Saturday Night Live season 3
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2011) |
| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 3 | |
 | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 24, 1977 – May 20, 1978 |
| Season chronology | |
The third season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 24, 1977, and May 20, 1978.
The DVD set of the entire season was released on May 13, 2008.
Cast
Prior to the start of the season, two new cast members were added as featured cast members which were writers Tom Davis and Al Franken. Meanwhile Dan Aykroyd joined Jane Curtin as an anchor for Weekend Update becoming the first Weekend Update anchor team. This would be the final season that the cast was called "The Not Ready for Primetime Players".
Cast
|
The Not Ready for Prime Time Players |
Featured players
|
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Behind the scenes
In the "Anyone Can Host" episode—for which a contest found a non-celebrity to host the show—the musical guest, Elvis Costello, halted his band, the Attractions, seven seconds into the song "Less Than Zero", launching into "Radio Radio", an as-yet unreleased song critical of mainstream broadcasting. (The Sex Pistols were originally booked to appear on the show, but were denied visas to enter America.) The change angered Lorne Michaels, who banned future appearances on the show for a while. Costello would not be invited back to the show until 1989.[1]
Chevy Chase hosted during the season, making him the first cast member to host after leaving the show. Right before the end-of-the-show onstage goodbyes, a heated argument broke out backstage between Chase and relatively new cast member Bill Murray. After several insults were exchanged (including Chase's referencing Murray's acne-scarred skin and Murray calling Chase a "medium talent"), the two men had a violent fistfight. Although by most accounts the scuffle had been at least partially instigated by John Belushi, he was the one (along with Dan Aykroyd) who pulled apart Murray and Chase only moments before the entire cast regrouped in front of the live cameras. Chase would host the show several times throughout the show's history, though he feuded with the cast and crew.[2]
Writers
Tom Davis and Al Franken got prominent amounts of screen time.[citation needed] Brian Doyle-Murray and Don Novello joined the writing staff. Michael O'Donoghue temporarily left the show.[citation needed]
This season's writers were Dan Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Neil Levy, Lorne Michaels, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Don Novello, Michael O'Donoghue, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Rosie Schuster and Alan Zweibel. The head writer, like the previous season, was Michael O'Donoghue.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Host | Musical guest(s) | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | 1 | Steve Martin | Jackson Browne | September 24, 1977 |
| 48 | 2 | Madeline Kahn | Taj Mahal | October 8, 1977 |
| 49 | 3 | Hugh Hefner | Libby Titus | October 15, 1977 |
| 50 | 4 | Charles Grodin | Paul Simon | October 29, 1977 |
| 51 | 5 | Ray Charles | Ray Charles | November 12, 1977 |
| 52 | 6 | Buck Henry | Leon Redbone | November 19, 1977 |
| 53 | 7 | Mary Kay Place | Willie Nelson | December 10, 1977 |
| 54 | 8 | Miskel Spillman | Elvis Costello | December 17, 1977 |
| 55 | 9 | Steve Martin | Randy Newman, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | January 21, 1978 |
| 56 | 10 | Robert Klein | Bonnie Raitt | January 28, 1978 |
| 57 | 11 | Chevy Chase | Billy Joel | February 18, 1978 |
| 58 | 12 | O. J. Simpson | Ashford and Simpson | February 25, 1978 |
| 59 | 13 | Art Garfunkel | Stephen Bishop | March 11, 1978 |
| 60 | 14 | Jill Clayburgh | Eddie Money | March 18, 1978 |
| 61 | 15 | Christopher Lee | Meat Loaf | March 25, 1978 |
| 62 | 16 | Michael Palin | Eugene Record | April 8, 1978 |
| 63 | 17 | Michael Sarrazin | Keith Jarrett | April 15, 1978 |
| 64 | 18 | Steve Martin | The Blues Brothers | April 22, 1978 |
| 65 | 19 | Richard Dreyfuss | Jimmy Buffett, Gary Tigerman | May 13, 1978 |
| 66 | 20 | Buck Henry | Sun Ra | May 20, 1978 |
Home media
Season 3 was released on DVD May 13, 2008.[3]
References
- ^ Larry David Smith (30 Apr 2004). Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, and the Torch Song Tradition. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 139. ISBN 9780275973926.
- ^ Tom Shales & James Andrew Miller (19 January 2014). Live from New York An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Little, Brown, and Company. ISBN 9780316045827.
- ^ Saturday Night Live: season 3, 1977-1978 (DVD). Universal Studios. May 13, 2008.