Season Twenty-Six of Saturday Night Live premiered on October 7, 2000. It featured a noticeably stripped-down cast compared to previous seasons. The departures of Tim Meadows, Cheri Oteri, Colin Quinn and Molly Shannon left a mere eight "official" cast members, smaller than any cast the show had throughout the entire 1990s. Perhaps the most significant departure of those four was Meadows'—with seven seasons as an official cast member and another three as a featured cast member, he held what was, at the time, the record for the longest run on the show. Mere days after the season premiere, Meadows premiered in the film The Ladies' Man, a film adaptation of his most popular recurring character. Quinn, too, left an important gap, in that he had anchored Weekend Update. To replace him, WU broke with the single-anchor tradition established in the 1980s and 90s and returned to a two-anchor format (not seen since 1981) with Jimmy Fallon and head writer Tina Fey in the chairs. This format would continue throughout the 2000s. However, perhaps due to a "wait-and-see" attitude towards the move, Fey would be credited as a featured cast member throughout the season. In addition, neither of Season Twenty-Five's recurring cast members (Rachel Dratch and Maya Rudolph) ascended to official cast position, although Dratch in particular (a good friend of Fey's) received significant screen time, as she had in Season Twenty-Five.
Cast Members
Featured Cast
Episodes
| # |
#
|
Title
|
|
|
Airdate
|
|
|
|
| 486 |
1
|
Rob Lowe/Eminem
|
|
|
October 7, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 487 |
2
|
Kate Hudson/Radiohead
|
|
|
October 14, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 488 |
3
|
Dana Carvey/The Wallflowers
|
|
|
October 21, 2000
|
|
|
|
| SP3 |
—
|
Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash
|
|
|
November 3, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 489 |
4
|
Charlize Theron/Paul Simon
|
|
|
November 4, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 490 |
5
|
Calista Flockhart/Ricky Martin
|
|
|
November 11, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 491 |
6
|
Tom Green/David Gray
|
|
|
November 18, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 492 |
7
|
Val Kilmer/U2
|
|
|
December 9, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 493 |
8
|
Lucy Liu/Jay-Z
|
|
|
December 16, 2000
|
|
|
|
| 494 |
9
|
Charlie Sheen/Nelly Furtado
|
|
|
January 13, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 495 |
10
|
Mena Suvari/Lenny Kravitz
|
|
|
January 20, 2001
|
|
|
|
| SP4 |
—
|
Thursday Night Live (I)
|
|
|
February 1, 2001
|
|
|
|
| SP5 |
—
|
Thursday Night Live (II)
|
|
|
February 8, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 496 |
11
|
Jennifer Lopez
|
|
|
February 10, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 497 |
12
|
Sean Hayes/Shaggy
|
|
|
February 17, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 498 |
13
|
Katie Holmes/Dave Matthews Band
|
|
|
February 24, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 499 |
14
|
Conan O'Brien/Don Henley
|
|
|
March 10, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 500 |
15
|
Julia Stiles/Aerosmith
|
|
|
March 17, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 501 |
16
|
Alec Baldwin/Coldplay
|
|
|
April 7, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 502 |
17
|
Renee Zellweger/Eve
|
|
|
April 14, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 503 |
18
|
The Best of Molly Shannon
|
|
|
April 28, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 504 |
19
|
Pierce Brosnan/Destiny's Child
|
|
|
May 5, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 505 |
20
|
Lara Flynn Boyle/Bon Jovi
|
|
|
May 12, 2001
|
|
|
|
| SP6 |
—
|
Mother's Day Special
|
|
|
May 13, 2001
|
|
|
|
| 506 |
21
|
Christopher Walken/Weezer
|
|
|
May 19, 2001
|
|
|
|
