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Everything You NEED To Know About Saturday Night Live
Season 11 (1985-1986)

Hosts Jon Schneider and James Stephens (Saturday Night Network) explore season-by-season the cast members, sketches, characters, and backstage stories that have made Saturday Night Live a television institution.

Looking Back at the Wild 1986 Episode of Saturday Night Live Produced, Directed and Sorta Hosted by Francis Ford Coppola (nathanrabin.com/happy-place/2024/9/6/looking-back-at-the-wild-1986-episode-of-saturday-night-live-produced-directed-and-sorta-hosted-by-francis-ford-coppola)

In 1986 a struggling Saturday Night Live had nothing left to lose, so it had Megalopolis director Francis Ford Coppola produce, direct and sorta host a very special, crazy, unique episode of Saturday Night Live.

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Hey everyone, today's video is on Saturday Night Live and the disastrous 11th Season of the show and how the poor ratings and audience reception almost led to NBC President Brandon Tartikoff ending Saturday Night Live for good. One of the big controversies was Damon Wayans being fired in the middle of the season after just seven episodes. Some sources said it was 13 episodes but Damon himself confirmed the number was seven episodes. The reason for his firing was going off script and sabotaging the Mr. Monopoly Sketch live on the air. Lorne Michaels threatened to blacklist him from the entertainment industry but ultimately dropped the grudge. With all the acting talent they had with Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Randy Quaid it was a surprise that the talent didn't at least partially cross over into sketch comedy. However there were highlights on the show with Dennis Miller on Weekend Update, Jon Lovitz on the Liars Sketch, and Nora Dunn all around. If you enjoy this comedy lore/comedy deep dive please be sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, turn on post notifications, and share this with someone you think would enjoy it. Thanks for watching, I love you guys.

Saturday Night Live, Ranked and Reviewed: Season 11 (https://www.mattalamode.com/2023/01/saturday-night-live-ranked-and-reviewed.html)

The second decade of SNL begins, and by god does it begin with a doozy! Of all of the infamous years of SNL (https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/zq9x51/holy_toldeo_season_11_was_awful/), Season 11 (https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/100toro/i_watched_and_reviewed_every_episode_of_season/) is one of the more intimidating ones to me. While it has the same hypothetical freshness as Season 6 (https://www.mattalamode.com/2022/01/saturday-night-live-ranked-and-reviewed.html), attempting to introduce skeptical audiences to the next iteration of the show, that season at least offers the potential exhilaration of an entire staff flying by the seat of their pants, week by week. Season 11, on the other hand, marks the grand return of Lorne Michaels to his show, which quashes that sense that we're gonna be learning as we go along. Lorne, by and large, is too stubborn a producer for there to be much of a sense of recalibration or finetuning; that, by next season premiere, he'd posit all of these episodes were "all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream" doesn't give me too much hope that this season will have any interesting arc, either, beyond seeing who swims and who sinks. (Knowing who stays on after this season, though... I could guess.) Realistically, I think this season will mostly amount to an annoying hurdle before I'm able to get into what will likely be the best era of the entire show's run.

Among the new cast members who have been brought on to define the next era of the show are the show's first openly-gay cast member, Terry Sweeney; the first black female repertory player, Danitra Vance; two up-and-coming stand-ups by the names of Damon Wayans and Dennis Miller; a very young Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., and Joan Cusack culled from the Brat Pack; Academy Award-nominated actor and one-time New Show host Randy Quaid; and lastly, Jon Lovitz and Nora Dunn, two semi-obscure hires who quickly ascended the heap with their handy sketch comedy backgrounds. Dennis, regrettably, helmed Weekend Update.

The writers' room is also fully-stocked with a mix of key talent from the first five years (Franken, Davis, Downey, Novello) and startling new voices towards the beginning of their careers (Mark McKinney and Bruce McCulloch of eventual Kids in the Hall fame, Robert Smigel, John Swartzwelder), including some writers who previously worked on The New Show (Jack Handey, George Meyer)—like the cast, a clearly talented bunch, though one which would struggle to see their skills recognized on the stage.

Will the season be able to triumph its negative reputation? Or will it be as bad as they say? As your intrepid tour guide through such a strange chapter in the show's history, here's my (pseudo-)professional opinion!