Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Martin Short were only contracted for one season. The rest of the cast and executive producer Dick Ebersol were let go when Lorne Michaels agreed to come back the following year. Shearer quit the show in the middle of the season, and only Crystal showed interest in renewing his contract for another season.
Howard Cosell appears as Ed Grimley's uncle Basil. According to Martin Short's memoir "I Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend", the plan was to have Cosell imitate the trademark Grimley bared-teeth expression, but he declined.
Because of a two-week writers strike, there were only 18 episodes in this season instead of the usual 20.
Billy Crystal does his impersonation of Howard Cosell while playing the real Cosell's wife, Rose. Crystal previously played Howard Cosell in the season premiere and voiced him at the start of Alex Karras/Tina Turner (1985). In his 1986 book "Absolutely Mahvelous", Crystal reveals that his Cosell impersonation was one of the first pieces he developed for his act. In this piece, he played Cosell conducting an interview with Muhammad Ali. This led to his first big break, performing the piece at a banquet honoring the real Ali.