"Saturday Night Live" (1975) TV series 1975-????

Creator:

Lorne Michaels

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35

Release Date:

11 October 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Tagline:

And now, from New York, the most dangerous city in America, it's Saturday Night Live. (seventh season)

Plot:

The classic late night live sketch comedy show.

Plot Keywords:

Satire | Sketch Comedy | Actor Playing Multiple Roles | Cult TV | Cult Favorite

Awards:

Won 25 Primetime Emmys. Another 16 wins & 130 nominations

Cast

Don Pardo	...	Himself - Announcer / ... (630 episodes, 1975-2009)
Lenny Pickett	...	Himself - Bandleader / ... (415 episodes, 1985-2006)
Darrell Hammond	...	Various / ... (274 episodes, 1995-2009)

Also Known As:

NBC's Saturday Night (USA) (complete title)
SNL (USA) (informal title)
SNL 25 (USA) (alternative title)
Saturday Night (USA) (first season title)
Saturday Night Live '80 (USA) (sixth season title)
Saturday Night Live 15 (USA) (fifteenth season title)
Saturday Night Live 20 (USA) (twentieth season title)
Saturday Night Live 25 (USA) (twentiefifth season title)
The Albert Brooks Show (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:TV-14 (Some episodes) | USA:TV-PG (Some episodes)

Filming Locations:

JC Studios, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

NBC Studios

Trivia:

The following people are members of the Five-Timers Club: Steve Martin (14 times), Alec Baldwin (13 times), John Goodman (12 times), Buck Henry (10 times), Chevy Chase (9 times), Tom Hanks (8 times), Christopher Walken (7 times), 'Elliot Gould' (6 times), Danny DeVito (6 times), Candice Bergen (5 times), Bill Murray (5 times), Drew Barrymore (5 times).

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: ...almost everything. Live television is largely exempt from the usual rules of goofs.

Quotes:

Colin Quinn: You know how you go to your favorite bar, and your local bartender isn't there? You ask, "Where's Jeff?" "Jeff no longer works here, I'm Steve." Then you're thinking, hey, who's this idiot? I like Jeff. But you still want your drink. And even though Steve doesn't mix your drink the same way you're used to...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Simpsons: The Wettest Stories Ever Told (#17.18)" (2006)

Template for the irreverent comedy show genre.

Saturday Night Live premiered in the fall of 1975. At that time, the show broke new ground in the otherwise stale, late-night TV landscape. It was fresh, cutting-edge, and boiling-over with it's unprecedented brand of risqué humor.

It's target audience, was mainly the teen and twenty-something 70s baby-boomers. These viewers finally had a comedy show, that they could instantly relate to. It poked fun at everything their parent's generation tended to take too seriously; religion, politics, social proprieties, etc.

It goes without saying, that the splendidly talented Not Ready For Prime Time Players, were the centerpiece of the show. They included Chevy Chase, Dan Akroid, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Jane Kurtin, Garrett Morris, and Lorraine Newman. When they left the show after the first few seasons, it never quite regained it's comedic edge, that it had when they were regulars.

Saturday Night Live also had the hippest guest hosts every week. These various hosts, always seemed to mesh marvelously with the overall comedic hi-jinx of the show.

During it's early years, and even today, Saturday Night Live has featured some of the most cutting-edge musical performers; Patti Smith (the 'godmother' of Punk), Run DMC, Queen Latifah, The Talking Heads, Nirvana, etc. So the musical performance segment of the show, was always as much of a treat as the comedic sketches were.

In summation, Saturday Night Live was the original template, for all of the irreverent comedy sketch shows that came later; SCTV, The Kids In The Hall, Mad TV, etc. And though the first few seasons of the show were the best, it still holds its own, even after being on the air nearly 33 years now.