Saturday Night Live season 5

Saturday Night Live had it's 5th season during the 1979 - 1980 season line-up on NBC. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd left the show at the end of season 4 and they left a great hole in the fifth season. Even though the cast still had its feet, and was still funny, everybody realised, the original magic of Saturday Night Live was over. So by the end of the season, the original cast, and executive producer, Lorne Michaels were ready to leave. Saturday Night Live was ready to end, but NBC wasn't ready for it just yet. They wanted a season 6 with a brand new cast and brand new laughs. No body knew if Saturday Night Live was going to make it. The 5th season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on May 24, 1980.

Cast

Reperatory Cast Members

• Jane Curtin
• Garrett Morris
• Bill Murray
• Laraine Newman
• Gilda Radner
• Harry Shearer

Featured Cast Members

• Peter Aykroyd (First episode: November 17, 1979)
• Tom Davis
• Jim Downey
• Brian Doyle-Murray
• Al Franken
• Don Novello
• Tom Schiller (First Episode: December 15, 1979)
• Paul Shaffer
• Alan Zweibel (First Episode: December 15, 1979)

Episodes

Episode #	Air Date	Host(s)	Musical Guest(s)
87 (5.1)	October 13, 1979	Steve Martin	Blondie
88 (5.2)	October 20, 1979	Eric Idle	Bob Dylan
89 (5.3)	November 3, 1979	Bill Russell	Chicago
90 (5.4)	November 10, 1979	Buck Henry	Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
91 (5.5)	November 17, 1979	Bea Arthur	The Roches
92 (5.6)	December 8, 1979	Howard Hesseman	Randy Newman
93 (5.7)	December 15, 1979	Martin Sheen	David Bowie
94 (5.8)	December 22, 1979	Ted Knight	Desmond Child & Rouge
95 (5.9)	January 26, 1980	Teri Garr	The B-52's
96 (5.10)	February 9, 1980	Chevy Chase	Marianne Faithful Tom Scott
97 (5.11)	February 16, 1980	Elliott Gould	Gary Numan
98 (5.12)	February 23, 1980	Kirk Douglas	Sam & Dave
99 (5.13)	March 8, 1980	Rodney Dangerfield	J. Geils Band
100 (5.14)	March 15, 1980		James Taylor Paul Simon David Sanborn
101 (5.15)	April 5, 1980	Richard Benjamin Paula Prentiss	The Grateful Dead
102 (5.16)	April 12, 1980	Burt Reynolds	Anne Murray
103 (5.17)	April 19, 1980	Strother Martin	The Specials
104 (5.18)	May 10, 1980	Bob Newhart	The Amazing Rhythm Aces Bruce Cockburn
105 (5.19)	May 17, 1980	Steve Martin	3-D Paul McCartney Linda McCartney
106 (5.20)	May 24, 1980	Buck Henry	Andrew Gold Andrae Crouch & The Voices of Unity

• Preceeded by SNL: Season 4
• Followed by SNL: Season 6