Saturday Night Live (Season 26)

"Saturday Night Live" aired its twenty-sixth season during the 2000-2001 television season on NBC. Five year veterans Cheri Oteri and Colin Quinn left the show that year. Tim Meadows, who had been on the show for nine and a half years, also left, making him the longest-serving African-American castmember on SNL. With Colin Quinn's seat on Weekend Update empty, Lorne Michaels decided to revamp Weekend Update by bringing back the idea of having two anchors instead of one just as SNL had had in the 1970s with Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd (later replaced by Bill Murray). Chris Parnell and Ana Gasteyer auditioned for the roles of Weekend Update anchors, but the parts went to Jimmy Fallon and female head writer, Tina Fey. During what would be her six-season tenure, Tina Fey appeared very rarely outside of Weekend Update. Maya Rudolph was upgraded to repertory castmember while a new, African-American male castmember, Jerry Minor, joined the cast to replace Tim Meadows. Molly Shannon, who beat Victoria Jackson's record as longest-serving female castmember on SNL, left the show midseason (on the episode hosted by Sean Hayes from the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace")

This season also had two primetime specials parodying the CBS reality show "Survivor" that aired in February. The season started on October 7, 2000 and ended on May 19, 2001.

Cast

Repertory players

*Jimmy Fallon
*Will Ferrell
*Ana Gasteyer
*Darrell Hammond
*Chris Kattan
*Tracy Morgan
*Chris Parnell
*Horatio Sanz
*Molly Shannon (Final Episode: February 17, 2001)

Featured players

*Rachel Dratch
*Tina Fey
*Jerry Minor
*Maya Rudolph

Episodes