Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell

Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell
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GenreVariety show
Presented byHoward Cosell
StarringBill Murray
Brian Doyle-Murray
Christopher Guest
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes18
Production
Executive producerRoone Arledge
ProducerRupert Hitzig
Running time48 minutes
Production companyABC
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 20, 1975 (1975-09-20) –
January 17, 1976 (1976-01-17)
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Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell was an American television variety show that aired on ABC from September 20, 1975, to January 17, 1976, hosted by Howard Cosell and executive-produced by Roone Arledge. The series ran for 18 episodes before being cancelled.[1] The show was later remembered by its director Don Mischer as "one of the greatest disasters in the history of television", largely because Cosell and Arledge—both veterans of sports broadcasting—did not have any experience with comedy and variety programming.[1]

Despite having highly notable celebrities both as cast members and guests, Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell has never been made available on home video.

Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell is consistently confused with the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. In October 1975, rival network NBC began airing the late night comedy show NBC's Saturday Night, the creation of producer Lorne Michaels. The shows did not compete for the same time slot. Cosell's Saturday Night Live aired at 8 p.m. ET/PT, whereas NBC's Saturday Night aired at 11:30 p.m. After Cosell's show was cancelled, the NBC show adopted the Saturday Night Live name.[2]

  1. ^ a b YouTube video: "Don Mischer Interview with the American Archive of Television - Part 1 of 5".
  2. ^ Rothman, Lily (September 26, 2014). "The Surprising Story Behind Saturday Night Live's Most Famous Line". Time. Retrieved June 18, 2016.