Saturday Night Live (season 25)

The twenty-fifth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 2, 1999 and May 20, 2000.

Saturday Night Live
Season 25
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes20
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 2, 1999 (1999-10-02) –
May 20, 2000 (2000-05-20)
Season chronology

Cast

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Contract for new cast members

SNL, they are the not-ready-for-prime-time players. These are people who are just starting out. I challenge you to name a network, much less a show, that has created this many stars, ever ... All we're asking is, somebody who comes in and is, basically, virtually unknown and young has an opportunity to be on a very, very powerful sketch-comedy show and to be able to launch a film career and be in sitcoms. I think that's a pretty great opportunity.

— Scott Sassa, NBC's West Coast president, at the network's summer press presentation in Pasadena, California[1]

In July 1999, when executive producer Lorne Michaels held auditions for the season, NBC introduced a new contract for first-year cast members, replacing the five- or six-year deals they had used in the past.[1] The terms were established by NBC executives Scott Sassa and Garth Ancier. According to Peter Bogdanovich, the new contract came with the following terms:[1]

  • NBC can take a Saturday Night Live cast member off the show any time after their second year on the program and put them in an NBC sitcom.
  • A cast member has the option of saying no to the first two shows proposed by NBC, but must accept the third deal.
  • NBC dictates the length of the sitcom contract, which can run as long as six years.
  • SNL Films, co-owned by Paramount Pictures, NBC and Lorne Michaels, has a three-movie option that would pay the star a set $75,000 for the first film, $150,000 for the second and $300,000 for the third, rates that used to be negotiable.
  • NBC has the option of paying those same amounts to force a cast member to say no to a film deal offered to them by another studio.

The starting salary remained $5,000 per episode.[1]

Writers
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 25

Starting this season Tina Fey is credited as the writing supervisor.

Episodes
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guest(s)Original air date
4661Jerry SeinfeldDavid BowieOctober 2, 1999 (1999-10-02)

4672Heather GrahamMarc AnthonyOctober 16, 1999 (1999-10-16)

4683Norm MacdonaldDr. Dre featuring
Snoop Dogg & Eminem		October 23, 1999 (1999-10-23)

4694Dylan McDermottFoo FightersNovember 6, 1999 (1999-11-06)

4705Garth BrooksGarth Brooks as Chris GainesNovember 13, 1999 (1999-11-13)

  • Chris Gaines performs "Way of the Girl".
  • In a callback to Brooks' appearance when he hosted in season 23, Brooks, as Chris Gaines, does a sketch with Mango then unmasks Gaines.
  • First appearance of The Boston Teens sketch
4716Jennifer AnistonStingNovember 20, 1999 (1999-11-20)

4727Christina RicciBeckDecember 4, 1999 (1999-12-04)

4738Danny DeVitoR.E.M.December 11, 1999 (1999-12-11)

  • R.E.M. performs "The Great Beyond" and "Man on the Moon". As well, lead singer Michael Stipe makes an appearance in a "Mango" sketch with Chris Kattan.
  • Former cast member Al Franken and his son Joe appear during Weekend Update.
  • The Rockettes guest star in the "Rockettes Auditions" sketch featuring Molly Shannon's character Sally O'Malley.
  • Jim Carrey was the original host for this episode, but cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.
4749Jamie FoxxBlink-182January 8, 2000 (2000-01-08)

47510Freddie Prinze, Jr.Macy GrayJanuary 15, 2000 (2000-01-15)

47611Alan CummingJennifer LopezFebruary 5, 2000 (2000-02-05)

47712Julianna MarguliesDMXFebruary 12, 2000 (2000-02-12)

47813Ben AffleckFiona AppleFebruary 19, 2000 (2000-02-19)

