1993 was the beginning of the end of a small piece of "Saturday Night Live"'s history.
Lorne Michaels' return as Producer in 1985 brough forth "SNL"'s funniest moments since the original cast years, and 1990's comedy explosion of featured players continued the trend. But as more and more cast members gradually left the show between 1990-1993, the comedy well was fast running dry. A viewing of this season's episodes will reveal much shock-laden material and few truly funny highlights. For every Alec Baldwin, there was a Nancy Kerrigan; for every Sally Field, there was an Emilio Estevez. 1993 is also the onset of "SNL"'s habit to return characters that pulled out all the necessary stops during the first installment - ie. Tiny Elvis, Matt Foley, "The Denise Show", and the Herlihy Boy.
Keep an eye out for Phil Hartman's final moments, if you can find them hidden amongst the inanity. To sum up: what's good is really good; but what's bad is really bad.
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