The sixth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between November 15, 1980, and April 11, 1981. Jean Doumanian, who had been an associate producer for the first five seasons of SNL, was given executive producer responsibilities after Lorne Michaels left the show, along with all the cast and almost all the writing staff. (Michaels would return five years later.) Doumanian's first—and only—season in charge was plagued by difficulties, from a reduced budget to new cast members who were compared unfavorably to the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. Critical reception was strongly negative and ratings sank.[1]
This season was alternatively known as Saturday Night Live '80.
Background
Executive producer Lorne Michaels cited burnout as the reason behind his desire to take a year off, and had been led to believe by NBC executives that the show would go on hiatus with him, and be ready to start fresh upon his return.[2]
Jean still needed an ethnic, and a special series of auditions was set up to find one. For two days in mid-September some thirty black actors and comedians filed through the writers' wing on the 17th floor [of Rockefeller Center] to read for Jean and her people. At the end, Jean told her group she was leaning toward hiring a stand-up by the name of Charlie Barnett. But talent coordinator Neil Levy had another black performer he wanted her to see, a kid from Roosevelt, Long Island, named Eddie Murphy.[6]
Some accounts state that Jean Doumanian preferred instead Robert Townsend, but Eddie Murphy was added (as a featured player) starting with the fourth episode, after much convincing from her colleagues and staff.[7]
Contributing to the sense that season six was doomed, in the first sketch the cast shared a bed with Gould and introduced themselves – Charles Rocket proclaimed himself to be a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, and Gilbert Gottfried 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"[12] (referring to Harry Shearer).[11]
At the end of the show, Gould stood on stage 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..."
Eddie Murphy
In September 1980, talent coordinator Neil Levy received a telephone call from 19-year-old Eddie Murphy, who had begged the producer to "give him a shot" on the show, but was initially rejected since "the black cast member had already been chosen."[13]
"Who Shot C.R.?", Ebersol starts
On February 21, 1981 the show featured a parody of the "Who Shot J.R.?" craze from the soap opera 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 about Rocket with one another. Onstage for the goodnights, Dallas star and that week's host Charlene Tilton asked Rocket (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."[14][15]
The cast, along with some of the audience, reacted with laughter and applause, but inside the control room, there was no laughter. Director Dave Wilson, fearing that the show was finished for good, simply threw his script papers in the air and said "Well, that's the end of live television" and walked out of the room.[16] As a semi-joke, on the following week's episode hosted by Bill Murray, Murray snubbed Rocket for his behavior the previous week and told him to "watch his mouth and clean it up".[17][18]
After Bill Murray hosted the following episode, the next episode was scheduled for March 14, 1981 and would have been hosted by Robert Guillaume and Ian Dury and the Blockheads.[19] Subsequent reruns of the episode partially edit the good nights segment to remove the announcement for next week's episode. The cast and writers were also unaware that Brandon Tartikoff, the head of programming for NBC, invited Dick Ebersol, the original developer of SNL, to watch the show in secrecy in the control booth and was totally in despair over how the quality of the show sank.[20]
Doumanian was officially replaced by Ebersol after the Murray episode.[21] In his first two weeks, Ebersol fired Gottfried, Risley, and Rocket,[22] replacing them with Robin Duke,[23]Tim Kazurinsky,[24] and Tony Rosato. At the end of the season, he would eliminate the rest of the 1980 cast except for Murphy and Piscopo. Ebersol originally wanted to bring in John Candy and Catherine O'Hara from SCTV; Candy turned down the offer. O'Hara initially accepted the job, but changed her mind after a production meeting where Michael O'Donoghue, the original head writer for SNL and had been hired to save the show, screamed at the cast and writers for the show's poor performances and sketches.[25]
Writers' strike
Ebersol's first show aired April 11, with appearances by Chevy Chase on Weekend Update, and Al Franken asking viewers to "put SNL to sleep".[11] Ebersol, wanting to establish a connection to the original cast, allowed Franken's mock-serious routine on the air.
