How ‘SNL’ nearly got canceled during this ‘f – – k up’ season — that Tom Hanks called ‘painfully obvious’

Live from New York, it almost got canceled. 

“Saturday Night Live” is a TV institution, currently in its landmark Season 50 – but the Peacock documentary “SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night” reveals how the show nearly died during its disastrous Season 11, which aired from 1985 to 1986. 

“That eleventh year was probably the biggest risk,” Tom Hanks, who was a host that season, said onscreen in the documentary (which premieres Jan. 16). 

Hanks is among the exclusive group of “SNL” hosts who have returned to the show 10 times or more. The “Forrest Gump” star’s inaugural “SNL” episode was Dec. 14, 1985, during the notorious Season 11.

“The division between what worked and what didn’t work – that was painfully obvious,” Hanks said of his first time hosting the show.

Why was Season 11 sometimes called “the weird year?”