The Early Eighties

For much of the decade SNL was in turmoil and many critics wrote the show off as a pale imitation of its former glory. Jean Doumanian took over the show for the 1980 season, hiring a completely new cast and new writers, but it was plagued by problems from the start, and was deemed disastrously unfunny by both critics and much of the viewing audience.

Lorne Michaels had originally wanted to make Al Franken his successor as Executive Producer after he left, and all was in place to do such until the 5/10/80 broadcast. During a Weekend Update segment Franken delivered a harsh criticism of then-NBC President Fred Silverman. The commentary angered Silverman so much, that any chance of Franken becoming an Executive under Siverman's watch were all but gone. Jean Doumanian was a talent scout for the show in the early days, and was one of the few members of the staff who stayed behind after the 79 season. In the summer of 1980 Doumanian accepted the job as the new Executive Producer, against the advice of most of her close friends. Many were convinced that the show could no longer succeed without original the cast and writers, and for Doumanian to be prepared for harsh treatment from the network. It wasn't long before their cynical predictions became a reality. As a form of almost "retroactive retaliation" against Lorne's constant pressuring for better financing, NBC started by cutting Doumanian's budget from $1,000,000 per episode (Lorne's budget by his last season) to about $350,000 per episode. On top of this, Doumanian had only two months to discover and prepare a new cast and crew, and claims she got virtually no support that was promised to her by either the network or her staff. Writers from that season recall that petitions were already being passed around by other writers and crew members to get Doumanian off the show, and Doumanian herself would later discover that many members of the NBC staff she assumed devoted to her, were not on her side at all. From the start, the inner-politics of the network were heated, and indeed the season was off to a rocky start before it had ever really begun.

On an autumn morning in 1980 the phone of talent coordinator Neil Levy began ringing off the hook. A young man at the other end of the line begged the producer to give him a shot on the show, but was constantly rejected by the show having already booked a full cast. The man pleaded with Levy that he had several siblings banking on him getting a spot on the show. Levy finally conceded and allowed the man an audition. The caller was a 19-year-old named Eddie Murphy, and his audition performance had Neil Levy begging with Doumanian to let him on the show. Doumanian refused citing that another actor named Robert Townshend had already been selected as the cast's "token black guy," and that the show's shrunken budget could not allow for anymore actors. Doumanian changed her mind after watching Murphy's audition and also began pleading with the network to allow him on the show. NBC only agreed after it was determined that Townshend had not yet signed a contract, and Murphy was cast as a featured player.

The first episode, renamed "Saturday Night Live 80" in the opening credits, appeared on November 15th, 1980, featuring an all-new cast: Charles Rocket (who was groomed to be the new break-out star), Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, and Ann Risley rounded out the new "Not Ready For Prime Time Players." Elliott Gould had agreed to host the first episode, assuming he would be working with the old cast. He was astonished when he reported to the studio and discovered that it was a different group of performers. The season seemed doomed from the beginning, as in the very first sketch of that first show, the cast was seen sharing a bed with Gould and introduced themselves in a "less-than-modest" approach. Charles Rocket was self-proclaimed as a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, while Gilbert Gottfried (pre-signature high pitched "squeaky" voice) referred to himself as a cross between John Belushi, "...and that guy from last year who did Rod Serling, and no one can remember his name..." (referring to Harry Shearer). Indeed this self-serving comparison to the original cast alienated much of the audience from the very start, and forshadowed much of what was to come later that night, and throughout much of the season. The rest of the show remained very inconsistent in terms of acting and writing, and at the end of the show, Gould stood onstage and quickly introduced himself to the cast one more time by first name and declared "We're gonna be around forever, so we might as well..." However, Elliott Gould would never host the show again.

The next episode, hosted by Malcolm McDowell, was notable in that Eddie Murphy made his network televison debut as an extra in a skit called "In Search Of The Negro Republican". Murphy had his first speaking role two weeks later as Raheem Abdul Muhummad on "Weekend Update," and made such a positive impression that he would be called on for more in later episodes. Meanwhile, Jean Doumanian nearly lost her job before this episode aired. NBC executives were battling Doumanian's insistence to include a sketch portraying a nun who was not a virgin. Before Doumanian backed down, Network head Fred Silverman told the Standards department to repeat one of Lorne Michaels' shows, if necessary.

