Saturday Night Live (season 23)
The twenty-third season of "Saturday Night Live", an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 27, 1997, and May9, 1998. This season saw the deaths of two former cast members. Six weeks after he came back to host, Chris Farley became the fifth "SNL" cast member to die prematurely. Similar to his idol, John Belushi, Farley died of a speedball overdose at the age of 33. Two weeks after the season finale, long-time performer Phil Hartman was murdered by his wife who then committed suicide. Following  their deaths, NBC aired two "SNL" specials as tributes to Farley and Hartman as they were both dedicated to their memories during this season. Cast. Before the season, Mark McKinney left the show. Colin Quinn was promoted to repertory status. This season is the first season to not include any featured players or new cast members. During the season, a controversy arose in which Weekend Update anchor Norm Macdonald was removed from the Update segment after angering NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer with his O. J. Simpson jokes. The weekly inclusion of O.J. jokes upset Ohlmeyer, who was good friends with  Simpson. Ohlmeyer arranged to have Macdonald fired from the segment, but not from the show. Macdonald's final episode as Update anchor was on December 13, 1997. Quinn was then promoted to the job and anchored the segment in the next live episode, which aired January 10, 1998. Even though Macdonald still performed in sketches, he was not happy and eventually quit the show; his final appearance was on March 14, 1998. This was also the final season for Jim Breuer as he left the show at season's end to move on to other acting opportunities. It was also  the only season to have an opening sequence that did not show any shots of New York City, instead featuring a 1950s-inspired design. Cast roster. Repertory players Writers. Tina Fey joins the writing staff in this season. Jim Downey leaves the show after Norm Macdonald was taken off Weekend Update (since Downey co-wrote Update with Macdonald). Episodes. <onlyinclude></onlyinclude>