{"id":52659,"date":"2024-10-18T11:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T15:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=52659"},"modified":"2024-11-14T12:15:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-14T17:15:55","slug":"snl50-the-eras-1976-1979-addition-by-subtraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2024\/10\/18\/snl50-the-eras-1976-1979-addition-by-subtraction\/","title":{"rendered":"SNL@50: The Eras: 1976-1979: Addition By Subtraction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Saturday
Images via NBC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In honor of\u00a0Saturday Night Live<\/strong>\u2018s 50th Anniversary, we will be going through its rich and varied history and breaking down its legendary run into easy to digest eras. Some eras might last for years, others only one season. But each era is one that either marked a change in the show, were driven by a remarkable personality of a star, or marked a special part of the history of the program. Today, we find the show at a crossroads after losing their biggest star, Chevy Chase.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Chevy Chase was the breakout star of\u00a0Saturday Night Live<\/em>. That might be hard to reconcile for younger generations who only know him as the cranky old man who got fired from Community<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0<\/strong>but it’s the truth.<\/p>\n

\"Saturday
Image via NBC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leading up to the 1976 general election, Parade Magazine<\/em> polled 1000 college students at 20 colleges<\/a> and asked them which non-politician they wanted to see as President of the United States. Chevy Chase was one of the eight people the students chose. A group of women called Man Watchers Inc. release their list of the Ten Most Watchable Males of 1976<\/a>. Chase also made that list too. (O.J. Simpson was also one of the ten, meaning Chase wasn’t the biggest fall from grace of the ten.) “He’s merry, witty and brilliant,” Man Watchers president Suzy Mallery explained. “We like his impish, devilish smile on his very expressive face. A joy to watch.”<\/p>\n

Chase was getting meetings with Warner Brothers, United Artists and Paramount to star in films. He was chosen to perform at the Presidential Inaugural. He had hired Barbara Streisand’s manager to help out in Hollywood. He was listed as the star of the film Tunnel Vison<\/strong><\/a>, a movie he made before SNL made him famous and in which he has less than five minutes of screen time, in the film’s newspaper ads. Everyone wanted to be in the Chevy Chase business because the Chevy Chase business was booming.<\/p>\n

In retrospect, it seems obvious at the time that Chevy Chase wouldn’t be long for SNL. After all, how do you keep the boy on the farm after they have been getting career advice from Warren Beatty<\/a>? But when Chase returned for the second season of the show, it gave fans hope. Chase returned for the first few episodes of the new season, although, he phoned it in for a couple of them. (No, literally. He injured himself in a pratfall and only appeared on the show via a telephone call from the hospital.)\u00a0 But during that time, articles started appearing listing his contract troubles with NBC<\/a> and a lengthy interview<\/a> with the Associated Press’ Bob Thomas where Chase bemoaned about how tired he was and how he never had any time for outside projects. The press blitz told a pretty solid story that Chase will inevitably be leaving SNL.<\/p>\n

The inevitable came after the October 30, 1976 show, the last episode to feature Chase as a cast member. He would appear in pre-taped filmed pieces a couple times in the following weeks, but his time on SNL was done. “Officially, Chevy is off the show forever,” Lorne Michaels told reporters at Chase’s farewell party.<\/a> “But this is his family and everyone visits his family.”<\/p>\n

Michaels would come to regret that statement.<\/p>\n

\"Saturday
Image via NBC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chevy Chase was gone from Saturday Night Live. His negotiations with NBC garnered him three prime-time specials, of which it seems like only two aired–The Chevy Chase Show\u00a0<\/strong>on May 5, 1977<\/a> and Chevy Chase’s National Humor Test<\/strong> on May 10, 1979<\/a>. Neither interfered with Chase’s burgeoning film career.<\/p>\n

The press reacted to Chase’s departure just as you’d expect them to–with gloom and doom. Tom Shales wrote a national syndicated article, intended as a form of promotion for the forthcoming SNL cast album, that came off as if he was writing the show’s obituary<\/a>.\u00a0The Akron Beacon Journal, in advertising Shales’ article, editorialized that the show was “pretending it’s still a hit comedy<\/a>.” Don Stanley of the Vancouver Sun was more direct with his criticism<\/a>: “Saturday Night<\/em> needs Chevy Chase. Jane Curtin tried the news report, but he’s Chevy Chase and she’s not. Dan Aykroyd is a master at 24 and all that, but, unlike Chase, he’s not effortlessly funny. John Belushi is too aggressive.”<\/p>\n

It appeared that, by this reaction, the show wouldn’t last past the end of the season. And here we are, 49 years later, still talking about it. Why? Because – HOT TAKE – Chevy Chase leaving was the best thing to happen to SNL.<\/p>\n

\"Saturday
Image via NBC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Chase had stayed on SNL, it would have become the Chevy Chase Show. The mix of Chase’s popularity, his massive ego and a network that was in his corner would have pushed the rest of the cast into the background. Or worse, Chase would be resentful of anytime another cast member got the chance to shine.\u00a0 In Bob Woodward’s book, Wired<\/em>, he details how Chase, jealous of John Belushi being the focus of “The Last Voyage of the Starship\u00a0Enterprise” sketch tried to upstage him during dress rehearsal. He was reined in for the show, but if you ever wondered why Chase’s Leonard Nimoy was especially histrionic in the sketch, there’s your answer.<\/p>\n

But with Chase gone, the rest of the cast got to stretch their comedy muscles and shine. Just take a look at these famous sketches and characters that first arrived in the post-Chase era:<\/p>\n