Summary “Saturday Night Live” is only as big as its stars, and the 1979 season made that abundantly clear. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi left the show at the end of the fourth season to pursue movie stardom, leaving a noticeable void. Bill Murray became the show’s new frontrunner, and was placed in nearly every sketch. Jane, Garrett, Laraine and Gilda still provide laughs, as do premiere featured performances by comic Harry Shearer and most of the show’s writers, but it’s easy to see that the old magic is no longer there. It was so evident to everyone involved with the show, that they all decided to leave at the end of the season, rounding out five years of involvement with the “Saturday Night Live” project. However, NBC was not letting go of its highest-rated program that easily, and was determined to salvage it no longer how many years it would take.
Don Roy King has directed fourteen seasons of Saturday Night Live. That work has earned him ten Emmys and fourteen nominations. Additionally, he has been nominated for fifteen DGA Awards and won in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.
View all posts by Don Roy King