Saturday Night Live season 2: Difference between revisions

Saturday Night Live Season 2
Saturday Night Live Season 2
Season 2
	File:SNLseason2.jpg The Saturday Night Live title card as seen in the opening credits of the second season, before the name change.
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 18, 1976 –; May 21, 1977
Season chronology
	← Previous; 1 Next →; 3
	List of episodes

Browse history interactively

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Revision as of 23:26, 8 October 2014

Saturday Night Live aired its second season during the 1976–1977 television season on NBC. The second season started on September 18, 1976, and ended on May 21, 1977.

This season saw the first of many SNL cast changes. Chevy Chase, who was pursuing a movie career in California, left the show after the October 30th episode hosted by Buck Henry with musical guest, The Band. Jane Curtin became the first female cast member to become a Weekend Update anchor following Chase's departure. On the January 15, 1977 episode, Bill Murray joined the cast to fill the void left by Chase's departure.

This season also saw another change in the show: its name. Following the cancellation of ABC's Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell, NBC changed the name of the show from NBC's Saturday Night to its current title, Saturday Night Live in the episode hosted by Jack Burns in 1977.

It was the last time that the Muppet sketches (which were unpopular with both fans and writers) would appear on the show. In a 1977 interview with Playboy, O'Donoghue who was head writer/performer, referred to the Muppets as "those fucking Muppets, those little hairy facecloths" and were "made from the refuse after they cleaned up after Woodstock". He also refused to write for them, saying "I don’t write for felt". O'Donoghue also had a lynched Big Bird hanging in the writer's office.^[1]

Alan Zweibel talked about a meeting with Jim Henson. "So I went over to Jim Henson’s townhouse on like Sixty-eighth Street and I remember we’re reading the sketch, Jim Henson’s reading the pages, and he gets to a line and he says, ‘Oh, Skred wouldn’t say this.’ I look and on a table over there is this cloth thing that is folded over like laundry, and it’s Skred. ‘Oh, but he wouldn’t say this.’ Oh, sorry." According to Zweibel, the lynched Big Bird spoke for everyone. "That’s how we all felt about the Muppets."^[1]

Jerry Juhl stated that "We went through just about every writer on the show." Belushi was also not a fan of the Muppets, saying he "always hated the puppets". In his first interview for SNL, he told Michaels, "My television has spit on it."^[1]

Cast

Repertory cast members

Dan Aykroyd
John Belushi
Chevy Chase (final episode: October 30, 1976)
Jane Curtin
Garrett Morris
Bill Murray (first episode: January 15, 1977)
Laraine Newman
Gilda Radner

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

Jim Downey joins the writing staff. Downey would go on to become one of the most well known writers and have a lasting impact on the show.

Episodes

*Saturday Night Live* season 2 episodes
No.	#	Host(s)	Musical guest(s)	Original airdate
25	1	Lily Tomlin	James Taylor	September 18, 1976
26	2	Norman Lear	Boz Scaggs	September 25, 1976
27	3	Eric Idle	Joe Cocker & Stuff	October 2, 1976
28	4	Karen Black	John Prine	October 16, 1976
29	5	Steve Martin	Kinky Friedman	October 23, 1976
30	6	Buck Henry	The Band	October 30, 1976
31	7	Dick Cavett	Ry Cooder	November 13, 1976
32	8	Paul Simon	Paul Simon & George Harrison	November 20, 1976
33	9	Jodie Foster	Brian Wilson	November 27, 1976
34	10	Candice Bergen	Frank Zappa with Don Pardo as "The Slime"	December 11, 1976
35	11	Ralph Nader	George Benson	January 15, 1977
36	12	Ruth Gordon	Chuck Berry	January 22, 1977
37	13	Fran Tarkenton	Leo Sayer Donny Harper	January 29, 1977
38	14	Steve Martin	The Kinks	February 26, 1977
39	15	Sissy Spacek	Richard Baskin	March 12, 1977
40	16	Broderick Crawford	Levon Helm Dr. John The Meters	March 19, 1977
41	17	Jack Burns	Santana	March 26, 1977
42	18	Julian Bond	Tom Waits Brick	April 9, 1977
43	19	Elliott Gould	McGarrigle Sisters Roslyn Kind	April 16, 1977
44	20	Eric Idle	Alan Price Neil Innes	April 23, 1977
45	21	Shelley Duvall	Joan Armatrading	May 14, 1977
46	22	Buck Henry	Jennifer Warnes Kenny Vance	May 21, 1977

Specials

#	Special	Original airdate
1	"Live from Mardi Gras"	February 20, 1977

DVD release

All 22 episodes were released on a DVD set on December 4, 2007.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Three Muppet Conflicts & How They Were Resolved". Retrieved 14 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[muppets-1] "Three Muppet Conflicts & How They Were Resolved". Retrieved 14 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[1]

@@ Line 68: / Line 68: @@
 |RTitle=[[Lily Tomlin]]
 |Aux1=[[James Taylor]]
+|ShortSummary=The episode marks the final appearance of the characters from "[[The Land of Gorch]]." In this appearance, King Ploobis, Queen Peuta, Scred, and Wisss wake up in a filing cabinet assuming that they are in the afterlife. When they think that their sketch has been revived, they find The Mighty Favog under a dust cover that King Ploobis removes. The Mighty Favog states that this may be their last chance on the show and that they must do whatever they tell them to do. "The Land of Gorch" Muppets are then visited by Lily Tomlin. When Lily states that she heard about ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' that came out last week, Wisss states that they won't let them be on their show since it's a family show. Lily and "The Land of Gorch" Muppets try to sing "I Whistle a Happy Tune". Unfortunately, "The Land of Gorch" Muppets can't whistle. Lily leaves planning to find something else for her and "The Land of Gorch" Muppets to do.|
-|ShortSummary=The episode marks the final appearance of the characters from "[[The Land of Gorch]]."
 Actor [[Taylor Mead]] makes a filmed cameo appearance in [[Gary Weis|Gary Weis's]] piece.