The show we now know as Saturday Night Live was actually called NBC Saturday Night when it first debuted. As I explained here, they couldn't use the former name because there was then, in 1975, a prime-time ABC series called Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell. It was an attempt to replicate the appeal of The Ed Sullivan Show, turning the verbose sportscaster into a variety host — or trying to. Three things, I thought, went wrong with the program…
- They didn't get very thrilling acts. Or at least they didn't seem thrilling in that context.
- The show aired on the wrong night. Ed's show was perfect for Sunday evening when a lot of families gathered for dinner. After the dishes were cleared away, the whole clan could retire to the living room and watch The Ed Sullivan Show, configured as it was with performers for every age — a bear act for the kids, an old pro singer for the adults, Alan King and/or Myron Cohen for any Jews who might be watching, a teen heartthrob singer for the teens, etc. Families weren't congregating much in front of the TV together by '75 — that's a big reason why Ed went off in '71 — and they never did that on Saturday.
- And Howard Cosell really only did two things well. He was a pretty decent sportscaster. He could be "the man you love to hate" with his obnoxious, snotty remarks and gin up controversy. This show called on him to do neither of those things he did well.
One of these days, I'll relate the tale of an encounter I had with Mr. Cosell. Right now, you just need to know that his Saturday Night Live went on in September of 1975 and it was gone before the end of the following January. This clip from it features one of my heroes…the master magician, Mark Wilson, performing here with his wife and son. A lot of guys my age got interested in magic in the sixties because Wilson made it seem to so cool. And even more got into it because they yearned for a wife/assistant who looked as good as the lovely Nani Darnell…