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24 episodes

The first season of Saturday Night Live, the weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show on NBC, aired during the 1975–1976 television season. Saturday Night Live premiered on October 11, 1975 and consisted of a total of 24 episodes, the last of which aired on July 31, 1976. In 1974, NBC Tonight Show host Johnny Carson requested that the weekend broadcasts of "Best of Carson" come to an end, so that Carson could take two weeknights off and NBC would thus air those repeats on those nights rather than feed them to affiliates for broadcast on either Saturdays or Sundays.

22 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its second season during the 1976–1977 television season on NBC. The second season started on September 18, 1976, and ended on May 21, 1977. This season saw the first of many SNL cast changes.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its third season during the 1977–1978 television season on NBC. The season began on September 24, 1977 and ended on May 20, 1978. The DVD for the entire season was released on May 13, 2008.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its fourth season during the 1978–1979 television season on NBC. The fourth season started on October 7, 1978 and ended on May 26, 1979. The season four DVD was released on December 2, 2008.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its fifth season during the 1979–1980 television season on NBC, and also the final season with the original cast. This fifth season started on October 13, 1979 and ended on May 24, 1980. SNL's fifth season was released on DVD on December 1, 2009.

13 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its sixth season during the 1980–1981 television season on NBC. Season six started on November 15, 1980 and ended on April 11, 1981, with only 13 episodes. This season was alternatively known as Saturday Night Live '80.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its seventh season during the 1981–1982 television season on NBC. The seventh season started on October 3, 1981 and ended on May 22, 1982. A total of 20 episodes were broadcast.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its eighth season during the 1982–1983 season on NBC. The 8th season started on September 25, 1982 and ended on May 14, 1983. This was the third season to air since Lorne Michaels had left his first tenure as executive producer.

19 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its ninth season during the 1983–1984 television season on NBC. The ninth season started on October 8, 1983 and ended on May 12, 1984. Before the start of the season the entire cast returned for another season.

17 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its tenth season during the 1984-1985 television season on NBC. The season contained 18 episodes and was cut short due to a writer's strike and budget constraints. During the previous season Eddie Murphy left the show mid season.

18 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its 11th season during the 1985-1986 television season on NBC. The season started on November 9, 1985 and ended on May 24, 1986, 18 episodes were produced. Dick Ebersol left the show after the 1984-85 season, when the network refused his request to shut the program down entirely for six months and shift much of the material onto tape, not live broadcast.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twelfth season during the 1986-1987 television season on NBC. The 12th season started on October 11, 1986, the 11th anniversary of the show's first episode, and ended on May 23, 1987. Despite plans to have Saturday Night Live canceled due to the ratings of its previous season, producer Lorne Michaels convinced Brandon Tartikoff to give the show another chance, provided that a better cast be found for the next season.

13 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirteenth season during the 1987–1988 television season on NBC. Season 13 started on October 17, 1987 and ended on February 27, 1988. Before the start of the season few changes happened.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its fourteenth season during the 1988 - 1989 television season on NBC. The season began on October 8, 1988, and ended on May 20, 1989. 20 episodes were produced.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its fifteenth season during the 1989 - 1990 television season on NBC. The fifteenth season started off with a 15th anniversary special on September 24, 1989 and ended on May 19, 1990. 21 episodes were produced, including the anniversary special.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its sixteenth season during the 1990-1991 television season on NBC. 20 episodes were produced. The sixteenth season began on September 29, 1990, and ended on May 18, 1991.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its seventeenth season during the 1991-1992 television season on NBC. The seventeenth season started on September 28, 1991, and ended on May 16, 1992. Twenty episodes were produced.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its eighteenth season during the 1992-1993 television season on NBC. The eighteenth season began on September 26, 1992, and ended on May 15, 1993. Many changes happened before the start of the season.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its nineteenth season during the 1993-1994 television season on NBC. The season began on September 25, 1993 and ended on May 14, 1994. Many changes happened before the start of the season.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twentieth season during the 1994–95 television season on NBC. The twentieth season began on September 24, 1994 and ended on May 13, 1995. Much like seasons six and eleven, this season was lambasted by critics for its decline in quality.

20 episodes

The twenty-first season began September 30, 1995 and ended on May 18, 1996. 20 episodes were produced. SNL once again dodged cancellation from season twenty's low ratings and scathing reviews about the show's decline in quality.

20 episodes

The twenty-second season began on September 28, 1996 and ended on May 17, 1997 with 20 episodes in all. Many changes happened before the start of the season. David Koechner and Nancy Walls were both let go after one season with the show.

