Saturday Night Live 1980-81 - do you remember it?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by TheLazenby, Mar 25, 2014.

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  1. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    For years, I've been a staunch supporter of SNL's biggest "underdog" season, the lone aborted 12-episode series produced by Jean Doumanian. But.... going back and watching it recently after a long period of not doing so (specifically, I watched the Debbie Harry episode), I started to realize how big its flaws were.

    Having been born years later, does anyone here remember the change-over between Lorne and Jean? I love hearing stories from people who watched the shows at the time.
     
  2. Vahan

    Vahan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glendale, CA, USA
    I only recently saw bits and pieces from this season. It is notable for featuring the first television appearances of Gilbert Gottfried, and back then, he spoke in his normal, everyday voice.
     
  3. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Was that the season with Charles Rocket?
     
  4. Avenging Robot

    Avenging Robot Senior Member

    Yes.

    I was just a kid but I recall that ever since Belushi and Ackroyd left, people started saying that it wasn't the same show. Then after everyone left (and bear in mind Radner and Bill Murray were huge at that point) the knives really came out.

    Having said all that and having only seen that season's shows in reruns it's pretty obvious that the ship had no captain in 80 - 81 (although they did have interesting musical guests from time to time).
     
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  5. danner

    danner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    I caught most of the season (the 60 minute edits anyway) one summer on Comedy Central. I remember it being pretty bad, but it blew my mind when I saw Captain Beefheart on there as a musical guest.
     
  6. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    It was pretty bad. I was the same age as the young geeks in FREAKS & GEEKS and like those characters, worshipped the original SNL. Charles Rocket, who was sort of a Chevy Chase/Bill Murray character, was the only redeeming presence in the cast. I remember watching his show-scuttling (and presumably career-derailing) F-bomb live and knowing that was the end of it.

    They were replaced by the Murphy/Piscopo/Kazurinsky cast -- although, below, I see they were already in place? -- which revived the show. Probably more importantly, Lorne Michaels came back.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2014
  7. Aggie87

    Aggie87 Gig 'Em!

    Location:
    Carefree, AZ
    Repertory cast members

    Denny Dillon
    Robin Duke (first episode: April 11, 1981)
    Gilbert Gottfried (final episode: March 7, 1981)
    Tim Kazurinsky (first episode: April 11, 1981)
    Gail Matthius
    Eddie Murphy (first episode: December 6, 1980, upgraded to repertory status on January 24, 1981)
    Joe Piscopo
    Ann Risley (final episode: March 7, 1981)
    Charles Rocket (final episode: March 7, 1981)
    Tony Rosato (first episode: April 11, 1981)


    Featured cast members

    Yvonne Hudson (first episode: December 20, 1980)
    Matthew Laurance (first episode: December 20, 1980)
    Laurie Metcalf (first episode: April 11, 1981)
    Emily Prager (first episode: April 11, 1981)
    Patrick Weathers (final episode: February 14, 1981)
     
  8. jupiter8

    jupiter8 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ, USA
    I remember watching it (being 15 years old and staying up to watch SNL made me feel so "adult"). I remember it feeling like a pretty big drop off after the previous 5 seasons featuring a group that had become pretty tight-knit as an ensemble. I remember watching Charles Rocket drop the f-bomb and that really felt like desperation. I should also note I don't romanticize the early SNL years too much, a lot of it is pretty bad (like most seasons) and the few high points are what people really remember.
     
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  9. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    I watched what is available on NetFlix recently. It is very interesting to see the evolution of Eddie Murphy from insignificant extra (in his first on screen appearance he had no lines) to obviously the biggest talent on the show. And to a lesser extent, Joe Piscopo. Besides that, it is mostly just sad.

    Bill Murray is funny as the host in the show right after the Charles Rocket f-bomb (and I think the last show before almost everyone got fired).
     
  10. mmars982

    mmars982 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    He didn't come back for quite a while though - the seasons with that cast were produced by Dick Ebersol, who also did the Billy Crystal/Christopher Guest/Martin Short years (or was it one year?). I quite liked those seasons. The first year when Lorne Michaels was back was almost as rocky as the first year after he left.
     
  11. Avenging Robot

    Avenging Robot Senior Member

    He did the New Show which I actually liked but pretty much nobody else did...
     
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  12. Larry Geller

    Larry Geller Surround sound lunatic

    Location:
    Bayside, NY
    The problem was that the new women (Risley, Duke & Mathius especially), were were no Radner, Curtin or Newman. They were totally unfunny. Dillon was the only one with any talent. I saw every show that season, both types.
     
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  13. helter

    helter Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    I have been waiting to see episodes of this season forever.
    A couple days before his death John Lennon made reference to a skit that SNL did on John and Yoko that made fun of their new roles as house husband and business woman which John thought was hilarious.

    They also did another skit/news report on another episode that season about going through John Lennon's garbage at the Dakota and his new album

    Eddie Murphy made his first appearance on SNL on December 6, 1980 2 days before John's death.

