Pamela Stephenson races to join her castmates at home base; Billy Crystal jokingly calls Fred Koehler and the other child actor “new cast members” and wishes the Cubs and the Padres good luck (Jim Belushi cheers the former, boos the latter). Harry Shearer, who does not appear on camera in any live sketches tonight, looks miserable.

Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield are credited as guest writers; the credits also show that a Tippi Turtle cartoon was intended to air this week (it would show up in the next show, as well as repeat versions of this show).

Final thoughts: A very strong start to the season, though Ebersol’s playing around with the show format with five pretaped sketches (not counting the outro to Wheel of Fortune Interview) seems to have gamed the outcome, and gives this show more of a canned clip-show feel. Right away, it’s established that the new writers and performers are going to be the focus of the season, with Billy Crystal as the leader of the group; despite this, I found Crystal’s audience-pleasing stuff was overshadowed by Martin Short’s oddball characters and (especially) Christopher Guest’s versatility. The returning cast from last year do well with their limited airtime, with Jim Belushi getting the most prominent roles but each performer getting at least one showcase tonight. The only downsides to this show were the weak Thompson Twins performances, and an uninspired appearance by Crystal’s signature character Fernando.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS:

Synchronized Swimming

First Draft Theatre

Wheel of Fortune Interview

Book Beat

Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich and Famous

The Bulge

Rich Hall’s Election Report

SHOW LOWLIGHTS:

Saturday Night News I

MVP:

Christopher Guest

CAST & GUEST BREAKDOWN:

cast

Jim Belushi : 4 appearances [Return of the Torch, The Bulge, First Draft Theatre, Saturday Night News II]

: 4 appearances [Return of the Torch, The Bulge, First Draft Theatre, Saturday Night News II] Billy Crystal : 3 appearances [Monologue, Grandpa Howard, Saturday Night News I]

: 3 appearances [Monologue, Grandpa Howard, Saturday Night News I] Mary Gross : 3 appearances [Return of the Torch, Mondale & Ferraro, The Bulge ]

: 3 appearances [Return of the Torch, Mondale & Ferraro, The Bulge Christopher Guest : 5 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Wheel of Fortune Interview, Synchronized Swimming, First Draft Theatre, Book Beat]

: 5 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Wheel of Fortune Interview, Synchronized Swimming, First Draft Theatre, Book Beat] Rich Hall : 3 appearances [Return of the Torch, Rich Hall’s Election Report, Book Beat]

: 3 appearances [Return of the Torch, Rich Hall’s Election Report, Book Beat] Gary Kroeger : 4 appearances [Return of the Torch, Grandpa Howard, Mondale & Ferraro, The Bulge]

: 4 appearances [Return of the Torch, Grandpa Howard, Mondale & Ferraro, The Bulge] Julia Louis-Dreyfus : 4 appearances [Wheel of Fortune Interview, Grandpa Howard, The Bulge, Saturday Night News II]

: 4 appearances [Wheel of Fortune Interview, Grandpa Howard, The Bulge, Saturday Night News II] Harry Shearer : 2 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Synchronized Swimming]; 4 voice-overs [Return of the Torch, Grandpa Howard, First Draft Theatre (2 roles)]

: 2 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Synchronized Swimming]; 4 voice-overs [Return of the Torch, Grandpa Howard, First Draft Theatre (2 roles)] Martin Short : 5 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Return of the Torch, Wheel of Fortune Interview, Synchronized Swimming, Running Late]

: 5 appearances [Lifestyles of the Relatives of the Rich & Famous, Return of the Torch, Wheel of Fortune Interview, Synchronized Swimming, Running Late] Pamela Stephenson: 4 appearances [Return of the Torch, Synchronized Swimming, The Bulge, First Draft Theatre]

crew and extras

Frederick Koehler : 1 appearance [Grandpa Howard]

: 1 appearance [Grandpa Howard] Reginald VelJohnson: 1 appearance [Rich Hall’s Election Report]

Guests

Thompson Twins : 2 appearance [“Hold Me Now”, “The Gap”]

: 2 appearance [“Hold Me Now”, “The Gap”] Jamie Lee Curtis : 1 appearance [Audience Caption]

: 1 appearance [Audience Caption] Rob Reiner: 1 appearance [Audience Caption]

REBROADCAST HISTORY:

December 29, 1984

June 22, 1985

Known alterations:

Saturday Night News II and Running Late removed

Tippi Turtle (from 10/13/84) added

First Draft Theatre edited slightly to remove tech glitches

Additional screen captures from this episode are available here.