Saturday Night Live (season 28)

The twenty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 5, 2002, and May 17, 2003.

Saturday Night Live
Season 28
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes20
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseOctober 5, 2002 (2002-10-05) –
May 17, 2003 (2003-05-17)
Season chronology
Cast of 02/03. Back row from left to right: Richards, Edwards, Armisen, Kattan, Sanz, Fallon, Poehler, Forte and Dratch. Front row from left to right: Meyers, Morgan, Rudolph, Fey, Hammond and Parnell.

Cast

Before the start of the season, Will Ferrell and Ana Gasteyer left the show. Gasteyer was on maternity leave, and decided not to return, while Ferrell left to star in feature films. Hired to fill their absences were comedian/punk musician Fred Armisen and TV writer Will Forte (of The Groundlings). Both joined the show as featured players. Armisen is the show's second Latino male cast member (Horatio Sanz being first), and also the second male cast member to have some Asian heritage (Rob Schneider being first). Armisen is so far the only cast member to have Korean heritage (though, at the time, Armisen mistakenly believed his heritage to have been Japanese).

This would be the final season for Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan, who both had been cast members since 1996, and Dean Edwards, who had been a feature player since 2001. The former two would make cameo appearances in many episodes of the following season.

Cast roster

bold denotes Weekend Update anchor

Writers
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live writers § season 28

Episodes
Main article: List of Saturday Night Live episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		HostMusical guest(s)Original air date
5261Matt DamonBruce Springsteen & the E Street BandOctober 5, 2002 (2002-10-05)

5272Sarah Michelle GellarFaith HillOctober 12, 2002 (2002-10-12)

  • Faith Hill performs "Cry" and "Free", and appears during the "No Wrestling" sketch.
5283John McCainThe White StripesOctober 19, 2002 (2002-10-19)

5294Eric McCormackJay-ZNovember 2, 2002 (2002-11-02)

5305Nia VardalosEveNovember 9, 2002 (2002-11-09)

  • Eve performed "Gangsta Lovin'" and "Satisfaction", and appears during the "Dropping The L.B.'s With Missy E" sketch.
  • Tina Fey's mother Jean Fey appears during the opening monologue.
5316Brittany MurphyNellyNovember 16, 2002 (2002-11-16)

5327Robert De NiroNorah JonesDecember 7, 2002 (2002-12-07)

5338Al GorePhishDecember 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)

5349Jeff GordonAvril LavigneJanuary 11, 2003 (2003-01-11)

53510Ray LiottaThe DonnasJanuary 18, 2003 (2003-01-18)

  • The Donnas perform "Take It Off" and "Who Invited You".
53611Matthew McConaugheyDixie ChicksFebruary 8, 2003 (2003-02-08)

53712Jennifer GarnerBeckFebruary 15, 2003 (2003-02-15)

53813Christopher WalkenFoo FightersFebruary 22, 2003 (2003-02-22)

53914Queen LatifahMs. DynamiteMarch 8, 2003 (2003-03-08)

54015Salma HayekChristina AguileraMarch 15, 2003 (2003-03-15)

  • Christina Aguilera performs "Beautiful" and "Fighter", and appears during the "Versace Oscar Fashion Preview" sketch.
  • Edward Norton appears during the opening monologue.
54116Bernie MacGood CharlotteApril 5, 2003 (2003-04-05)

54217Ray RomanoZwanApril 12, 2003 (2003-04-12)

  • Zwan performs "Lyric" and "Settle Down".
54318Ashton Kutcher50 CentMay 3, 2003 (2003-05-03)

54419Adrien BrodySean Paul
Wayne Wonder		May 10, 2003 (2003-05-10)

  • Sean Paul performs "Get Busy".
  • Wayne Wonder performs "No Letting Go".
  • Brody's parents Sylvia Plachy and Elliot Brody appear during the opening monologue.
  • Prior to Sean Paul's performance, Brody gives an improvised introduction while wearing faux dreadlocks and mumbling in a Jamaican accent for Paul, unbeknownst to the cast, crew and Lorne Michaels. Because of this, Brody has been banned from the show.
54520Dan AykroydBeyoncéMay 17, 2003 (2003-05-17)

  • Beyoncé performs "Crazy in Love" with Jay-Z and "Dangerously in Love".
  • Jim Belushi appears during the opening monologue.
  • Chris Kattan's father Kip King appears during the "Rialto Grande" sketch.
  • John Goodman appears during "The Falconer" sketch, the "Donatella Versace Backyard Barbeque" sketch, and the "La Cuisina Canina" sketch.
  • Aykroyd brought in Tom Davis, one of the show's original writers, to help write this episode.[2]
  • Aykroyd becomes the first SNL cast member to have a long gap between leaving the show as a cast member and returning to host at nearly 24 years (and, as of 2019, is the third and most recent cast member from the show's "Not Ready for Primetime" era [1975-1980] to come back and host).
  • Dean Edwards, Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan's final episode as cast members.

Specials
TitleOriginal air date
"The Best of Will Ferrell"September 28, 2002 (2002-09-28)
Sketches include: "Alta Dena Mandatory Drug Assembly", "Cow Bell", "Dissin' Your Dog", "Spartan Cheerleaders", "The Coconuts Bangers Ball: It's A Rap!", "Celebrity Jeopardy", "Inside The Actors Studio", "Space, The Infinite Frontier with Harry Caray", "Luvahs at the Welshly Arm Motel", "Roxbury Guys", "The Replacement Nude Model", "Tension Dinner" and "Jacob Silj".
"SNL Christmas 2002"December 17, 2002 (2002-12-17)
Holiday-themed sketches from past episodes are aired. Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey host.
Weekend Update Halftime SpecialJanuary 26, 2003 (2003-01-26)
Weekend Update Halftime Special, timed to compete with the Super Bowl XXXVII halftime show.

References
  1. "Phish Plays Saturday Night Live On December 14". Phish. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  2. Davis, Tom (2009). Thirty-nine Years of Short-term Memory Loss. Grove Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-8021-1880-6. When Dan Aykroyd hosted the show in 2003, he brought me along. It was great fun writing and getting stuff on again; it was a terrific show.
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