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Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell is an ABC network comedy\variety series hosted by Howard Cosell.
The show aired from September 20, 1975 to January 17, 1976, airing for one season & 18 episodes.
It was later remembered by its director Don Mischer as "one of the greatest disasters in the history of television," largely because Howard Cosell and Roone Arledge (both veterans of sports broadcasting) were entirely unfamiliar with comedy and variety programming.
History[]
Don Mischer described the show as chronically hectic and unprepared. He recalled one particular episode wherein executive producer Roone Arledge discovered that jazz icon Lionel Hampton was in New York City and invited him to appear on the show an hour before airtime.
The show fared poorly among critics and audiences alike, with TV Guide calling it "dead on arrival, with a cringingly awkward host".
Alan King (the show's "executive in charge of comedy") later admitted that it was difficult trying to turn Howard Cosell into a variety show host, saying that he "made Ed Sullivan look like Buster Keaton."