Saturday Night Live season 26
The twenty-sixth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 7, 2000, and May 19, 2001.
History
2000 presidential election
The 2000–01 season was also noted for its well-received spoofing of that year's presidential campaign between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The two candidates even appeared on a special with the cast in fall 2000. Will Ferrell's Bush impression coined the term "strategery" in a sketch mocking Bush's propensity for mispronunciations, while Darrell Hammond's Gore was characterized by his slow, deliberate drawl and use of the term "lockbox" during the show's debate sketches.In April 2015, Ferrell stated that he thought his impression "humanized" Bush to the country and may have won him the election, and that Hammond's "rigid, robotic-like" take on Gore may have influenced the result also.
Cast
Before the start of the season, longtime cast members Tim Meadows, Cheri Oteri, and Colin Quinn all left the show. Meadows had been on the show for a then-record 10 seasons since 1991, while Oteri and Quinn had both been on for five seasons since 1995. The show added two new featured players: SNL head writer Tina Fey and Second City comedian Jerry Minor. Fey had been a writer on the show since 1997 and began as the show's head writer in 1999. Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph remained featured players. Minor was let go following this season.This would be Molly Shannon's final season on the show. Leaving midseason, she surpassed Victoria Jackson as the show's longest-serving female cast member.
Chris Parnell was fired at the end of this season, but then rehired midway through the next season. Executive producer Lorne Michaels would later admit he made a mistake in firing Parnell.
In 1999, Tina Fey became the show's first female head writer. With Colin Quinn's Weekend Update tenure over, Lorne Michaels teamed Fey with Jimmy Fallon this season, the first duo to anchor the segment since Christine Ebersole and Brian Doyle-Murray in the early 1980s. This pairing was well received by critics. Fey appeared occasionally as an extra before being hired as a cast member. Fey was a featured player during her first season and was then promoted to contract player, while still maintaining her position as head writer.
This season also marked the first time since Season 14 that John Goodman didn't host at all. He had previously hosted at least one episode per season for a ten-year stretch.
Cast roster
Repertory players- Jimmy Fallon
- Will Ferrell
- Ana Gasteyer
- Darrell Hammond
- Chris Kattan
- Tracy Morgan
- Chris Parnell
- Horatio Sanz
- Molly Shannon
bold denotes "Weekend Update" anchor
Writers
Jim Downey rejoins the writing staff this season. James Anderson, who went on to write on SNL for decades, joins the writing staff as a new writer.Starting with the Charlie Sheen-hosted episode, Tina Fey's is officially credited as head writer.
Additionally, starting with that episode, longtime writer Dennis McNicholas is named as Fey's co-head writer, after having been a creative consultant for the past 1½ seasons; meanwhile, fellow writer Harper Steele was officially named a Creative Consultant, now renamed as Writing Supervisor, alongside Paula Pell.
Erik Kenward joins the writing staff with the Katie Holmes-hosted episode.
This was also the final season for longtime writers Adam McKay and Robert Carlock. McKay left after six years, while Carlock left after five.