Saturday Night Live was almost canceled three times in its record breaking run. The first time was in 1980 when the new cast never caught on with viewers and Charles Rocket dropped an F Bomb. The second time was in 1986 when Lorne Michaels' return to the show provided less than stellar results. The third time was in 1995.
Phil Hartman was ready to move on. The show's Saturday night dominance was being challenged by Fox's Mad TV and its ratings were down. NBC was ready to lower the axe. With Johnny Carson gone from The Tonight Show and Jay Leno more of a company man, the time was possibly right to bring Tonight Show reruns back to Saturday night. They wouldn't produce higher ratings, but they'd be much cheaper. Lorne Michaels set to work to convince skeptical NBC executives to renew the show.
Regardless of their future popularity, NBC was unimpressed with Lorne's cast and wanted them all fired- Lorne had to choose between his cast or his show. He chose the show. David Spade, Chris Farley- pretty much everyone except for Tim Meadows. Even Adam Sandler was shown the door; unceremoniously fired from the show.
