Jean Doumanian

Jean Doumanian (born 1942) is an American stage, television and film producer. She briefly produced Saturday Night Live, between November 1980 and March 1981.

Doumanian was born Jean Karabas to Greek immigrant parents, who raised her in Chicago. She received her last name from her ex-husband, Armenian-American John Doumanian.

Show creator Lorne Michaels resigned as producer of Saturday Night Live at the end of its fifth season and the entire cast and writing staff followed, with the exception of writer Brian Doyle-Murray. Doumanian, who had been an associate producer during the first five seasons of the show and produced a special for Michaels in 1978, was one of the few who remained. She was offered Michaels' job running SNL, much to Michaels' surprise, and took over the show for the 1980 season, hiring a completely new cast and new writers.

Doumanian's tenure as SNL executive producer was a tumultuous one. She hired Denny Dillon, Gilbert Gottfried, Gail Matthius, Joe Piscopo, Ann Risley and Charles Rocket as repertory players, and Yvonne Hudson, Matthew Laurance and Patrick Weathers as featured players. Then-unknown Eddie Murphy would join the show as a featured player on the fourth episode and was upgraded to repertory status on January 24, 1981. With its team of all-new writers and cast members, the show was plagued with problems from the start of the season and deemed a commercial disappointment, and suffered from competition with ABC's new weekend show, Fridays, budget cuts, and a lack of support that was promised to Doumanian from her staff and the network.

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