Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell

By Patrick Mondout

There were two shows debuting in 1975 with the name Saturday Night Live. One was the still-airing hour-long comedy show with such stars as Chevy Chase, Bill Crystal, Jane Curtain, and Eddie Murphy. The other was the short-lived variety show with host Howard Cosell (of Monday Night Football fame) and the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra. The show, which was one of the few broadcast live, debuted with the hottest band in the land (the Bay City Rollers) and over it's run featured appearances by Muhammad Ali, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and John Denver.

Where Alan King and the others at ABC got the idea of having the most disliked TV personality - who earned his reputation on sports telecasts - hosting a weekly variety program is anyone's guess. Presumably they thought that his being one of the most well-known TV personalities meant that folks would tune him in. Going up against Emergency! and The Jeffersons didn't help matters (nor did his attempt to sing during one show) and by January, Cosell was back to doing what he did best: sports broadcasting.

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I just rememeber the premiere of the show, with THE BAY CITY ROLLERS as musical guest (big deal at the time) doing (what else?) "Saturday Night" ("S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y -- Night!"). --marshamarshamarsha

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