Saturday Night Live season 12 explained

Season Number:	12
Bgcolour:	ffd6eb
Image Alt:	The title card for the twelfth season of Saturday Night Live.
Num Episodes:	20
Network:	NBC
Prev Season:	season 11
Next Season:	season 13
Episode List:	List of Saturday Night Live episodes

The twelfth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 11, 1986 and May 23, 1987.

History

When the 1986-1987 season began, only Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Dennis Miller, and featured player A. Whitney Brown returned as cast members. Michaels went back to his original tactic of assembling a strong ensemble of relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon.^[1]

The first show of the 1986–1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, telling the audience that the entire 1985–1986 season had been a "horrible, horrible dream". Carvey's Church Lady character debuted in this episode.^[2]

Carvey's impression of George H. W. Bush is widely remembered, and Hartman's send-up of President Ronald Reagan kickstarted the most fruitful and successful period of political parody on SNL.^{[3] [4]}

Other popular sketches introduced this season include Mr. Subliminal,^[5] the Sweeney Sisters,^[6] and Derek Stevens.^[7]

Cast

Returning cast members included A. Whitney Brown, Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. Al Franken was rehired as a writer. In rebuilding the cast, Lorne Michaels returned to his usual practice of hiring unknown performers from stand-up and improv comedy backgrounds.^[8] New cast members included Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and Kevin Nealon.^{[9] [10]}

Cast roster

Repertory players

• Dana Carvey
• Nora Dunn
• Phil Hartman
• Jan Hooks
• Victoria Jackson
• Jon Lovitz
• Dennis Miller

Featured players

• A. Whitney Brown
• Kevin Nealon

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers

This season's writers were Andy Breckman, A. Whitney Brown, E. Jean Carroll, Tom Davis, Jim Downey, Al Franken, Phil Hartman, George Meyer, Lorne Michaels, Kevin Nealon, Herb Sargent, Marc Shaiman, Rosie Shuster, Robert Smigel, Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner, Jon Vitti and Christine Zander. Downey also served as head writer.

Episodes

See main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes.

Notes and References

1. News: Gendel. Morgan. Another Groundling Hops To 'Snl'. April 13, 2015. Los Angeles Times. September 30, 1986.
2. News: Hoogenboom . Lynn . April 17, 1987 . On the Cover: "You can't compete with a memory," says Lorne Michaels. . May 27, 2024 . The Vindicator.
3. Web site: Sims . David . 2018-12-03 . Dana Carvey's George H. W. Bush Was an All-Time Great 'SNL' Impression . 2022-01-11 . . en.
4. Web site: Adalian . Josef . 2 June 2017 . How Each Era of SNL Has Ridiculed American Presidents . 2022-01-11 . . en-us.
5. Web site: Harris . Mark . 1992-12-25 . 1. The Cast of 'Saturday Night Live' . 2024-05-27 . EW.com . en.
6. News: Arar . Yardena . 1988-08-30 . Finally, an entertaining Emmy show . 2024-05-27 . . 1C . Lakeland Ledger.
7. News: Shefchik . Rick . May 8, 1987 . 'Isn't that special?' Carvey finding niche on SNL . 2024-05-27 . . 1C . Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
8. Book: Shales, Tom . Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live . Miller . James Andrew . Little, Brown . 2002 . 978-0316781466 . 314.
9. News: Gendel. Morgan. Another Groundling Hops to 'SNL'. 23 January 2015. Los Angeles Times. 30 September 1986.
10. News: 'Saturday Night Live' announces cast . 21 April 2024 . The Lewiston Daily Sun . Associated Press . September 30, 1986 . 21.