Talk:Saturday Night Live cast members

A Few Changes

I made a few changes to the list. Hope you don't mind:

• First off, I think it's imortant to recognize and have one list of the orginal cast, just for monumental sake.
• The most major change: I've made it so that it went by 5-year periods and stayed more consistant regarding that division. Most fans tend to divide the show into "eras" (early 80s, late 90s, etc...) so I think it makes the list much more logical.
• I also included the current cast into their respecive "starting point" lists as well as the "current" list. It's a bit redundant, but I think it will make sense to the viewers, who can clearly see when each cast member started and with whom; and also who is in the current cast.
• I added spaces between the dashes regarding each cast member's tenure. Also for current cast members, I changed the "-Present" to just a blank space. This is technically proper, and makes the numbers look less cluttered, therefore much easier to read.
• I think it's important to differentiate between major cast members and those minor ones who were merely featured for a year or two, and writers who sometimes perform (i.e. for all intents and purposes, one could say that Al Franken has been on the show for 12 seasons, however since he was featured this is innacurate since he was not in every episode, and is unfair to someone such has Tim Meadows or Darrell Hammond who have performed much more often than Franken in only 9-10 seasons.
• Finally, I restructured a few sentences to make them easier to read; fixed minor spelling/grammar errors; and added the "dots" next to Jon Lovitz and David Spade who have "Best Ofs" coming out this Spring and Fall, respectively.

Distinguishing between writers has got to go. SNL makes no distinctions between cast members who write and cast members who don't. So, what's the definintion of a cast member who wrote most of the time? Also, I'm seeing names on the list that weren't listed in the credits. If they're not listed in the credits, they're not listed here. D. Wo. 00:05, 2005 Apr 15 (UTC)

Fair enough on the Writers thing. I'll leave it up to you. As for the other names, the only one's I remember adding were "George Coe" and "Emily Prager" both of whom were credited. George Coe was in the 1st few episodes and is credited in list of the "NRF Primetime Players" (remember at this point, they were not called out individually, just shown on the screen). Emily Prager was also credited (called out by Don Pardo) in the 4/11/81 episode opening credits. She only appeared in this episode, but it was the same situation as Laurie Metcalf who was on the list. Anyway, if being on just one episode doesn't count, that's fine with me. You'd just have to remove Metcalf also, since they both received the same amount of credit in the same number of episodes.

Being born in 1986, I'll have to take your word for it. I just can't find any record of Prager. Coe, yes. I thought that he was on the list. Someone must have taken him off because I do remember putting him on the list to start.

Table

I need to make this page a table instead of a list. So, don't worry if it looks ugly now. D. Wo. 18:43, 2005 May 19 (UTC)

"Three Groups"

"Three groups serve as “farm clubs” for the cast and writing staff: The improvisational comedy troupes The Groundlings and The Second City, Harvard Lampoon, and recently the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre."

That's four. --Macarion 20:06, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Why is Molly Shannon listed as being a part of the 2006 season? Not under current players, but next to her name under past players. I haven't heard any news of her making a return... N.K.

Adjusted Maya Rudolph

I adjusted her dates because she decided not to quit after the 2008 season of SNL which makes her still a cast member. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.173.102.98 (talk) 08:57, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Darrell Hammond

He has made SNL History to become the longest running cast member ever in the history of SNL. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.127.178.158 (talk) 21:39, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

• It may be worth mentioning in the main Saturday Night Live article, or probably better still, the opening paragraph of this article. Mainly.generic (talk) 08:50, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Jim Henson's Muppets?

Should there be a mention of the inclusion of the Muppets for the first season? They quickly fell out of favor and were dropped, but were listed in the opening credits (I believe as "Jim Henson's Muppets").146.122.71.68 (talk) 13:13, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

• I'd say they fall in more as "key inclusions", inline with TV Funhouse and the movies included in the first few seasons. Yeah, they were mentioned during the opening credits, but that hardly makes them "Cast Members"! Mainly.generic (talk) 08:52, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Icon hell?

Is it just me or did these edits turn the list into icon hell? For example, how does the (A-class article) icon come to mean deceased? -- Tcncv (talk) 01:30, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

• Agreed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.210.109.179 (talk) 09:46, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

• • Yeah, I have to agree that the current icon used for deceased is just awful, and inconsistent with the icons used on season pages (a cross is used to denote a death). I also have to say, I kinda hate the anchor icon, and feel like the comprehension of the article would be improved if we put all the cast into a table, with columns like "featured player", "not ready for primetime", "writer", "newsdesk anchor" and the like.