Ebersol had promised Al Franken and Tom Davis that in addition to appearing on the April 11 show, they could host the next week. During the following week, with a writer's strike looming,[26] Franken and Davis wrote material and mailed it to themselves so that their postmark could be used to prove they did not violate the strike.[27] After seeing copies of the material, Ebersol (never a fan of Franken and Davis) caved to the writer's strike and called off the rest of the season, promising the duo they could host the season premiere that fall.[27] As the summer ended, Ebersol, confident in his new cast, decided he no longer needed a link to the original cast.[27] Franken claims Ebersol never returned his calls, and Franken and Davis never hosted SNL. Franken would not return to SNL until four years later, as a featured cast member.
Other episodes cancelled due to the strike were scheduled to air on April 25, 1981 (with host Dan Aykroyd, former cast member), May 9, 1981 (with host Steve Martin, an SNL favorite), May 16, 1981 (with host Brooke Shields), and May 23, 1981 (with another frequent SNL host, Buck Henry).[28] Aykroyd wouldn't get a chance to host until the 28th season finale in 2003, Martin didn't come back until 1986, Shields has yet to host, and Henry never hosted again.
This season's writers included Larry Arnstein, Barry W. Blaustein, Billy Brown, Ferris Butler, John DeBellis, Jean Doumanian, Nancy Dowd, Brian Doyle-Murray, Leslie Fuller, Mel Green, David Hurwitz, Judy Jacklin, Sean Kelly, Mitchell Kriegman, Patricia Marx, Douglas McGrath, Tom Moore, Matt Neuman, Pamela Norris, Michael O'Donoghue, Mark Reisman, David Sheffield, Jeremy Stevens, Terry Sweeney, Bob Tischler, Mason Williams and Dirk Wittenborn.
Most of the writers after this season were fired except for Bluastein, Norris, Sheffield, O'Donoghue, and Tischler.
Kid Creole & the Coconuts performs "Mister Softee" and "There But for the Grace of God Go I".[31]
The cold opening has Elliott Gould (sixth time hosting) in bed with many of the cast members (a play on Gould's 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice), who tries to allay their anxieties, and tells Gail Matthius she is "kind of a cross between Jane [Curtin] and Gilda [Radner]." Charles Rocket announces that he is a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, Ann Risley says she is "a cross between Gilda and Laraine [Newman]" and Gilbert Gottfried calls himself a cross between John Belushi and "that guy from last year" who did a Rod Serling impression (Harry Shearer).[32]
Joe Piscopo's Saturday Night Sports segment during Weekend Update debuts on this episode.
Eddie Murphy makes his first SNL appearance in this episode in an uncredited cameo, in a sketch called "In Search of the Negro Republican," written by David Sheffield. Also present in the sketch are future featured players Yvonne Hudson and Matthew Laurance.
NOTE: Many SNL veterans (as of 1985) considers this episode as the single worst night in the program's history.[35]
During the goodnights Jamie Lee Curtis reminded the audience that a 10 minute vigil would be held for John Lennon the next day, as he had been assassinated 5 days prior to the show.[36]
Linda Ronstadt and the cast of The Pirates of Penzance performs a medley of tunes from The Pirates of Penzance production ("I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General", "Oh, Is There Not One Maiden Breast", "Poor Wandering One" and "Go Ye, Heroes"), Mr. Bill, Miss Sally, and Spot talks about Mr. Bill's Christmas holiday for the past years and how things ended up turned bad for him against his enemies, Sluggo and Mr. Hands, and a medley of Christmas carols ("O come, O come, Emmanuel", "Joy to the World" and "The First Noel").[31]
Deborah Harry performs "Love T.K.O." and "Come Back Jonee".[31]
With this show, Funky Four Plus One become the first hip-hop act to perform on SNL, as well as the first to appear on national television. They performed "That's the Joint".[31]
Gail Matthius's sister Jane plays Nancy Reagan initially in the "Haunted Lincoln Bedroom" sketch.[39]
The debut of Eddie Murphy's "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood" sketch.[40]
Gail Matthius' final episode as Weekend Update co-anchor.
Larry Hagman was originally chosen to host, but he refused so the show went for his co-star Charlene Tilton.
