Saturday Night Live is an American sketch comedy series created and produced by Lorne Michaels for most of the show's run. The show has aired on NBC since 1975. After a disastrous 1994–95 season featuring a mix of old and new characters, Michaels decided to once again revamp the cast, keeping only five cast members and hiring six. The 1995–96 season once again saved the show from cancellation, introducing a new era of Saturday Night Live characters and sketches that were highly popular with audiences. This cast stayed mostly stable until the 1998–99 season, which added cast members such as Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz. These two would pave the way for the next era of Saturday Night Live in the early 2000s. Rebuilding effort (1995–1996) The 1995–96 season almost completely rebuilt the cast with new members Jim Breuer, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, David Koechner, Cheri Oteri, Nancy Walls, Chris Kattan, Colin Quinn, and Fred Wolf. The only holdovers from the previous season were Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon and David Spade. The larger-than-usual number of new hires was part of a rebuilding effort from the 1994–95 season, a season that executive producer Lorne Michaels acknowledged was "incredibly difficult". Lenny Pickett also took over for G.E. Smith as leader of the Saturday Night Live Band. Of the cast members held over from the previous season, only Meadows and Spade were actual veterans. The other three were still newcomers to the show. Macdonald had a few bit parts in his first year (the 1993–94 season) and was the anchor of "Weekend Update" (a satirical news sketch performed during every episode) during the 1994–95 season, his performance considered a high point in a season widely considered lackluster. Shannon appeared in early 1995 as a featured performer after Janeane Garofalo quit the show; McKinney began in early 1995 as well, but as a contract player, having gained much experience in televised sketch comedy as a veteran of Canadian variety show The Kids in the Hall, also produced by Lorne Michaels. David Spade became the longest-serving cast member during this season. Fred Wolf, a writer for the show since 1991, would also serve a brief run as a featured player during this season and the next. The new cast members quickly made an impression and revitalised the show. Hammond in particular quickly built up a repertoire of popular impersonations, including Bill