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Saturday Night Live Season 39
Season 39
No. of episodes	21
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 28, 2013 – May 17, 2014
Season chronology
← Previous 38 Next → 40
List of 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 will end on May 17, 2014 with host Andy Samberg and musical guest St. Vincent.

Cast

Prior to the start of the season, a large number of cast changes occurred. Long-time veteran cast members Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis all departed the show. In addition to them, first-year featured player Tim Robinson left the cast to focus on his new duties in the writing staff, becoming the first performer to join the writing staff after being a cast member without initially being hired as a writer.

In their places six new featured players were hired including SNL writer Mike O'Brien who was upgraded into the cast, as well as new hires Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney of the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor, John Milhiser of the sketch group Serious Lunch, comedienne Noël Wells (known for her viral videos and impressions featured on sites such as Cracked.com), and stand-up comedian Brooks Wheelan.

O'Brien has written for the show since the 2009–10 season and is the first writer to be upgraded into the cast since Jason Sudeikis in 2005. Mooney and Bennett's fellow Good Neighbor troupe member Dave McCary was also hired to direct Bennett and Mooney's digital shorts.

On May 13, 2013, NBC announced that Weekend Update anchor Seth Meyers will be the new host of Late Night in 2014 succeeding Jimmy Fallon as Fallon will take over as the new host of The Tonight Show. Meyers remained Weekend Update anchor up until his departure from the show on February 1, 2014. Cecily Strong was brought up to co-anchor with Meyers. Colin Jost, a writer for the show (and head writer for season 38 and 39), joined the cast on March 1 as a featured player and as Meyers' successor on Weekend Update. This is third time a featured player was also a Weekend Update anchor. The first two were Tina Fey and Brian Doyle-Murray.

During the season, the show came under criticism from critics (as well as cast members Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah) for not including at least one black female cast member, a topic which was addressed on the November 2, 2013 show hosted by Kerry Washington. As a result, Lorne Michaels announced that the show would be holding auditions for a black female cast member, expected to join the show in January as a new featured player. UCB-NY performer Sasheer Zamata was announced as a new featured player on January 6, 2014. She made her first appearance on January 18, 2014.

The addition of eight new cast members is the greatest since the 1995–96 season, during which nine cast members were added, making it the largest cast overhaul in eighteen years.

Along with the other changes that occurred to the cast, Aidy Bryant, Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong were all promoted to repertory status.

bold denotes Weekend Update anchors

Writers

For the first half of the season, Seth Meyers, Colin Jost and Rob Klein were co-head writers. As of March, Colin Jost, Rob Klein, and Bryan Tucker are this season's head writers.

Prior to the start of the season, three new writers were hired:

• Claire Mulaney, younger sister of former writer John Mulaney.
• Mikey Day, a member of The Groundlings and cast member on MTV's Wild 'N Out.
• Michael Che, a standup comic who had guest written for five episodes in season 38, was hired as a full-time writer.

Additionally, Tim Robinson was moved to the writing staff after one year as a featured player on the show.

In December, Chicago Second City alum Katie Rich joined the writing staff.

In January, comedians LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones were added to the writing staff. Both had auditioned in December to join the cast.

This was Seth Meyers' final season as writer.

Episodes

Specials

References

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2. http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/01/19/seth-meyers-late-night-snl-tca/
3. Goldberg, Lesley (January 23, 2014). "'SNL' Names New 'Weekend Update' Co-Anchor". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 23, 2014.
4. Evans, Bradford (October 2, 2013). "Jay Pharoah on 'SNL's Diversity Issue: "They Need to Pay Attention"". SplitSider. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
5. Evans, Bradford (December 12, 2013). "'SNL' Held an Audition of Exclusively Black Female Performers Last Week". SplitSider. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
6. http://tvline.com/2014/01/06/saturday-night-live-cast-adds-sasheer-zamata-season-39/
7. ^ Carter, Bill (September 15, 2013). "New Course for 'Update,' and All of 'SNL'". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
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29. Bibel, Sara (April 6, 2014). "'Saturday Night Live' With Host Anna Kendrick and Musical Guest Pharrell Williams Up From Last Original". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
30. Kondolojy, Amanda (April 13, 2014). "'Saturday Night Live' With Host Seth Rogen and Musical Guest Ed Sheeran is the #1 Telecast of the Night". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
31. Bibel, Sara (November 1, 2013). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'The Vampire Diaries', 'The Millers' & 'Elementary' Adjusted Up; 'Sean Saves the World' & 'Parenthood' Adjusted Down". Zap2it. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
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34. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/02/02/saturday-night-live-with-hostmelissa-mccarthy-and-musical-guest-imagine-dragons-delivers-this-seasons-third-best-ratings/233753/
35. Kondolojy, Amanda (January 31, 2014). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'Big Bang Theory', 'American Idol', 'The Taste', 'Vampire Diaries', 'Parks & Recreation', 'Two and a Half Men' Adjusted Up; 'The Millers', 'Elementary', & 'Reign' Adjusted Down". Zap2it. Retrieved February 13, 2014.

• Saturday Night Live seasons
• 2013 television seasons
• 2014 television seasons