During the goodnights, Charles Rocket (in a wheelchair after "getting shot" during the last sketch, in a parody of the Who shot J.R.? promotion for Dallas, on which Charlene Tilton had played Lucy Ewing) grumbles, "I'd like to know who the fuck did it" in response to Tilton's query on how Rocket felt after being gunned down[16]
Delbert McClinton performs "Givin' It Up for Your Love" and "Shotgun Rider"[31] with Bonnie Bramlett joining him on vocals.
In the cold opening, Bill Murray encouraged the cast members not to worry about ratings or reviews.
Mark King appeared as Dr. Jonathan Lear during Weekend Update, now called Saturday Night Newsline. The news section appears in three segments (King's science portion, an Oscar predictions segment with Bill Murray and a newscast with Charles Rocket).
Bill Murray reprised his Nick the Lounge Singer character from his 1977–1980 stint on the show.
Despite being mentioned by Bill Murray in the opening sketch and making appearances throughout the episode, Hudson, Laurance, and Weathers don't receive onscreen credit.
Gilbert Gottfried, Yvonne Hudson, Matthew Laurance, Ann Risley, and Charles Rocket's final episode as cast members (although Yvonne Hudson would continue to make uncredited appearances until 1984).
Jean Doumanian's final episode as executive producer.[3]
Al Franken joined Chase on "Weekend Update" to discuss season6, frequently using the phrase "me, Al Franken", as he had done in previous seasons when arguing that the 1980s be known as "The Al Franken Decade".[42]
Al Franken announced that he and Tom Davis would host the next episode with musical guest The Grateful Dead,[43] but this episode was cancelled due to the writers' strike.
Prior to introducing Jr. Walker & the All-Stars' second musical number, Chevy Chase appeared with Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams to tell the audience the show was improving.
Dick Ebersol's first episode as executive producer.
Laurie Metcalf and Emily Prager's only episode as cast members (Laurie Metcalf appeared only in a pre-taped segment during "Weekend Update"; Emily Prager, despite her billing in the credits, did not appear in the show at all; both hold the record for shortest stint as an SNL cast member).
Denny Dillon and Gail Matthius' final episode as cast members.
Responses to Doumanian's SNL were negative. The Associated Press, mocking the Carters-in-the-Oval-Office sketch, wrote, "The new Saturday Night Live is essentially crude, sophomoric and most of all self-consciously 'cool.' It is occasionally funny... Under producer Jean Doumanian, Saturday Night Live will define 'risk-taking' as a little naughtier, perhaps a little raunchier; it won't wander too far off the beaten path... They're all clones. This is television. If they can be funny once in a while, that's all we can ask."[44] Much of the criticism was directed at the style of humor, which journalists said appeared to go for shock value and came across as tasteless.[45][46]
The New York Times said the season "looked almost exactly as it did in previous years, but actually only the shell remained". The review went on to state that the "missing ingredient was the very quality that made the old show so special: an innovative vision", and that the new show was "nothing so much as an unfunny parody of its predecessor".[47]
Hill and Weingrad summarized other reviews:
The Washington Star said the show "strained and groaned" while the humor was "almost completely lost, despite desperate attempts to wring it out of raunch." Newsday's Marvin Kitman, as expected, ravaged the show gleefully, calling it "offensive and raunchy," and worse, not funny. "This new edition is terrible," he wrote. "Call it 'Saturday Night Dead on Arrival'."[48]
Tom Shales' headline on his review read "FROM YUK TO YECCCH". The first sentence was: "Vile from New York—It's Saturday Night." The show, Shales said, was a "snide and sordid embarrassment". It imitated the "ribaldry and willingness to prod sacred cows" of the Lorne Michaels years without having the least "compensating satirical edge". It was, he wrote, "just haplessly pointless tastelessness". Shales concluded that despite one or two imaginative moments from the show's filmmakers, "from the six new performers and 13 new writers hired for the show, viewers got virtually no good news."... Jean made it clear that she thought the writing was primarily at fault. "It's just got to be funnier," she said. Then she put a tape of the show on her videocassette machine to begin a sketch-by-sketch critique. According to writer Billy Brown, as she did she said, "Watch this. And I hope you hate it, because you wrote it."[49]
In his book What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History, author David Hofstede included this season as one of 25 runners-up to the list.[50]