    Let's release those episodes just for the history they contained.
     
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  14. I watched the show from the first season on (had to sneak past my sleeping parents to get to the TV room for the first year or so) and I was greatly disappointed in the that season. For one thing, you just can't follow Belushi, Ackroyd, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray. The season without Belushi and Ackroyd was a step down but we still had the rest of the cast and writers so it was still the same show only not as funny.

    The 80-81 season had no danger. It was a neutered show under Doumanian and then Ebersol. No political humour at all, amongst other things. It could be that they had already pushed every boundary they could in those days but I recall being disappointed that there were no "did you see/hear that?!!" moments to share with my friends the next day. And I think I switched my loyalties to Fridays for awhile around that time. The best comparison I could make is that the first five years of SNL came from the National Lampoon Dangerous School of Comedy and the next five were from the Traditional and Safe Mainstream School of Comedy. I decided the magic was gone around episode three of the 80/81 season.

    btw, the Charles Rocket "F" bomb was NOT planned. They had a couple of minutes to fill at the end of the night (due to inept planning on Doumanian's part, Lorne always had something ready to go) and it just slipped out during a spontaneous bit of dialog. It was innocuous enough that I wouldn't have been sure he even said it if it wasn't for Charlene Tilton's near-hysterical laughter afterwards. This was pre-VHS/Beta so it probably wouldn't have been mentioned again if she hadn't drawn everybody's attention to it.
     
  15. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    Well.... "Commie Hunting Season" (widely considered the most offensive SNL sketch ever, and possibly the only one in the show's history to not get a SINGLE hint of an audience reaction) might've been a bad case of a 'did you hear that?' moment.
     
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  16. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    Just one year.

    Then Lorne came back and 1985-86 just left people wondering what the hell he was trying to do.... I've been watching more and more of Lorne's first season back. There are so many cold openings that are long, boring, and have no obvious joke - not a way to rev up people for the next 90 minutes, you know? Like, there's an opening about monks who took a vow of silence. Hiiiilarious.
     
  17. danner

    danner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Birmingham, AL
    Agreed. I grew up watching the 30-minute syndicated cuts on Nick-at-Nite and thought they were hysterical. When I finally got around to seeing a few of the full-length episodes from that era, I couldn't believe how hit and miss they were. 90 minutes is a lot of time to fill every week.
     
  18. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    I realized that too, when the DVD boxed sets came out. The Seventies seem to be pretty divided between "this is an absolutely classic" and "I have no idea what they were going for."
     
  19. Yep, that was imho the second worst season. He had people like Robert Downey Jr. and Joan Cusack and yet it was a pretty unfunny year. Part of the reason was that he hired mostly actors instead of comedians that season.
     
  20. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    If you want a fantastic example of 'what the hell were they doing', watch the "Suitcase Boy" bit from the infamous Francis Ford Coppola episode.

    Robert Downey Jr., with his head sticking out of a giant suitcase, screaming random sentences (like "I know why whales beach themselves.... SPIDERMAN TOLD ME!!"). It's actually so 'wtf?' it becomes funny.
     
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  21. I remember that! It struck me as one of several sketches that year that must have started off as "hey I know, I did this in tenth grade drama class, let's try it!".
     
  22. TheLazenby

    TheLazenby Forum Resident In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    Pittsburgh
    Have you seen Anthony and Robert's fart-noise book review segment?

    After it's done, Dennis Miller comments, "Gee, you think the boys wrote that one themselves?"
     
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  23. Dan C

    Dan C Forum Fotographer

    Location:
    The West
    At some point Comedy Central was airing the full uncut 90-minute episodes in the early-90s. I have the infamous Rocket F-Bomb episode on VHS I taped from those repeats. It's brutal, with a couple of notable exceptions by Eddie Murphy and a Prince performance late in the episode.

    dan c
     
  24. beatlematt

    beatlematt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Gadsden, Alabama
    The last three episodes (11,12,13) of that season were had great moments. #11 had Charles Rocket making TV history (even though Paul Shaffer said the F-bomb in an earlier season, but with a bad accent and was somewhat muffled, so it flew under the radar) #12 with the always great Bill Murray coming back, and #13, with no "official" host, but a great opening sketch featuring Chevy Chase and Mr. Bill reflecting on the not so long gone glory days and Chevy returning to anchor Weekend Update. Of course, the most mind blowing part of that season was Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band in episode #2. Episode #7 with the great Karen Black and Cheap Trick/Stanley Clarke Trio is regarded by some as the best.

    I think the country was in a state of 70's hangover and shocked to its capitalist core with a strong recession. SNL was the 70's and found the 80's to be a shock to its system too, rather swiftly. To everyone's amazement, the show did go on though. And on and on and on and on..................
     
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  25. bekayne

    bekayne Senior Member

    Who kept flubbing their lines
     
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