Country of origin United States Original network NBC | No. of episodes 20 | |
Original release September 29, 1990 (1990-09-29) – May 18, 1991 (1991-05-18) | ||
The sixteenth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 29, 1990, and May 18, 1991.
Contents
The 16th season of SNL was a transitional one: Several longtime cast members left, and a large number of additions were made to the roster. To ensure that he was not short on talent (and to avoid repeating Jean Doumanian's mistake—and Lorne Michaels's previous mistake in the case of the 1985-1986 cast—of hiring a cast of new, inexperienced cast members with little to no comedic chemistry), Michaels chose to retain most of the late 1980s cast while in the process of hiring the people that would make up the early 1990s cast. At one point during the season, sixteen people were listed as cast members or featured players.
Cast changes
Extensive changes occurred before the start of the season. Nora Dunn and Jon Lovitz were both dropped from the show. Following her boycott of the episode hosted by Andrew Dice Clay the previous season, Dunn was not in good standing with Lorne Michaels. Dunn's initial five-year contract expired at the end of the previous season, but Lorne Michaels chose not to extend it due to the boycott controversy.
Before the season began, Jon Lovitz requested time off so he could film Mom and Dad Save the World, which would cause him to miss the first several episodes of the season. Michaels refused, because he did not view this to be fair to the other cast members. Lovitz subsequently quit. However, he made several cameo appearances throughout the 16th season.
With Dunn and Lovitz gone, Michaels was put in an awkward situation. Most of the cast had been on the show for five seasons. He did not want to be put in the spot of having to replace the entire cast all at once (as not to repeat Jean Doumanian's folly from her stint as executive producer in the early 1980s after the original cast left, or Michaels' own, similar mistake from the 1985-1986 season). Instead, Michaels promoted writers Rob Schneider and David Spade to the cast and hired Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Julia Sweeney. He then hired Tim Meadows and Adam Sandler to the cast mid season.
Starting with this season, the cast was divided into three groups. A middle group was created, and this new category would be introduced with the word "with," following the introduction of the repertory players. The first cast members added to the new group were Chris Farley and Chris Rock, with Tim Meadows and Julia Sweeney added mid-season.
This would also be the final season for Jan Hooks and Dennis Miller, who ended his consecutive six-year reign as Weekend Update anchor.
Cast roster
bold denotes Weekend Update anchor
Writers
Notable writers from season 16 included Jim Downey, Al Franken, Tom Davis, Jack Handey, Conan O'Brien, Rob Smigel and Bob Odenkirk.
Season 16 would prove to be the final year for O'Brien and Odenkirk as Saturday Night Live writers. O'Brien left to write for The Simpsons, and would later host NBC's Late Night and Tonight Show late night talk shows. Odenkirk would go on to write for future cast member Chris Elliott's Get a Life and The Dennis Miller Show as well as The Ben Stiller Show, for which he was also a cast member. In 1995, he would co-create and co-star on HBO's Mr. Show with Bob and David.