Saturday Night Live season 2

Saturday Night Live (season 2)
Saturday Night Live (season 2)
Season 2
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 18, 1976 –; May 21, 1977
Season chronology
	← Previous; Season 1 Next →; Season 3
	List of episodes

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

The season included a Live from Mardi Gras Special.

This season of what began as NBC's Saturday Night saw the departure of Chevy Chase after the October 30th episode hosted by Buck Henry. Jane Curtin took over as Weekend Update anchor following Chase's departure. On the January 15, 1977 episode, Bill Murray joined the Not Ready for Prime-Time Players, filling the void left by Chase's departure. Jim Downey joined the writing staff. This season was the last to feature The Muppets.

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

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.^{[citation needed]}

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 stated that 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.^[1] In a 1977 interview with Playboy, head writer/performer Michael O'Donoghue referred to the Muppets as "fucking Muppets…little hairy facecloths" that were 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.^[2]

Jim Downey joined the writing staff in what would be a long career on the show.^[3]

Cast

Repertory cast members

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

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

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

Special

Title	Original air date
"Live from Mardi Gras"	February 20, 1977

DVD release

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

References

^ Jones, Brian (September 29, 2013). "Escape from "Saturday Night Live," birth of "The Muppet Show"". Salon. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
^ "Three Muppet Conflicts & How They Were Resolved". Retrieved 14 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Itzkoff, Dave (March 3, 2008). "'SNL' Writer Narrows the Gap Between Politics and Farce". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-29. Mr. Downey joined "SNL" in its second season, alongside another new hire, Bill Murray. Mr. Downey left in 1980, going on to become head writer for "Late Night With David Letterman" before returning in 1984.
^ "Saturday Night Live - The Complete 2nd Season". tvshowsondvd.com. TV Guide Online. Retrieved 2015-03-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

[1] Jones, Brian (September 29, 2013). "Escape from "Saturday Night Live," birth of "The Muppet Show"". Salon. Retrieved March 18, 2015.

[muppets-2] "Three Muppet Conflicts & How They Were Resolved". Retrieved 14 January 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[nyt-3] Itzkoff, Dave (March 3, 2008). "'SNL' Writer Narrows the Gap Between Politics and Farce". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-29. Mr. Downey joined "SNL" in its second season, alongside another new hire, Bill Murray. Mr. Downey left in 1980, going on to become head writer for "Late Night With David Letterman" before returning in 1984.

[4] "Saturday Night Live - The Complete 2nd Season". tvshowsondvd.com. TV Guide Online. Retrieved 2015-03-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)

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