Saturday Night Live - Season 12
Description: Saturday Night Live aired its twelfth season during the 1986-1987 television season on NBC. The 12th season started on October 11, 1986, the 11th anniversary of the show's first episode, and ended on May 23, 1987.
Despite plans to have Saturday Night Live canceled due to the ratings of its previous season, producer Lorne Michaels convinced Brandon Tartikoff to give the show another chance, provided that a better cast be found for the next season. As a result, many of season 11's cast members were fired, except for Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, featured player A. Whitney Brown, and Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller. Al Franken was rehired as a writer. The rest were relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon. Hooks had auditioned to be in the season 10 and 11 casts, but had been turned down. Hartman helped write sketches in season 11's Thanksgiving episode hosted by Pee-wee Herman, and appeared in a sketch as a Pilgrim.
The first show of the 1986-1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, reading a "statement" from NBC about season 11's mediocre writing and bad cast choices. According to the "statement", the entire 1985-1986 season was "...all a dream. A horrible, horrible dream."
Episodes
Sigourney Weaver/Buster Poindexter
Aired: Oct 11, 1986
Live From New York, it's...Madonna Sketches Include: A Message From Madonna, ""...
Malcolm-Jamal Warner/Run DMC
Aired: Oct 18, 1986
Sketches include "Bartles & Jaymes," "Xynex," "Donahue," "The Crosby Show," "Ins...
Rosanna Arquette/Ric Ocasek
Aired: Nov 8, 1986
Sketches include "Pretending To Be Lorne," "The People's Court," "Church Chat," ...
Sam Kinison/Lou Reed
Aired: Nov 15, 1986
Sketches include: Church Lady protest Sam Kinison hosting SNL, Obnoxious School ...
Robin Williams/Paul Simon
Aired: Nov 22, 1986
Sketches include ""Reagen's Earpiece,"" ""Hamlet,"" ""Sweeney Sisters Retirement...
Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, & Martin Short/Randy Newman
Aired: Dec 6, 1986
Sketches include ""Stumblebums,"" ""I'm Me! (And You're Not...)"" (musical numbe...
Steve Guttenberg/The Pretenders
Aired: Dec 13, 1986
Live from New York, it's... Jon Lovitz! Sketches include "Iranian National Asse...
William Shatner/Lone Justice
Aired: Dec 20, 1986
Live from New York, it's... William Shatner! Sketches include "The Mute Marine,...
Walter Payton, Joe Montana/Debbie Harry
Aired: Jan 24, 1987
Sketches include: ""NFL Video Countdown,"" ""Leslie and Stu,"" ""Pathological Li...
Paul Shaffer/Bruce Hornsby & the Range
Aired: Jan 31, 1987
Sketches include ""Paul's Dressing Room,"" ""What's My Addiction?"" ""The Grenad...
Bronson Pinchot/Paul Young
Aired: Feb 14, 1987
Live from New York, it's... Phil Hartman! Sketches include "Liberace In Heaven,...
Willie Nelson
Aired: Feb 21, 1987
""Afterlife Styles of the Rich and Famous"", ""The Mob Snitch who Wears A Wire a...
Valerie Bertinelli/The Robert Cray Band
Aired: Feb 28, 1987
Live from New York, it's... Phil Hartman! Sketches include "Reagan-Regan Affair...
Bill Murray/Percy Sledge
Aired: Mar 21, 1987
Live from New York, it's...Bill Murray Sketches include: Backstage SNL: The 110...
Charlton Heston/Wynton Marsalis
Aired: Mar 28, 1987
Live from New York, it's... Charlton Heston! Sketches include "God's Money," "...
John Lithgow/Anita Baker
Aired: Apr 11, 1987
Live from New York, it's... John Lithgow! Sketches include "Embassy Spies," "La...
John Larroquette/Timbuk 3
Aired: Apr 18, 1987
Live from New York, it's... Dana Carvey! Sketches include "Pagan Easter Specia...
Mark Harmon/Suzanne Vega
Aired: May 9, 1987
""The New Charlie's Angels"", ""People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive 1986"", ""Gr...
Garry Shandling/Los Lobos
Aired: May 16, 1987
Sketches include ""Iran-Contra Hearings,"" ""Returning a Sweater,"" ""The Puppy,...
Dennis Hopper/Roy Orbison
Aired: May 23, 1987
Sketches include ""Easy Rider,"" ""Church Chat,"" ""What's That Smell?,"" ""This...