Saturday Night Live aired its twelfth season during the 1986-1987 television season on NBC. Despite plans to have SNL canceled due to its disastrous 11th season, Lorne Michaels pushed 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 castmembers were fired, save for Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller, and featured player A. Whitney ...
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Saturday Night Live aired its twelfth season during the 1986-1987 television season on NBC. Despite plans to have SNL canceled due to its disastrous 11th season, Lorne Michaels pushed 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 castmembers were fired, save for Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller, and featured player A. Whitney Brown (with Al Franken hired back as a writer). Hired in their places were Jan Hooks (who auditioned to be in the season 10 and 11 casts, but was turned down), Victoria Jackson, Phil Hartman (who wrote season 11's Thanksgiving episode hosted by Pee-wee Herman, and appeared in a sketch as a Pilgrim), Kevin Nealon, and Dana Carvey. This resulted in a new golden age for the show, as critics and (most) viewers began to comment on the show more favorably. In a Dallas-esque joke, the season started with Madonna (who hosted the first episode of the...
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