NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT {SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE} {RAQUEL WELCH, JOHN SEBASTIAN, PHOEBE SNOW} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of live, late-night comedy/variety programs featuring topical satire. Actress Raquel Welch hosts this program, with musical guests Phoebe Snow and John Sebastian. In the opening sequence, Chevy Chase reads out a list of nominees for a dubious political "award," but is then frustrated when he is told to do one of his trademark pratfalls rather than a witty punchline. During her opening monologue, Welch sings "Superstar" as performed by the Carpenters, and John Belushi joins her as Joe Cocker. Sketches include the following: the Pied Piper's promotion of Purino Rat Chow to an impoverished couple with a vermin-invested apartment; an explanation of the complicated "decabet," a new system of letters based on the metric system and containing only ten characters; the return of "lovable" Muppets Ploobis and Scred, who are upset to learn that they are not scheduled to appear on the show anymore; the "Claudine Longet Invitational," during which several downhill skiers are accidentally shot by the French singer as they head down the slopes in Vail; a Polaroid commercial from Belushi and Jane Curtin; "Great Moments in Herstory," featuring Jane Russell and her problems with the bosom-obsessed Howard Hughes on the set of "The Outlaw"; and "Weekend Update," with Chase discussing the criticism of President Ford's appearance on the previous episode, the recent parole of Dr. Timothy Leary, comments from Presidential hopefuls Jimmy Carter and George Wallace, poll analysis from Laraine Newman in which most Americans are proven to be ambivalent about the 1976 election as well as everything else, Henry Kissinger's frustration over a book about Richard Nixon, an interview with Barbara Walters, who has recently left NBC for ABC, an unusual history lesson from Gore Vidal, as played by Welch, and Belushi's anger over weather-themed songs. Snow performs "All Over," and Sebastian performs "Welcome Back," again featuring Belushi.
Other highlights include the following: a plea from producer Lorne Michaels to the Beatles to reunite and appear on the show for $3,000; a scene from "One Flew Over the Hornet's Nest," in which bees at a mental institution are nearly stirred into rebellion by one patient desperate to watch the Oscars; "Gilda's Equal Time," in which Gilda Radner remarks upon the similarities between herself and sex symbol Welch; a short film by Gary Weis featuring Welch's dance talents; and Ploobis and Scred's last-ditch appeal to their idol, The Might Favog, who tells them to accept their sad fate as puppets and return to their trunk. Snow performs "Two-Fisted Love," and Welch sings "It Ain't Necessarily So." Welch closes the show by granting a dying man's "last wish" to see her disrobe. Includes commercials and promos.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: April 24, 1976 11:35 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:27:05
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:50077
- GENRE: Comedy/Variety
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy/Variety; Music; Political satire
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1975-
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Certs breath mints
- TV - Commercials - Dial soap
- TV - Commercials - Drano drain cleaner
- TV - Commercials - Excedrin pain killers
- TV - Commercials - Fresca soft drinks
- TV - Commercials - Gillette Cricket cigarette lighters
- TV - Commercials - Green Giant Le Sueur Combinations vegetables
- TV - Commercials - Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants
- TV - Commercials - L'eggs Sheer Energy stockings
- TV - Commercials - Marriott Essex House hotel
- TV - Commercials - Pillsbury Figurines diet bars
- TV - Commercials - Raid insect killer
- TV - Commercials - Revlon Natural Wonder mascara
- TV - Commercials - Scotch cassette tape storage cases
- TV - Commercials - Shout stain remover
- TV - Promos - "A Girl Named Sooner"
- TV - Promos - "Joe Forrester"
CREDITS
- Gary Weis … Producer
- Lorne Michaels … Producer, Writer
- Patricia O'Keefe … Associate Producer
- Dave Wilson … Director
- Anne Beatts … Writer
- Chevy Chase … Writer
- Al Franken … Writer
- Tom Davis … Writer
- Marilyn Suzanne Miller … Writer
- Michael O'Donoghue … Writer
- Herb Sargent … Writer
- Tom Schiller … Writer
- Rosie Shuster … Writer
- Alan Zweibel … Writer
- Raquel Welch … Host
- Don Pardo … Announcer
- Dan Aykroyd … Cast
- John Belushi … Cast
- Chevy Chase … Cast
- Jane Curtin … Cast
- Garrett Morris … Cast
- Laraine Newman … Cast
- Gilda Radner … Cast
- John Sebastian … Guest, Music Group
- Phoebe Snow … Guest, Music Group
- The Beatles
- The Carpenters
- Jimmy Carter
- Gerald Ford
- Howard Hughes
- Henry Kissinger
- Timothy Leary
- Claudine Longet
- Richard Nixon
- Jane Russell
- Gore Vidal
- George Wallace
- Barbara Walters