Saturday Night Live aired its twenty-ninth season during the 2003–04 television season on NBC. The twenty-ninth season began on October 4, 2003 and ended on May 15, 2004 with 20 episodes in all. Before the start of the season Chris Kattan and Tracy Morgan left the show and Dean Edwards was fired. Despite Kattan and Morgan's departure, the two would make guest appearances in several episodes throughout the season. Before the season started, Will Forte, Seth Meyers and Jeff Richards were all promoted to repertory status, while Fred Armisen remained a featured player. The show added two new African-American cast members: stand-up comedian Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson, a former child star from the Nickelodeon comedy shows All That and Kenan and Kel. With this season, Thompson becomes the first SNL cast member to be born after the show's premiere in 1975 (Thompson was born in 1978) and the first SNL cast member to get his start on children's shows. This season saw the first appearance of Justin Timberlake as an SNL host (while critics and SNL director Beth McCarthy-Miller have praised Timberlake as a good host, he would not be popular with the show until his second appearance in season 32). This is the final season for Jeff Richards (who quit mid-season over creative differences) and Jimmy Fallon (who decided to leave the show after the final episode). This season also marked the debut of a brand new stage for the host's monologue and the musical guest performing stage. Instead of the wrought-iron fire escape motif with the blinking "ON AIR" light, the stages are now modeled after Grand Central Terminal (right down to the spherical clock).