Season 12
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. As a result, many of season 11's cast members were fired, except for Nora Dunn, Jon Lovitz, featured player A. Whitney Brown, and Weekend Update anchor Dennis Miller. Al Franken was rehired as a writer. The rest were relative unknowns, led by Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, and Kevin Nealon. Hooks had auditioned to be in the season 10 and 11 casts, but had been turned down. Hartman helped write sketches in season 11's Thanksgiving episode hosted by Pee-wee Herman, and appeared in a sketch as a Pilgrim. The first show of the 1986-1987 season opened with Madonna, host of the previous season opener, reading a "statement" from NBC about season 11's mediocre writing and bad cast choices. According to the "statement", the entire 1985-1986 season was "...all a dream. A horrible, horrible dream."
Episodes
1 Sigourney Weaver/Buster Poindexter Oct 11, 1986 
2 Malcolm-Jamal Warner/Run DMC Oct 18, 1986 
3 Rosanna Arquette/Ric Ocasek Nov 8, 1986 
4 Sam Kinison/Lou Reed Nov 15, 1986 
5 Robin Williams/Paul Simon Nov 22, 1986 
6 Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, & Martin Short/Randy Newman Dec 6, 1986 
7 Steve Guttenberg/The Pretenders Dec 13, 1986 
8 William Shatner/Lone Justice Dec 20, 1986 
9 Walter Payton, Joe Montana/Debbie Harry Jan 24, 1987 
10 Paul Shaffer/Bruce Hornsby & the Range Jan 31, 1987 
11 Bronson Pinchot/Paul Young Feb 14, 1987 
12 Willie Nelson Feb 21, 1987 
13 Valerie Bertinelli/The Robert Cray Band Feb 28, 1987 
14 Bill Murray/Percy Sledge Mar 21, 1987 
15 Charlton Heston/Wynton Marsalis Mar 28, 1987 
16 John Lithgow/Anita Baker Apr 11, 1987 
17 John Larroquette/Timbuk 3 Apr 18, 1987 
18 Mark Harmon/Suzanne Vega May 9, 1987 
19 Garry Shandling/Los Lobos May 16, 1987 
20 Dennis Hopper/Roy Orbison May 23, 1987