Free Post: SNL Season Five By the Numbers

A few weeks ago, we added up all our grades from every sketch of SNL seasons 1-4 and told you which episodes from each season were best and how each season stacked up against the others.

Given Season Five is the final one with (most of) the original cast, it hardly fair to leave it there. Here are our show-by-show grades for Season Five:

As you can see, the show started off strong with the Steve Martin and Eric Idle episodes, then fell into a seven-show lull as cast members and writers began thinking about what they would be doing when they left the show at the end of the year. There is a slight bump with the Kirk Douglas and Rodney Dangerfield episodes, but after that the show collapses, with the lowlight being the Burt Reynolds episode - the lowest one we have rated. It then ends on highlight, as they stuffed everyone’s favorite recurring characters into what ended up being a “goodbye” show at the end of the year.

How do these grades stack up against previous seasons? Well, not great, Bob:

So, in the end, did missing John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in Season Five make a difference? It certainly appears so.

But for those of you who think we are being too hard on Season Five, we will soon be releasing the Season Six podcast. And you ain’t seen nothing yet.