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

User Rating:

8.2/10   

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

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:

Actor Playing Multiple Roles | Satire | Actress Playing Multiple Roles | Saturday Night Live | Spoof

Awards:

Won 23 Primetime Emmys. Another 16 wins & 118 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 18

11:29 PM

NBC

Cast

Don Pardo	...	Himself - Announcer / ... (603 episodes, 1975-2008)
Lenny Pickett	...	Himself - Bandleader / ... (415 episodes, 1985-2006)
Darrell Hammond	...	Various / ... (272 episodes, 1995-2009)

Also Known As:

"NBC's Saturday Night" (USA) (complete title)
"SNL 25" (USA) (alternative title)
"SNL" (USA) (informal 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)
"Saturday Night" (USA) (first 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:

Alex Trebek: Let's just go to Final Jeopardy, shall we? The category is; I can't believe this, the Final Jeopardy category is 'Famous Mothers'.
Sean Connery: Hah, Hah, Hah; My day has finally come, Trebek.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tag Along with Will Ferrell (2004) (V)

Inconsistent at times, but funny

A lot of the user comments about SNL are along the lines of 'it used to be funny, but now it sucks ever since Dana Carvey/Adam Sandler/Mike Myers/Chris Farley/fill-in-the-blank left. Heck, you can find people who said the show went all downhill after Chevy Chase left back in 1976.

I think they're missing the point. A normal television show has one basic premise, so when a cast member leaves, it tends to shake things up (i.e. Shelly Long leaving 'Cheers'). SNL, however, is not a normal program. It depends on change to keep the material fresh.

To write SNL off because it 'sucks now' need to remember when the original cast (Radner, Aykroyd, Belushi, etc.) left in 1980. They said the show would never again be as good, and for many years the critics were correct. By the late eighties, however, the Carvey/Myers/Hartman/Hooks/Sandler/Farley cast had managed to bring back the memories of, and in many cases surpass, the glory years.

Today's cast and show, while not outstanding, is still certainly worth watching. It reminds me of SNL era when Eddie Murphy was the unquestioned 'star' of the show; Will Ferrell sort of fills that same role today. Those saying that SNL is over the hill maybe just needs to wait a couple of years until a fresh new breed of stars starts SNL's third reign of greatness.