PHOTO CREDIT: ANDERS KRUSBERG / PEABODY AWARDS
72nd Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
May 20, 2013. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons @Peabody Awards
At the beginning of Season 11, Lorne Michaels returned as Saturday Night Live's executive producer after NBC nearly canceled the series. Michaels hired a new cast, including Robert Downey Jr., but the season was still rocky. Madonna, pretending to read a statement from NBC during the Season 12 premiere, said in her monologue that Season 11 was “all a dream. A horrible, horrible dream." Again, nearly every existing cast member was fired before Season 12. At this point, future Saturday Night Live icons Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Jan Hooks became cast members. They were joined by Mike Myers and Ben Stiller in Season 14. However, during Season 17, which began in 1990, the series featured its most exciting lineup of new talent since the original cast. Chris Farley, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, and David Spade all joined the series. Onscreen, the early 90s was a defining era for Saturday Night Live, although the period was not without its difficulties and controversies for the show.
