following season.

Cast

Repertory cast members
Featured cast members

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

This season's writers were Barry W. Blaustein, Joe Bodolai, Brian Doyle-Murray, Nate Herman, Tim Kazurinsky, Nelson Lyon, Maryilyn Suzanne Miller, Pamela Norris, Mark O'Donnell, Michael O'Donoghue, Margaret Olberman, Tony Rosato, David Sheffield, Rosie Shuster, Andrew Smith, Terry Southern, Bob Tischler and Eliot Wald. The head writers were Michael O'Donoghue (episodes 1-8) and Bob Tischler (episodes 9-20).

Episodes
No.
overall 		 No. in
season 		 Host(s)  Musical guest(s)  Original air date 
1201(none)Rod StewartOctober 3, 1981

1212Susan Saint JamesThe KinksOctober 10, 1981

1223George KennedyMiles DavisOctober 17, 1981

1234Donald PleasenceFearOctober 31, 1981

  • In the cold opening, Eddie Murphy suggests to Donald Pleasence to vomit for luck. As Eddie leaves the bathroom, John Belushi appeared from the other stall, stares into the camera, and says nothing.
  • Fear performed "I Don’t Care About You", "Beef Bologna", "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones", and "Let's Have a War".[1] The band began a fifth song but was cut off by a commercial.
  • Guest appearance by juggler Michael Davis.
  • Neil Levy plays the corpse in the "I'm So Miserable" sketch.
1245Lauren HuttonRick JamesNovember 7, 1981

1256Bernadette PetersThe Go-Go's
Billy Joel		November 14, 1981

1267Tim CurryMeat LoafDecember 5, 1981

  • Frank Nelson cameos in the "Mick!" variety special sketch
  • Meat Loaf performed "Promised Land" and "Bat Out of Hell"[1]
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show co-stars Curry and Meat Loaf appeared in a parody sketch where they sell chintzy "Rocky Horror"-related merchandise
  • Bill Hanrahan fills in for Mel Brandt as announcer
1278Bill MurrayThe Spinners
The Whiffenpoofs		December 12, 1981

  • Bill Murray delivers a short monologue about Santa and introduces "Saint Nick"
  • The Spinners performed a medley of "Then Came You", "I'll Be Around", and "Working My Way Back to You"[1]
  • The Whiffenpoofs performed a medley of Christmas songs with Murray and the SNL cast
  • Guest appearances by Father Guido Sarducci and juggler Michael Davis
  • Bill Hanrahan fills in for Mel Brandt as announcer
1289Robert ConradThe Allman Brothers BandJanuary 23, 1982
The Allman Brothers Band performed "Midnight Rider", "Southbound", and "One Way Out".[1]
12910John MaddenJennifer HollidayJanuary 30, 1982

13011James CoburnLindsey BuckinghamFebruary 6, 1982

13112Bruce DernLuther VandrossFebruary 20, 1982

  • Luther Vandross performed "Never Too Much" and "A House Is Not a Home".[1]
  • Bruce Dern appears in a surreal and dark parody of the The Wild One called "The Mild One".
13213Elizabeth AshleyHall & OatesFebruary 27, 1982

13314Robert UrichMink DeVilleMarch 20, 1982

  • Mink DeVille performed "Maybe Tomorrow" and "Love & Emotion".[1]
  • Brian Doyle-Murray gives tribute to John Belushi, who died two weeks before this show aired, at the episode's conclusion.
  • The New Mamas and the Papas were the original musical guests for this episode, but canceled at the last minute.
13415Blythe DannerRickie Lee JonesMarch 27, 1982

  • Rickie Lee Jones performed "Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)", "Lush Life", and "Woody and Dutch On the Slow Train to Peking".
  • Guest appearance by juggler Michael Davis.
13516Daniel J. TravantiJohn Cougar MellencampApril 10, 1982

13617Johnny CashElton JohnApril 17, 1982

13718Robert CulpThe Charlie Daniels BandApril 24, 1982
The Charlie Daniels Band performed "Still in Saigon" and "The Devil Went Down to Georgia".[1]
13819Danny DeVitoSparksMay 15, 1982

  • During his monologue, DeVito brings his castmates from Taxi for a farewell bow after ABC canceled the show (NBC later picked up the sitcom)
  • DeVito appeared in a film where he blew up the ABC corporate headquarters
  • Andy Kaufman appeared to apologize for wrestling women
  • Sparks performed "I Predict" and "Mickey Mouse"[1] – the latter with an introductory monologue by Ron Mael – from its album Angst in My Pants
13920Olivia Newton-JohnOlivia Newton-JohnMay 22, 1982

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years (1994), p. 125.
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