Lorne's Missing Links: Steve Martin's Best Show Ever and The New Show

Lorne's Missing Links: Steve Martin's Best Show Ever and The New Show

Lorne Michaels stepped away from Saturday Night Live after the show’s fifth season, and his creation was kept alive by other producers, writers and actors for the next five years; when he returned to the show in 1985, he had a whole new cast, but many of the behind-the-scenes personnel were those who had been associated with his original five year tenure, and there were a handful of additions that would shape the show’s tone and look for years to come. Because the Jean Doumanian and Dick Ebersol eras each had their own specific directions and mostly unique personnel. one wonders what the show would have been like if Michaels had stuck around during that time. There are a few hints of what a Michaels-helmed SNL would have looked like in two of his TV productions during that period: Steve Martin’s Best Show Ever, a special Martin did for NBC in November 1981, and The New Show, Michaels’ ill-fated return to weekly network television

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Classic SNL Review: October 20, 1984: Rev. Jesse Jackson / Andrae Crouch, Wintley Phipps (S10E03)

Classic SNL Review: October 20, 1984: Rev. Jesse Jackson / Andrae Crouch, Wintley Phipps (S10E03)

Sketches include "Advice", "Do You Know What I Hate?", "The Question Is Moot!", "Refrigerator Magnet Safety Advisory Board", "Just Kidding", "First Class", "Tippi Turtle", "Wrong Voice, Right Face", "Funny Black People", "Jeane", "Rich Hall's Election Report", "Fashion Report" and "Rainbow Coalition". Andrae Crouch performs "Right Now" and Wintley Phipps performs "Tell Me Again".

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Classic SNL Review: October 17, 1981: George Kennedy / Miles Davis (S07E03)

Classic SNL Review: October 17, 1981: George Kennedy / Miles Davis (S07E03)

Sketches include "Control Room '81", "Mister Robinson's Neighborhood","53 At Studio 54", "A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney", "Velvet Jones School of Technology", "Mr. Bill in L.A.", "Spray On Laetril", "La Cage Aux Folles '81", "Up And At 'Em", "Rubik's Teeth", "An Editorial Reply", "Jake The Hired Hand", and "Tuna Melts and Typing". Miles Davis performs "Jean Pierre'. Harry Anderson also appears.

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