The high point of the 1980-1981 season probably came with the Karen Black episode of January 17: it displayed the most consistent writing and performing of the season. Murphy was soon raised to the status of full cast member, and Piscopo had established himself as a reliable commodity with such bits as the eccentric New Jersey-an "Paulie Herman," and his impeccable Frank Sinatra impression.

On February 21, 1981, the show featured a parody of the "Who Shot J.R. Ewing" craze from the hit TV show "Dallas." In a cliffhanger titled "Who Shot C.R?" cast member Charles Rocket was "shot" in the last sketch of the episode, after a running gag in which other members of the cast shared their grievances over Rocket with one another. Onstage for the goodnights, "Dallas" star and that week's host, Charlene Tilton, asked Rocket--who was still in character and sitting in a wheelchair--his thoughts on being shot. "Oh man, it's the first time I've been shot in my life," he replied..."I'd like to know who the fuck did it." The audience, along with most of the cast, reacted with uproarious laughter and applause. This was not the first nor the last time the expletive would be uttered live on SNL for everyone to hear. However, given the circumstances of the season as a whole, and the direction it was headed, it was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. Rocket's minor "slip-of-the-tounge," unbeknowest to him, would cost himself, and almost the entire cast and crew their jobs on the show. Despite his release, Rocket appeared in the next weeks' episode anyway, his performance clearly affected by his termination. In result of the disasterous season thus far, and in a direct result of Rocket's behavior the week before, NBC--who had had enough--also fired Jean Doumanian after this episode; closing the book on what is now widely regarded as the worst period in the show's history.

It looked as if NBC might cancel the show (indeed, many nights NBC aired the sketch comedy show SCTV in its place), but SNL was given one more chance when Dick Ebersol was hired to replace Doumanian. Ebersol was the young apprentice the network had culled from ABC to develop SNL in late 1974, and was responsible for hiring Lorne Michaels that year, and now was given the task of saving the once-acclaimed show from cancellation. His first show aired April 11, and he planned to fill out Doumanian's season, but the rest of the season's episodes were called off due to a writer's strike (Al Franken, who was originally intended to run the show that season, was scheduled as host, along with Tom Davis, for an episode that never aired due to the strikes). In his first week, Ebersol fired Gottfried and Risley, and replaced the them (and Rocket) with Robin Duke , Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato . He would eventually eliminate the rest of the 1980 cast (save for Murphy and Piscopo) at the end of the season (he had wanted to fire Dillon all along, but could not afford a replacement for her). Ebersol originally wanted to bring in John Candy and Catherine O'Hara from "SCTV"; Candy turned down the offer and Rosato joined instead. O'Hara initially accepted, but she changed her mind after Michael O'Donoghue--SNL's orginal Head Writer, who had been brought in to rejuvenate the show--screamed at the cast about the season's poor writing and performances. Robin Duke was added to the cast when O'Hara suggested her instead. Emily Prager and Laurie Metcalf joined as featured players, but would not be retained after this single episode.

By the Fall of 1981, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy were the only remainders from Doumanian's cast, to appear on SNL for the 81 Season. Murphy had rarely been featured during Doumanian's tenure, but became a break-out star under Ebersol, and his soaring popularity helped restore the show's ratings. He created some of the period's best characters, including the empty-headed former child movie star “Buckwheat”, and his irascible, life-size version of the Gumby toy character, complete with life-size star ego; he could also pull off an uncanny impression of Stevie Wonder (who, sportingly, appeared in a fake ad for Polaroid cameras). Piscopo was also a popular face and became somewhat renowned in pop-culture for his Frank Sinatra impersonation. Other new cast members for the 1981 season included Christine Ebersole (no relation to Dick Ebersol), Mary Gross and returning as a featured player, Brian Doyle-Murray (also featured in 1979) who ran the Weekend Update desk for one season. Also returning were Robin Duke, Tim Kazurinsky and Tony Rosato, who had all first appeared in the April 11 broadcast earlier that year. In 1982 Gary Kroeger , Brad Hall and his future wife, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, were added to the cast, with Jim Belushi arriving in 1983. However, SNL was mostly a 2-man show from 1981-1984, with Murphy and Piscopo playing a bulk of the lead characters. All other cast members played supporting roles and were treated with very little patience by the producers. Unlike Lorne Michaels, Dick Ebersol had no problem firing people. Among the first casualties after the 1981 Season were Rosato (who later said that the firing was the best thing to ever happen to him, because the SNL set helped encourage his drug addiction) and Ebersole, who got the axe because of her frequent complaints that the women on the show had little airtime and what they did receive cast them in sexist and humiliating lights. Michael O'Donoghue was fired in the middle of the season, due to his complex personality issues.

