Terra Tackett

Com 290

February 10, 2003

 

 

Saturday Night Live

 

 

          For the last 28 years, millions of people have turned their televisions on every Saturday night to hear those infamous words: “Live from New York it’s Saturday night!”  Of course this is referring to the 90-minute variety show Saturday Night Live that first aired October 11, 1975 and is still on to this day.

History

          Originally, the show was titled “Not Ready for Prime Time Players”.  The cast included Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner.  In 1976 Chevy Chase left the show and Bill Murray took his place.  A great tradition that the show has is that every week there is a new host.  The first host was George Carlin.  Other hosts have been Ralph Nadar, Drew Barrymore, John Goodman, Derek Jeter, Cameron Diaz, and the Rock.  There are also historical segments like The “Weekend Update” which was presented by Chevy Chase and then later by Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd.  Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey are presently reporting the news.  Other great segments in the earlier years of the show were “The Coneheads” and “Samurai Warrior” the adventures of an Oriental swordsman.  NBC’s Saturday Night Live was developed by network Vice President Dick Ebersol.  Lorne Michaels was the producer.  The word “Live” was officially added in May 1977; NBC was later discarded.  Major changes took place in 1980 when producer Michaels left with most of the writers and all of the regulars—Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, and Dan Novella.  Jean Doumanian was named the new producer and put together a new company which included Gilbert Gottfried, Joe Piscopo, and Eddie Murphy.  After very poor ratings, Doumanian was dismissed.  Dick Ebersol succeeded her as producer and only kept Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy and added 9 more players one of which was Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  Jim Belushi found himself part of the cast in the fall of 1983.  The new crew helped the show regain success and ratings were once again very high.  Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the most popular players.  Joe could impersonate cultural icons like Frank Sinatra and Eddie Murphy’s act extended from Stevie Wonder to Buckwheat.  Later that fall 6 new members joined the cast giving the series its largest annual stable of performers.  These new faces were Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Rich Hall, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, and Pamela Stephenson.  The more popular skits of that season were Billy Crystal’s “Fernando” talk show host and Martin Short’s hyper-nerdy Ed Grimley.  After 5 years being away from the show, Lorne Michaels came back to regain the position of the producer.  The following fall he introduced an all-new cast.  The 1985-86 cast included Joan Cusack, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, Randy Quaid, Damon Wayons, as well as others.  The season was not too successful and yet another casting change took place.  Joining Nora Dunn and Lovitz in 1986 were newcomers Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller, and Kevin Nealon.  This group was able to stay together through the 1989-90 season and had some memorable characters such as Carvey’s “Church Lady” and impersonations of George Bush Sr., Dunn’s talk show host “Pat Stevens”, Miller’s “Weekend Update” and Lovitz’s “Master Thespian”.  Mike Myers was featured in 1988 and 1989, Ben Stiller in 1988.  Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz both left the show in 1989 and they were both succeeded by Chris Rock and Chris Farley.  Because of the success of the show, it boosted the careers of many people.  Ben Stiller, Mike Myers, Chevy Chase, Eddie Murphy, and Molly Shannon, just to name a few, are all Hollywood stars.  People who are on their way to stardom from this season are Jimmy Falon and Will Farrel.

Impact

          SNL is a variety show unlike any other of its time.  It maintains a mix of new cast members and writers and has evolved into a show for Generation X.  SNL has gained so much popularity because it is designed by the same age group that it is targeting. .  The young viewer can easily relate to the content because it is presented in a manner that is easily consumed.

  The show parodies everything from teenage pop stars to the 2000 Presidential election.  The present popularity of the show is evident because it played a very important role in the recent election.  In a Pew Research statistic, it reveals that 37% of Americans under 30 learned about Al Gore and George W. Bush from SNL and Politically Incorrect.  This statistic sounds scary considering that the show makes fun of candidates and tends to exaggerate their minor flaws.  However, even though the parodies are exaggerated and sometimes can be considered misinformation, it may be the only way in which young viewers can grasp the issues and make sense of them in their own personal way.  SNL also serves as a way to get news.  In the segment “Weekend Update” anchors will discuss an actual event and then will use satire to make fun of it.  For example, in an episode which aired October 7, 2000, Tina Fey reported on how Barbara Walters has made a deal with Cambell’s Soup that obligates her to “spontaneously” mention their products on air during her show, The View.  Tina Fey states that media has expressed their concern because it may diminish her journalistic integrity.  Then she goes on to say, “The same way oxidation can ruin your deck chairs.  That’s why I use Thompson’s Water Seal”.  This type of coverage is an example of commenting on current news while making fun of both the traditional news media and the news itself. 

Critically Acclaimed

          According to “The New York Times”, SNL “is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture”.  SNL placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly’s list of the Top 100 entertainers of the past 50 years.  The program has won 17 Emmy Awards and has been nominated 85 times since its debut.  It has also been honored with the George Peabody Award and cited as “truly a national institution”.  It has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame and it continues to earn the highest ratings of any late-night television program.

 

 

 

Works Cited With Links

 

Crisp, Kelly.  “The Case Study for Saturday Night Live:  It’s impact on politics and   

         

American Culture”.  Department of English, 2001.

 

 

Macneil, Alex.  “History of Saturday Night Live”  2 February 2003. 

         

          http://www.totse.com/en/media/televisionary_film_vidiots/snl.html

 

“Saturday Night Live”.  2 February 2003. 

 

          http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/about/index.html