• • • Using a cross to denote death is awkward when the performer is Jewish, as in the case of Gilda Radner.--Edgewise (talk) 03:51, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

• • When I think about it, maybe it would be worth merging the cast and writers pages. I say this not as a blight against the articles themselves, but that so many of the cast wrote, and vice versa. I won't be making the change now, and would only proceed if there was a strong consensus.

• • Mainly.generic (talk) 05:46, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Best of

I should have the table of cast members completed soon, and am not adding "Best Of" honors to it. We have a DVD page for a reason (which will be expanded to include VHS releases in due course), and I feel like it makes this page seem a bit scattered with the inclusion here. That and it adds another page that has to be updated once new releases are made.

Mainly.generic (talk) 06:25, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Mass Removal of Sections

I have removed the following sections: Notable tenures, Best Ofs, Cast Members who have hosted These sections were, in effect, expanded trivia sections, with much of the information being redundant. I'm also planning to integrate the information from the "Family Connections" and "SNL curse" sections into the main article SNL article. Mainly.generic (talk) 08:48, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Removal of Cast Members Birth/Death Dates

I have removed the list of birth and death dates that were added to the cast page. If readers want to know when a cast member was born, and when they died, they can view the cast member's personal page. This list is not supposed to be a complete repository on their lives, rather, it is supposed to tell readers the information that is directly pertinent to SNL. Do not re-add the information. If you feel like I have done wrong, take it up with an admin. Mainly.generic (talk) 03:21, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Placement of crucifix icon

I have once again moved the crucifix icon to the bottom of the table, and I will now justify my reason for doing so. In this table, and in written literature in general, when an icon, small letter, or number is marked next to something, it is known as a Wikipedia:Footnotes. Basically, it allows for the author to place a notification within the main text without significantly disrupting the flow of information. An explanation for the symbol is placed at the bottom of the page, where the reader is able to ascertain what it means at their own will. Having it at the bottom of the page means that it is not within the readers direct line of sight.

The top of of table is held exclusively for the title, while symbols and their definitions (footnotes) are directly under the main content. Trust me, I know this as a fact - I have completed two theses, and correct writing styles were drilled into me. There are set out rules in professional writing (it was the Chicago style I was trained in, which is the one most often in use), and these are rules we must follow.

Even if this explanation does not suffice, then I'll go for the more plain and simple - it's not done on Wikipedia. Look at all tables on here, notably the List of awards and nominations received by The Simpsons. They make the delineation at the bottom of the table, and being that it's a feature list, I'd say we can pretty much guarantee that they're doing it the way it should be done.

Mainly.generic (talk) 07:15, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

years active change

I am in the process of changing Years Active to Seasons Active. Because it is too confusing as of now. I will place them in the next day or so. Then I will begin placing links behind the season # to that page. I have went thru every Season page compiled lists of actors during that season. There are way to many mistakes doing it by year instead of season because every season starts in one year and ends in another. Which causes a lot of problems with how many years an actor is on the show.Swampfire (talk) 06:49, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

*Wow so many of the years are off by a atleast a year.Swampfire (talk) 07:00, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Have already applied change, with a sample of links behing seasonSwampfire (talk) 07:48, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

The main reason for the fix is Saturday Night Live casts by season and not Year. Technically there are 2 seasons in every year because the show starts around Sept and runs til around May. They way the old chart was done somtimes had a cast member starting a season after or before tthey actually did. For instance sometimes you would see someone listed as 1984 - 1990. Which could actuallu mean 83-84 season or 84-85 sseason thru 89-90 season or 90-91 season. Which if you used 83-84 thru 90-91 that is 8 seasons they were on show, but if you used 84-85 thru 889-90 it was only 6. This caused huge problems in actually dating their tenure to give them the credit they deserve.Swampfire (talk) 20:06, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Timeline

I am added a timeline to the section, any objections to the format and how it is contained? Water78 ^{(talk • contribs)} 04 October 2010 (UTC)

I don't like the timeline format. There are no links to the actors pages. JDDJS (talk) 05:42, 5 January 2011 (UTC) I missed the first section. I know support it. JDDJS (talk) 05:45, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

How many people were on this show?

How many people were on snl please write it in the part above the chat of cast members or do somthing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.245.39.73 (talk) 00:23, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

Jimmy Fallon Host.

--GH200 (talk) 01:42, 1 October 2011 (UTC)Jimmy Fallon is said to host the show in December we mind as well say he hosted.--GH200 (talk) 01:42, 1 October 2011 (UTC)

--GH200 (talk) 05:23, 12 December 2011 (UTC) See what I told ya.--GH200 (talk) 05:23, 12 December 2011 (UTC)