Indeed, Ebersol ran a much different show than Michaels had in the 70s. Many of the sketches were built less on "smart" and "revolutionary" comedy that was abundant in the early days, and follwed a much more "straightforward" approach. This shift alienated some fans and even some writers and cast members. Many writers felt that Ebersol was simplifying the humor of the show by demanding more appearences of recurring characters for cheap laughs, among other things, leading to somewhat inconsistent writing. However, despite these oppositions there was little argument that Ebersol possessed a keen sense of business politics which eventually helped revive a show that would have otherwise died at the hands of an inexperienced producer. However, by the later terms of his tenure, Ebersol was generally handling much of the business aspects and day-to-day production affairs, leaving Producer Bob Tischler in charge of most of the creative facets of the show.

In February of 1984 Eddie Murphy officially left the show mid-season, agreeing to appear in a few filmed sketches for the remainder of that year. Duke, Hall, Kazurinsky and Piscopo also departed at the end of the 1983-84 season. Upon Murphy's departure, Ebersol--knowing he had lost his key player--began rebuilding a practically new cast for the 1984 Season, and enlisted what is in retrospect known as the "All-Star" cast. Along with veteran players Belushi, Gross, Kroeger and Dreyfuss, Ebersol added somewhat well-known names to the repertory cast list. This new cast included "Soap" star Billy Crystal; Martin Short, who had made a name for himself as Ed Grimley (a character he would bring to SNL that year) on Canada's SCTV; Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer (who was also a cast member in 1979) from "This Is Spinal Tap"; Superman III's Pamela Stephenson; and Rich Hall from HBO's "Not Necessarily The News." This cast helped put together a very memorable year of hit sketches and widely accepted recurring characters for SNL, but has become somewhat forgotten and underrated to some, in recent years. Harry Shearer would depart after the January 12, 1985 broadcast citing "creative differences," (Shearer would later remark, "I was creative...and they were different..."). Shearer would go on the greater fame as a cast member of "The Simpsons" in which he voiced several characters including Mr. Burns and Principal Skinner.

At the end of the season, Ebersol requested to completely revamp the show and include mostly filmed segments. The 10th season is often remembered for relying heavily on pre-taped content, including pre-recorded clips of Murphy performing without the rest of the cast, and Ebersol wanted to take this further. This ambition went against the network's wishes. After briefly cancelling the show, NBC decided to continue production only if they could get Lorne Michaels to produce again. Ebersol and Tischler, along with their writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season (those who chose to stay--such as Billy Crystal--were eventually not re-hired for 1985), which closed the book on an insconsistant, yet memorable era in SNL history.

Season Breakdown

1980-1981 Season

Opening Montage:

Two opening montages were used for this season. During Jean Doumanian's tenure, it opened with a shot of the Statue of Liberty whose torch suddenly lights after a few seconds. Using "paint-over" type transitions, it then cuts to various images of New York with cheesy CGI neon lights embellishing each picure. Dick Ebersol, however, apparently wanted a more simple opening. For the one episode he produced this season (4/11/81), the original SNL theme music returns to accompany a different shot of the Statue of Liberty, followed by various still images taken from around New York displayed one after another. The cast is introduced using all new pictures, and plain-white block lettering reveals their name at the bottom of the picture. This opener was only used on this one episode.

• View The Original 1980 Opener
• View The Dick Ebersol 1980 Opener

(You MUST have Windows Media Player in order to view videos.)