20 episodes

The twenty-third season started September 27, 1997 and ended on May 9, 1998, with 20 episodes being produced. A few changes happened before the start of the season; Colin Quinn was promoted to repertory status and Mark McKinney left the show while Fred Wolf left in the start of the twenty-second season. This season was also notable for not having any featured players or any new cast members.

19 episodes

The twenty-fourth season started on September 26, 1998 and ended on May 15, 1999 with 19 episodes in all. Before the start of the season Jim Breuer left the show. Norm Macdonald left the show halfway through the previous season after being taken off Weekend Update.

20 episodes

The 25th season started on September 25, 1999 and ended on May 20, 2000 with 20 regular episodes plus a 25th Anniversary Special. The special looked back at the series' highlights during its first quarter-century. The entire cast from last season returned for another year.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-sixth season during the 2000–2001 television season on NBC. 20 episodes were produced. The season began on October 7, 2000 and ended on May 19, 2001.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-seventh season during the 2001-2002 television season on NBC. The season started on September 29, 2001 and ended on May 18, 2002, 20 episodes were produced. Eighteen days before the season started, the September 11, 2001 attacks took place in New York.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-eighth season during the 2002-2003 television season on NBC. Season 28 started on October 5, 2002 and ended on May 17, 2003 having 20 episodes through the season. Before the start of the season, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer left the show.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-ninth season during the 2003–04 television season on NBC. The twenty-ninth season began on October 4, 2003 and ended on May 15, 2004 with 20 episodes in all. Before the start of the season Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan left the show and Dean Edwards was fired.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live had its thirtieth season on the 2004-2005 television season on NBC. The thirtieth season began on October 2, 2004 and ended on May 21, 2005 with 20 episodes in all. Before the start of this season, Jimmy Fallon left the show.

19 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-first season in the 2005-06 television season on NBC. The season began on October 1, 2005, and ended on May 20, 2006, with 19 episodes in all. The season was cut one episode short due to the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

20 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-second season during the 2006-2007 television season. This season began on September 30, 2006 and ended on May 19, 2007 with 20 episodes produced. Before the start of the season, the show suffered massive budget cuts.

12 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-third season, during the 2007–2008 television season on NBC. Because of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, there were only 12 episodes produced in this season instead of the usual 20, making this the shortest season in the series run and beating out both the sixth season and the thirteenth season, which had thirteen episodes. This is also the only season in SNL history not to have a new Christmas episode, since the WGA strike spanned from November 2007 to February 2008.

22 episodes

The thirty-fourth season of the variety series Saturday Night Live began airing in 2008 and concluded in 2009 on NBC. This season of Saturday Night Live consisted of 22 episodes, in an attempt to compensate for episodes lost during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. This made it the longest season since the show's second season.

22 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-fifth season during the 2009–2010 television season on NBC. This season began on September 26, 2009 and ended on May 15, 2010. A total of 22 episodes were broadcast during the show's eight-month-long season, which included a two-week break in February due to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

22 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-sixth season during the 2010–2011 television season on NBC. This season began on September 25, 2010 with former cast member Amy Poehler serving as host and Katy Perry as the musical guest, and ended on May 21, 2011 with Justin Timberlake serving as host and Lady Gaga as musical guest. Prior to the start of the season, many cast changes occurred.

22 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-seventh season during the 2011–2012 television season on NBC. The season officially began on September 24, 2011 with host Alec Baldwin, who returned to host for a record sixteenth time and with musical guest Radiohead and ended on May 19, 2012 with host and musical guest Mick Jagger. The season began with minimal changes to the cast, as everyone from the prior year returned.

21 episodes

Saturday Night Live aired its thirty-eighth season during the 2012–2013 television season on NBC. The season officially began on September 15, 2012, with host Seth MacFarlane and musical guest Frank Ocean. The season came to a close on May 18, 2013 with host Ben Affleck and musical guest Kanye West.

21 episodes

Saturday Night Live premiered its thirty-ninth season during the 2013–14 television season on NBC. The season officially began on September 28, 2013, with host Tina Fey and musical guest Arcade Fire, and concluded on May 17, 2014, with host Andy Samberg and musical guest St. Vincent.

21 episodes

Saturday Night Live premiered its fortieth season during the 2014–15 television season on NBC. The season premiered on September 27, 2014, with host Chris Pratt and musical guest Ariana Grande, and former cast member Darrell Hammond as the show's new announcer, replacing Don Pardo, who had died in August. The premiere included an interstitial photograph of Pardo.

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