  • Fiona Apple performs "Limp".
  • Gwyneth Paltrow makes an appearance in Affleck's monologue (Affleck made an appearance in Paltrow's monologue when she hosted in 1999).
  • Paul Thomas Anderson directed the "Fanatic" pretaped sketch, where an orphan (Ben Affleck) meets Anna Nicole Smith (Molly Shannon).
47914Joshua Jackson'N SyncMarch 11, 2000 (2000-03-11)

  • 'N Sync performs "Bye, Bye, Bye and "I Thought She Knew". They also appeared in the "7° Degrees Celsius" sketch (Performing "Come On and Supersize It") as well as the "Parents Day" sketch.
  • The Statler Brothers appear in the "Parents Day" Sketch.
  • Badal Roy performs with the SNL Band.
  • SNL writer and stand up comic Kevin Brennan appeared as himself in a Weekend Update commentary on presidential candidates.
  • Includes the infamous sketch where Jimmy Fallon impersonated Chris Rock in blackface. Twenty years later, Fallon would apologize for that sketch in the June 1, 2020 episode of his show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon during the opening monologue.[2]
48015The RockAC/DCMarch 18, 2000 (2000-03-18)

48116Christopher WalkenChristina AguileraApril 8, 2000 (2000-04-08)

48217Tobey MaguireSisqóApril 15, 2000 (2000-04-15)

48318John GoodmanNeil YoungMay 6, 2000 (2000-05-06)

  • Neil Young performs "Razor Love" and "Silver & Gold". He also appears in the opening monologue.
  • Maya Rudolph's first episode as a cast member.
  • SNL writer and stand up comic Kevin Brennan appeared as himself in a Weekend Update commentary on Elian Gonzalez.
48419Britney SpearsBritney SpearsMay 13, 2000 (2000-05-13)

48520Jackie ChanKid RockMay 20, 2000 (2000-05-20)

Specials
TitleOriginal air date
"25th Anniversary Special"September 26, 1999 (1999-09-26)
A special celebrating the 25th anniversary of the show. A long list of cast members, guest hosts and others stop by to honor the show's anniversary. Beastie Boys, Elvis Costello, Eurythmics and Al Green perform. John Belushi, Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, Michael O'Donoghue, Gilda Radner and Danitra Vance all received a tribute in the special. Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin, James Van Der Beek, Candice Bergen, Garth Brooks, David Bowie, Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Michael Douglas, James Downey, Nora Dunn, Al Franken, Sarah Michelle Gellar, John Goodman, Tom Hanks, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jon Lovitz, Norm Macdonald, Steve Martin, Lorne Michaels, Dennis Miller, Jay Mohr, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Kevin Nealon, Laraine Newman, Don Pardo, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Shaffer, Martin Short, Paul Simon, Robert Smigel, Kevin Spacey, David Spade, Lily Tomlin, Christopher Walken and many more attended the event.
"Best of Game Show Parodies"February 29, 2000 (2000-02-29)
The special presented game show parodies featured on the show. Sketches include "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", "Celebrity Jeopardy", "Old French Whore", "Stand-Up and Win", "Who Wants to Eat?", "The Bensonhurst Dating Game", "Who Wants to Be Groped by an Eleven Thousand-aire?" The clip show was hosted by Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek and Darrell Hammond as Regis Philbin.
"The Best of Tim Meadows"September 9, 2000 (2000-09-09)
A compilation of some of Tim Meadows' sketches from his 10-year stint on the show.

Superstar film
Main article: Superstar (1999 film)

A Superstar film, based on the Mary Katherine Gallagher sketches, was released on October 8, 1999. Cast members Will Ferrell, Mark McKinney and Molly Shannon appear in the film. The film did modestly well at the box office but was panned by critics.

References
  1. Bogdanovich, Peter (August 11, 1999). "SNL's Killer Contract". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  2. "Jimmy Fallon Talks Blackface Controversy With Don Lemon, NAACP's Derrick Johnson, – The Hollywood Reporter". The Hollywood Reporter. June 2, 2020. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
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