Saturday Night Live (season 5)

Saturday Night Live (season 5)
The title card for the fifth season of Saturday Night Live.
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 20
Release
Original network NBC
Original release October 13, 1979 (1979-10-13) – May 24, 1980 (1980-05-24)
Season chronology

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.

John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of the fourth season, leaving a void in the cast that most fans thought would be the beginning of the end of the late-night sketch 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 (unless appearing exclusively 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 also 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 Downey would return to the show in future seasons as writers. Al Franken, Doyle-Murray, Novello, and Shearer would rejoin the cast in future seasons (Franken would also return as a writer).

Cast

Repertory cast members
Featured cast members

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
871Steve MartinBlondieOctober 13, 1979

882Eric IdleBob DylanOctober 20, 1979

893Bill RussellChicagoNovember 3, 1979

904Buck HenryTom Petty and the HeartbreakersNovember 10, 1979

915Bea ArthurThe RochesNovember 17, 1979

  • The first episode as featured players for Peter Aykroyd and Paul Shaffer
  • The Roches perform "Bobby's Song" (from its second album, "Nurds") and "The Hallelujah Chorus" (from its third album, "Keep On Doing")[2]
  • Andy Kaufman guest stars.
926Howard HessemanRandy NewmanDecember 8, 1979

  • Newman performs "It's Money That I Love",[2] "The Story of a Rock and Roll Band",[2] and "I'm Gonna Take Off My Pants"
937Martin SheenDavid BowieDecember 15, 1979

948Ted KnightDesmond Child & RougeDecember 22, 1979

  • Desmond Child & Rouge perform "Goodbye Baby"[2] and "Tumble In The Night"
  • G.E. Smith plays backup guitar
959Teri GarrThe B-52'sJanuary 26, 1980

9610Chevy ChaseMarianne Faithfull
Tom Scott		February 9, 1980

  • Harry Shearer's first episode as a member of the main repertory cast rather than as a featured performer
  • New opening montage, featuring all cast members in rolling still images in a bar setting
  • Faithfull performs "Broken English" and "Guilt"[2]
  • Chase and Scott perform "Sixteen Tons"
9711Elliott GouldGary NumanFebruary 16, 1980

9812Kirk DouglasSam & DaveFebruary 23, 1980

  • Sam & Dave performs "You Don't Know Like I Know" and "Soul Man"[2]
9913Rodney DangerfieldThe J. Geils BandMarch 8, 1980

10014nonePaul Simon
James Taylor
David Sanborn		March 15, 1980

  • No announced guest host
  • David Sanborn's only time as musical guest
  • The show's 100th episode, featuring several cameos
  • Simon and Taylor perform "Cathy's Clown", "Sunny Skies", and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras"[2]
  • David Sanborn performs "Anything You Want"[2]
  • During a sketch about a medieval band rehearsing for a performance, Paul Shaffer said the word "fuck" live on the air.[3]
10115Richard Benjamin
Paula Prentiss		The Grateful DeadApril 5, 1980

10216Burt ReynoldsAnne MurrayApril 12, 1980

10317Strother MartinThe SpecialsApril 19, 1980

  • Strother Martin's final television appearance before his death in August, 1980
  • The Specials perform "Gangsters" and "Too Much, Too Young"[2]
10418Bob NewhartThe Amazing Rhythm Aces
Bruce Cockburn		May 10, 1980

10519Steve Martin3-D, Paul McCartney and Linda McCartneyMay 17, 1980

  • 3-D performs "All-Night Television"[2]
  • Paul McCartney premieres the music video for his single "Coming Up"[5]
10620Buck HenryAndrew Gold
Andrae Crouch & the Voices of Unity		May 24, 1980

DVD release

SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009.[8] There are no plans to release any further seasons.[9]

References

  1. ↑ "The SNL Archives: 1979-1980". Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 124–127. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  3. ↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. pp. 26–27, 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  4. ↑ Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad, Saturday Night, Beech Tree Books, 1986, p. 376
  5. ↑ "Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin/Paul and Linda McCartney Episode Summary". TV.com. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  6. ↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 109. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  7. ↑ Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1994. p. 264. ISBN 0-395-70895-8.
  8. ↑ "Saturday Night Live: Season 5, 1979-1980". Amazon. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
  9. ↑ Lambert, David (November 4, 2010). "Saturday Night Live - Season Set Outlook is Not So Good for SNL, Studio Says". TV Shows on DVD. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
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