From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saturday Night Live
Season 5
The title card for the fifth season of Saturday Night Live.
Starring
No. of episodes20
Release
Original network NBC
Original releaseOctober 13, 1979 (1979-10-13) –
May 24, 1980 (1980-05-24)
Season chronology
← Previous
season 4
Next →
season 6
List of episodes

The fifth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 13, 1979, and May 24, 1980.

Cast

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left the show at the end of season 4, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch comedy show.

To keep the show going, Lorne Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to featured cast member status: Peter Aykroyd (Dan's brother), Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill's brother), Don Novello (also credited as Father Guido Sarducci), Tom Schiller and Alan Zweibel. Band leader Paul Shaffer also joined the cast, becoming the first person from the SNL band to become a cast member. Harry Shearer joined the show as a featured cast member and was promoted to repertory status during the season.

This season was the first to have two members of the same family as cast members ( Bill Murray and Brian Doyle-Murray).

This would be the final season for everyone in the cast. Tom Davis and Jim Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers. Al Franken, Brian Doyle-Murray, Don Novello and Harry Shearer would rejoin the cast in future seasons (Al Franken would also return as a writer).

Repertory players

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Featured cast members announced and shown during the "Opening Introductions" varied from week to week, as noted below in each episode's description.

Writers

As previously mentioned, Michaels upgraded many of the show's writers to cast member status, including Aykroyd, Downey, Doyle-Murray, Novello, Schiller and Zweibel. Doyle-Murray would be the only one to return, as a writer, in the following season.

This season's writers were Peter Aykroyd, Anne Beatts, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray, Al Franken, Tom Gammill, Lorne Michaels, Matt Neuman, Don Novello, Sarah Paley, Max Pross, Herb Sargent, Tom Schiller, Harry Shearer, Rosie Shuster and Alan Zweibel. The head writer was Herb Sargent.

Episodes

No.
overall
No. in
season
Host(s)Musical guest(s)Original air date
871 Steve Martin BlondieOctober 13, 1979 (1979-10-13)

882 Eric Idle Bob DylanOctober 20, 1979 (1979-10-20)

893 Bill Russell ChicagoNovember 3, 1979 (1979-11-03)

904 Buck Henry Tom Petty and the HeartbreakersNovember 10, 1979 (1979-11-10)

915 Bea Arthur The RochesNovember 17, 1979 (1979-11-17)

926 Howard Hesseman Randy NewmanDecember 8, 1979 (1979-12-08)

937 Martin Sheen David BowieDecember 15, 1979 (1979-12-15)

948 Ted Knight Desmond Child & RougeDecember 22, 1979 (1979-12-22)

959 Teri Garr The B-52'sJanuary 26, 1980 (1980-01-26)

9610 Chevy Chase Marianne Faithfull
Tom Scott
February 9, 1980 (1980-02-09)

9711 Elliott Gould Gary NumanFebruary 16, 1980 (1980-02-16)

9812 Kirk Douglas Sam & DaveFebruary 23, 1980 (1980-02-23)

  • Sam & Dave perform "You Don't Know Like I Know" and " Soul Man". [1]
  • Credited Featured Players: Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Brian Doyle-Murray and Al Franken
  • This episode re-aired on February 8, 2020 as a tribute to Kirk Douglas who had died 3 days prior.
  • It was announced during the previous episode’s goodnights that the original musical guest for this episode was James Brown, but he cancelled for reasons unknown.
9913 Rodney Dangerfield The J. Geils BandMarch 8, 1980 (1980-03-08)

10014(none) Paul Simon
James Taylor
David Sanborn
March 15, 1980 (1980-03-15)

  • No announced guest host. There was no monologue. Instead, Bill Murray performs a song about New York.
  • David Sanborn's only time as musical guest.
  • Paul Simon and James Taylor perform " Cathy's Clown", " Sunny Skies" and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras". [1]
  • Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan from New York and Ralph Nader appear on the show as themselves. Moynihan introduces a sketch about leprechauns and appears in a sketch about sophisticated winos that ends up being an ad for wines from New York State. Nader appears in a segment on "Weekend Update".
  • Michael Palin appears in a sketch called "Talk or Die" that includes Jane Curtin playing Rula Lenska.
  • David Sanborn performs "Anything You Want". [1]
  • During a sketch about a medieval band rehearsing for a performance (which features John Belushi towards the end), Paul Shaffer said the word "fuck" live on the air. [2]
  • Credited Featured Players: Peter Aykroyd, Tom Davis, Brian Doyle-Murray and Paul Shaffer.
  • The show's 100th episode, featuring several cameos (including John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue).
10115 Richard Benjamin
Paula Prentiss
Grateful DeadApril 5, 1980 (1980-04-05)

10216 Burt Reynolds Anne MurrayApril 12, 1980 (1980-04-12)

10317 Strother Martin The SpecialsApril 19, 1980 (1980-04-19)

10418 Bob Newhart The Amazing Rhythm Aces
Bruce Cockburn
May 10, 1980 (1980-05-10)

10519 Steve Martin3-D
Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney
May 17, 1980 (1980-05-17)

  • 3-D performs "All-Night Television". [1]
  • Paul McCartney premieres the music video for his single " Coming Up". [4]
  • Credited Featured Player: Don Novello
  • Don Novello's final episode as a cast member (until season 11).
  • Steve Martin's final episode as host (until season 12).
10620 Buck Henry Andrew Gold
Andrae Crouch & the Voices of Unity
May 24, 1980 (1980-05-24)

Home media

SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009. [7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  124–127. ISBN  0-395-70895-8.
  2. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  26–27, 264. ISBN  0-395-70895-8.
  3. ^ Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Saturday Night, Beech Tree Books, 1986, p. 376
  4. ^ "Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin/Paul and Linda McCartney Episode Summary". TV.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  5. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  109. ISBN  0-395-70895-8.
  6. ^ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp.  264. ISBN  0-395-70895-8.
  7. ^ "Saturday Night Live: Season 5, 1979-1980". Amazon. December 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2015.