Saturday Night Live (season 28)

The title card for the twenty-eighth season of Saturday Night Live.
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	20
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	October 5, 2002 (2002-10-05) – May 17, 2003 (2003-05-17)

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.

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.

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

Repertory players

• Rachel Dratch
• Jimmy Fallon
• Tina Fey
• Darrell Hammond
• Chris Kattan
• Tracy Morgan
• Chris Parnell
• Amy Poehler
• Maya Rudolph
• Horatio Sanz

Featured players

• Fred Armisen
• Dean Edwards
• Will Forte
• Seth Meyers
• Jeff Richards

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	Host	Musical guest(s)	Original air date
526	1	Matt Damon	Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band	October 5, 2002 (2002-10-05)
527	2	Sarah Michelle Gellar	Faith Hill	October 12, 2002 (2002-10-12)
528	3	John McCain	The White Stripes	October 19, 2002 (2002-10-19)
529	4	Eric McCormack	Jay-Z	November 2, 2002 (2002-11-02)
530	5	Nia Vardalos	Eve	November 9, 2002 (2002-11-09)
531	6	Brittany Murphy	Nelly	November 16, 2002 (2002-11-16)
532	7	Robert De Niro	Norah Jones	December 7, 2002 (2002-12-07)
533	8	Al Gore	Phish	December 14, 2002 (2002-12-14)
534	9	Jeff Gordon	Avril Lavigne	January 11, 2003 (2003-01-11)
535	10	Ray Liotta	The Donnas	January 18, 2003 (2003-01-18)
536	11	Matthew McConaughey	Dixie Chicks	February 8, 2003 (2003-02-08)
537	12	Jennifer Garner	Beck	February 15, 2003 (2003-02-15)
538	13	Christopher Walken	Foo Fighters	February 22, 2003 (2003-02-22)
539	14	Queen Latifah	Ms. Dynamite	March 8, 2003 (2003-03-08)
540	15	Salma Hayek	Christina Aguilera	March 15, 2003 (2003-03-15)
541	16	Bernie Mac	Good Charlotte	April 5, 2003 (2003-04-05)
542	17	Ray Romano	Zwan	April 12, 2003 (2003-04-12)
543	18	Ashton Kutcher	50 Cent	May 3, 2003 (2003-05-03)
544	19	Adrien Brody	Sean Paul Wayne Wonder	May 10, 2003 (2003-05-10)
545	20	Dan Aykroyd	Beyoncé	May 17, 2003 (2003-05-17)

Specials

Title	Original air date
"The Best of Will Ferrell"	September 28, 2002 (2002-09-28)
"SNL Christmas 2002"	December 17, 2002 (2002-12-17)
Weekend Update Halftime Special	January 26, 2003 (2003-01-26)