Saturday Night Live season 2

Saturday Night Live
Season 2
Starring	Dan Aykroyd John Belushi Chevy Chase Jane Curtin Garrett Morris Bill Murray Laraine Newman Gilda Radner
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18) – May 21, 1977 (1977-05-21)
Season chronology

The second season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC from September 18, 1976 to May 21, 1977.

History

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.

The shows on October 16, October 23, and October 30 1976 were live from NBC's studio complex in Brooklyn, NY. NBC News used Studio 8-H for Presidential election coverage.

This season was the last to feature The Muppets in The Land of Gorch, who had appeared in segments that were unpopular with fans and the SNL writers. Jim Henson was reportedly displeased with the amount of creative control he had over the scripts. Jerry Juhl called Henson "very frustrated" with his input into the scripts, and said the SNL writers "didn't have any real handle" on Henson's concept. "Jim would come in with ideas, and sit with them, and give them wonderful ideas, and they wouldn't know how to fly with them," Juhl recalled. In a 1977 interview with Playboy, head writer/performer Michael O'Donoghue referred to the Muppets as "fucking Muppets ... little hairy facecloths" 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.

Jim Downey joined the writing staff in what would be a long career on the show.

Buck Henry, Eric Idle and Steve Martin each hosted two episodes.

The season included a Live from Mardi Gras Special.

Cast

During the prior season, cast members George Coe and Michael O'Donoghue had already left the show. Meanwhile, during the season Chevy Chase left the show after an injury, he returned for Weekend Update in a wheelchair for three episodes before leaving for good. Jane Curtin took over as Weekend Update anchor. Soon after that Bill Murray was hired as a cast member as a replacement for Chevy Chase.

Cast roster

The Not Ready for Prime Time Players

• 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

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 2

Jim Downey joined the writing staff.

This season's writers included Dan Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Bruce McCall, Lorne Michaels, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Bill Murray, Michael O'Donoghue, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel. The head writer was Michael O'Donoghue.

Episodes

Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Host	Musical guest(s)	Original air date
25	1	Lily Tomlin	James Taylor	September 18, 1976 (1976-09-18)
26	2	Norman Lear	Boz Scaggs	September 25, 1976 (1976-09-25)
27	3	Eric Idle	Joe Cocker & Stuff	October 2, 1976 (1976-10-02)
28	4	Karen Black	John Prine	October 16, 1976 (1976-10-16)
29	5	Steve Martin	Kinky Friedman	October 23, 1976 (1976-10-23)
30	6	Buck Henry	The Band	October 30, 1976 (1976-10-30)
31	7	Dick Cavett	Ry Cooder	November 13, 1976 (1976-11-13)
32	8	Paul Simon	Paul Simon & George Harrison	November 20, 1976 (1976-11-20)
33	9	Jodie Foster	Brian Wilson	November 27, 1976 (1976-11-27)
34	10	Candice Bergen	Frank Zappa with Don Pardo as "The Slime"	December 11, 1976 (1976-12-11)
35	11	Ralph Nader	George Benson	January 15, 1977 (1977-01-15)
36	12	Ruth Gordon	Chuck Berry	January 22, 1977 (1977-01-22)
37	13	Fran Tarkenton	Leo Sayer Donny Harper	January 29, 1977 (1977-01-29)
38	14	Steve Martin	The Kinks	February 26, 1977 (1977-02-26)
39	15	Sissy Spacek	Richard Baskin	March 12, 1977 (1977-03-12)
40	16	Broderick Crawford	Levon Helm Dr. John The Meters	March 19, 1977 (1977-03-19)
41	17	Jack Burns	Santana	March 26, 1977 (1977-03-26)
42	18	Julian Bond	Tom Waits Brick	April 9, 1977 (1977-04-09)
43	19	Elliott Gould	McGarrigle Sisters Roslyn Kind	April 16, 1977 (1977-04-16)
44	20	Eric Idle	Alan Price Neil Innes	April 23, 1977 (1977-04-23)
45	21	Shelley Duvall	Joan Armatrading	May 14, 1977 (1977-05-14)
46	22	Buck Henry	Jennifer Warnes Kenny Vance	May 21, 1977 (1977-05-21)

Special

Title	Original air date
"Live from Mardi Gras"	February 20, 1977 (1977-02-20)

Home media

The Mardi Gras Special and all 22 episodes were released on a DVD set on December 4, 2007.