| Saturday Night Live | |
|---|---|
| Season 10 | |
 | |
| No. of episodes | 17 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | October 6, 1984 (1984-10-06) – April 13, 1985 (1985-04-13) |
| Season chronology | |
← Previous season 9 Next → season 11 | |
| List of episodes | |
Thetenth season ofSaturday Night Live, an Americansketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States onNBC between October 6, 1984, and April 13, 1985. This was the only season to feature renowned comediansBilly Crystal,Martin Short, andChristopher Guest as cast members, and became known as the "All-Star" cast season.[1] Only 17 episodes were produced due to awriters' strike and budget constraints.[2] This was the final season of theEbersol-run era.
This season also featured a new opening sequence produced byCharlex (who also createdThe Cars' "You Might Think" video earlier in 1984), depicting theSNL cast as giants in and around New York City landmarks.[3]
During theprevious season,Eddie Murphy left midseason.Joe Piscopo also left the show because he did not want to do it without Murphy.Dick Ebersol firedRobin Duke,Brad Hall andTim Kazurinsky.[1]
Ebersol and head writerBob Tischler then wanted to "blow up" the show by adding seasoned comedians instead of newcomers.[4][5] He hiredBilly Crystal (who hosted twice inseason 9 and was originally set to appear in SNL's first episode),[6]Christopher Guest (a frequent contributor toThe National Lampoon Radio Hour in the early 1970s),Rich Hall (best known for his work onNot Necessarily the News and the early 1980s ABC sketch showFridays),Harry Shearer (who was a cast member onSNL inseason 5),Martin Short (fromSCTV) andNew ZealanderPamela Stephenson (fromNot the Nine O'Clock News).[1] Stephenson beat outGeena Davis andAndrea Martin for the spot.[7]Christopher Guest became the anchor ofSaturday Night News.
In the middle of the season,Harry Shearer left the show due to "creative differences".[8] Shearer told the AP, "I was creative, and they were different."[9] Despite his departure, his image is still shown in the opening credits (spray-painting an elevated train as it goes down the track).
The remaining cast members left the show at the end of the season. Ebersol had been wanting to completely revamp the show to include mostly prerecorded segments.[10] Short, Guest, and Hall ultimately grew tired of the show's demanding production schedule and showed little interest in returning for another season, leaving Crystal the only "A-cast" member available for season 11.[1] LikeLorne Michaels at the end of season 5, Ebersol considered taking the show off the air for several months to re-cast. Another idea was to institute a permanent rotation of hosts (Billy Crystal,[11]David Letterman andJoe Piscopo) for "a hipThe Ed Sullivan Show". NBC decided to continue production only if they could get Michaels to produce again. Ebersol, along with his writing staff and most of the cast, left the show after this season. Those who wished to stay, such as Crystal and Kroeger, were not rehired for the following season.[1]
Repertory players
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Billy Crystal,Christopher Guest,Rich Hall, Rob Riley, and Martin Short joined the writing staff.Jim Downey,Herb Sargent, andHarry Shearer rejoined the staff after a four-year hiatus.Robin Duke,Adam Green,Tim Kazurinsky, Michael McCartney,Eddie Murphy,Pamela Norris, and Joe Piscopo left the staff.
This season's writers were Jim Belushi, Andy Breckman, Billy Crystal, Jim Downey, Christopher Guest, Rich Hall, Nate Herman, Kevin Kelton, Andy Kurtzman, Margaret Oberman, Rob Riley, Herb Sargent, Martin Short, Harry Shearer, Andrew Smith, Bob Tischler and Eliot Wald. The head writer was Bob Tischler.
Larry David spent one season on the writing staff.[12] He described this period as a miserable experience due to his conflicts with Dick Ebersol and being able to get only one sketch on the air, which aired in the final moments of Episode 7.[13] He would later take some of his unused ideas and work them into his showSeinfeld.[13] David would return to hostSNL in 2017[14] and to portrayBernie Sanders.[15]
Nearly everyone on the writing staff left at the end of the season, except for Herb Sargent and Jim Downey (Downey would be promoted to head writer next season).
| No. overall | No. in season | Host(s) | Musical guest(s) | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 179 | 1 | (none) | Thompson Twins | October 6, 1984 (1984-10-06) | |
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| 180 | 2 | Bob Uecker | Peter Wolf | October 13, 1984 (1984-10-13) | |
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| 181 | 3 | Jesse Jackson | Andrae Crouch Wintley Phipps | October 20, 1984 (1984-10-20) | |
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| 182 | 4 | Michael McKean | Chaka Khan The Folksmen | November 3, 1984 (1984-11-03) | |
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| 183 | 5 | George Carlin | Frankie Goes to Hollywood | November 10, 1984 (1984-11-10) | |
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| 184 | 6 | Ed Asner | The Kinks | November 17, 1984 (1984-11-17) | |
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| 185 | 7 | Ed Begley, Jr. | Billy Squier | December 1, 1984 (1984-12-01) | |
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| 186 | 8 | Ringo Starr | Herbie Hancock | December 8, 1984 (1984-12-08) | |
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| 187 | 9 | Eddie Murphy | The Honeydrippers | December 15, 1984 (1984-12-15) | |
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| 188 | 10 | Kathleen Turner | John Waite | January 12, 1985 (1985-01-12) | |
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| 189 | 11 | Roy Scheider | Billy Ocean | January 19, 1985 (1985-01-19) | |
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| 190 | 12 | Alex Karras | Tina Turner | February 2, 1985 (1985-02-02) | |
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| 191 | 13 | Harry Anderson | Bryan Adams | February 9, 1985 (1985-02-09) | |
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| 192 | 14 | Pamela Sue Martin | Power Station | February 16, 1985 (1985-02-16) | |
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| 193 | 15 | Mr. T Hulk Hogan | The Commodores | March 30, 1985 (1985-03-30) | |
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| 194 | 16 | Christopher Reeve | Santana | April 6, 1985 (1985-04-06) | |
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| 195 | 17 | Howard Cosell | Greg Kihn | April 13, 1985 (1985-04-13) | |
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| Title | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|
| "SNL Film Festival" | March 2, 1985 (1985-03-02) | |
Hosted by Billy Crystal, presenting short films and commercial parodies. Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo,Robin Williams, Tim Kazurinsky, andStevie Wonder make appearances in pre-recorded segments from previous seasons.Gene Siskel andRoger Ebert review the show.[10]John Candy andEugene Levy plug next week's show with musical guestsHall & Oates (who don't end up appearing due to a writers strike).[2] | ||
| "The Best of John Belushi" | August 3, 1985 (1985-08-03) | |
The special included material featuring John Belushi during his stint on the show. Sketches include "Sam Peckinpah," "Beethoven Composes 'My Girl'," "Beethoven Composes 'What'd I Say'," "Vito Corleone in Therapy," "Samurai Deli," "Wilderness Comedian," "The Last Voyage of theStarship Enterprise," "The Bee Honeymooners," "Dragnet," "The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder," "Mussolini Reenactment," "Little Chocolate Donuts," "Olympia Cafe," "Don't Look Back In Anger," "The Academy Awards," "Superhero Party," and "Miles Cowperthwaite, Part Two: I Am Nailed to the Hull." The special also features musical numbers Belushi performs on the show: Belushi asJoe Cocker performs "With a Little Help from My Friends" andThe Blues Brothers performs "King Bee," "Soul Man," and "B-Movie Boxcar Blues". | ||