Warning Signs

In mia-October of 1980, roughly before the Season Six premiere, Tony Schwartz of The New York Times wrote this piece in which he revealed the names of the new Saturday Night Live cast members. Variety later wrote that producer Jean Doumanian leaked their names to Mr. Schwartz after a disgruntled ex-staffer had leaked the names to The New York Daily News.


Nevertheless the Times revealed the names first.


As a major consequence of this action, NBC had cancelled a press conference that was supposed to introduce the new cast members; NBC president and CEO Fred Silverman and the head of the Entertainment Division, Brandon Tartikoff were none too pleased with the revoltin' developments about Jean's leak to Tony Schwartz without Fred's or Brandon's knowledge.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Not A Telegram!

Image
It's a Billy-Gram! In this sketch (written by future cast member Terrance Sweeney), guest host Elliot Gould and Ann Risley were living together without marriage when they receive a singing telegram for the girlfriend's birthday, sent by her parents---only it wasn't a regular singing telegram, it's a Billy-Gram!  The deliverer, played in hammy style by Charles Rocket, sings the telegram denouncing the girlfriend's lifestyle.  Check out Charles' hammy facial style.
Read more

And So, It Starts: A New Era Begins

Image
  It is Saturday, November 15, 1980 and Elliot Gould is guest host of the opening episode of Saturday Night Live 's sixth season, and you can view it here . This is Elliot's sixth (and to this day, most recent) episode as guest host. Kid Creole and the Coconuts are the musical guests on this night. As each episode progresses, we'll touch on individual sketches, starting with the cold opening recalling SNL 's "Glory Days". The opening shot of the opening episode of the Jean Doumanian Era  is of a sleepy Gail Matthius, who realizes the show is about to open, then wakes up next to guest host Elliot Gould, who are introduced to the new cast members and with each describing himself as a cross between two of the cast members from the original era.   Gail described herself as a cross between Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin. Next, up popped Charles Rocket, a cross between Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. Next up, it's Ann Risley, describing herself as a cross between Gil...
Read more