Cast:

(contract)

• Denny Dillon
• Gilbert Gottfried
• Gail Matthius
• Eddie Murphy
• Joe Piscopo
• Ann Risley
• Charles Rocket
• Robin Duke (04.11.81)
• Tim Kazurinsky (04.11.81)
• Tony Rosato (04.11.81)

(featured)

• Yvonne Hudson
• Matthew Laurance
• Patrick Weathers
• Emily Prager (04.11.81)
• Laurie Metcalf (04.11.81)

Notes:

• Murphy goes from recurring to contract in January 1981.
• Weathers and Laurance officially debut on 12/20/80 (although they had previously appeared in an uncredited capacity). Rocket, Risley, Laurance, Hudson, Weathers and Gottfried last appear in the 3/7/81 episode. Rosato, Metcalf, Kazurinsky, Prager, and Duke first appear on the 4/11/81. Prager and Metcalf last for a sole episode, the shortest stint for any featured player (Nearly a decade later, Metcalf returned for a cameo in a short film piece). Dillon and Matthius are fired at the end of the season.
• Jean Doumanian and her writing staff are dismissed after the 3/7/81 show. Dick Ebersol replaces her, and following one more episode, a writers' strike shuts down the season early for refurbishing purposes.

1981-1982 Season

Opening Montage:

Another "simple" opening from the Ebersol era, and the only montage with Mel Brand doing the voice-over. This opener was used more-or-less for three seasons; it began with shot of a lady lighting a cigarette, then consisted of various grainy, black-and-white video footage of New York City nightlife (dance clubs, police dogs, etc.). Despite being bland, it did, however, have what is considered one of the better opening music themes of the show, which would be used (albeit in various incarnations) for virtually every episode under Dick Ebersol's tenure.

• View The 1981 Opener

(You MUST have Windows Media Player in order to view videos.)

Cast

• Robin Duke
• Christine Ebersole
• Mary Gross
• Tim Kazurinsky
• Eddie Murphy
• Joe Piscopo
• Tony Rosato

(featured)

• Brian Doyle-Murray

Notes

• Brian Doyle-Murray leaves at the end of the season and Christine Ebersole and Tony Rosato are fired.
• This is the only season which does not feature the traditional "live from New York..." opening. Instead, the cast appears with the host in a group shot, then runs off to prepare for their various sketches while the host delivers the monologue. This is also the only season not to feature Don Pardo as announcer--the job is taken by Mel Brand. In addition, Weekend Update is renamed "SNL NewsBreak." Dick Ebersol removed many familiar crutches of the original show in an attempt to update the program. The effort didn't impress viewers and both the tradional opening and Pardo returned a year later. The "Weekend Update" name, however, would return with Lorne Michaels in 1985.

1982-1983 Season

Opening Montage:

Virutally the same montage from 1981, with a few minor changes: Don Pardo returned to do the voiceover; The opening shot changes from a lady lighting a cigarette, to a construction worker lighting a cigarette with a welding iron; also the cast photos are different from last year, with a chalkboard NYC skyline background.

• View The 1982-83 Opener

(You MUST have Windows Media Player in order to view videos.)

Cast

• Robin Duke
• Mary Gross
• Brad Hall
• Tim Kazurinsky
• Gary Kroeger
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Eddie Murphy
• Joe Piscopo

1983-1984 Season

Opening Montage:

Same credits as 1982 season. Addition of Jim Belushi is only notable change. The video link here is opener from 1982.

• View The 1982-83 Opener

(You MUST have Windows Media Player in order to view videos.)

Cast

• Jim Belushi
• Robin Duke
• Mary Gross
• Brad Hall
• Tim Kazurinsky
• Gary Kroeger
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Eddie Murphy
• Joe Piscopo

Notes

• Murphy leaves after the 2/25/84 show. Piscopo, Duke, Hall and Kazurinsky depart at the end of the season.

1984-1985 Season

Opening Montage:

A highly unusual, but fan-favorite opening montage. In addition to flying hot dogs, we scroll right to reveal each "giant" cast member towering over the New York skyline, and interacting with various objects along the way in a complete one camera shot. Note that from 1984 - 1986, The Statue of Liberty was being renovated in preperation for its 100th anniversary. SNL acknowleged these renovations by showing the statue surrounded in scaffolding during the opening credits for this season and the next.

• View The 1984 Opener

(You MUST have Windows Media Player in order to view videos.)

Cast

• Jim Belushi
• Billy Crystal
• Mary Gross
• Christopher Guest
• Rich Hall
• Gary Kroeger
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus
• Harry Shearer (final: 01.12.85)
• Martin Short
• Pamela Stephenson

Notes

• This season has more pretaped segments than any other SNL era, past or future.
• Shearer departs midseason. The rest of the cast and writing staff, along with Ebersol and Bob Tischler leave at the end of the season.