What's new

Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News? (1 Viewer)

David Rain

Screenwriter
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
1,165
Real Name
Dave
Money talks, folks. The Eddie Murphy years would likely be big sellers. Not everyone is old enough to have seen the first five seasons when they originally aired. A lot of people discovered the show in the '80's and those are the seasons that mean the most to them.

I'll buy any of the good quality seasons that are released regardless of what order that happens in. But if Lorne and company ignore the '80's seasons (which there seems to be NO real proof of) then they are idiots and will prove that they are not concerned about what the fans truly want. What the most devoted fans want is most (if not all) of the seasons released.
 

wh5916

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 26, 2007
Messages
62
Real Name
William Hicks

The first Eberson produced program wasn't that great, for the most part...though I did enjoy the first segment featuring Chevy Chase and Mr. Bill, of all characters. Another highlight was a commentary by Al Franken during Weekend Update, in which he urged viewers to send in "Put SNL to Sleep" postcards to NBC. He also did note that he'd be hosting the program the following week (which, of course, never happened) and encouraged viewers to watch that episode...but to stop watching after that.
 

Mike*SC

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
Messages
260
I would not take it as any sort of sure thing that Eddie Murphy seasons would be big sellers. The sorts of people who buy full seasons of a television series are more collectors of a favorite series than fans of a specific actor. There is a "best of" Murphy SNL DVD that appeals to those fans. The first five seasons with the original cast have always had a certain cachet, regardless of the age of those of us who saw those episodes live, and regardless of whether those seasons were consistently better than later years (I would contend that novelty trumped actual quality quite often in those early years).

I'm always suspicious of people who declare on the internet that this or that is "what fans want." "Fans" always seems to simply mean "I." Only the most obsessive completists will really buy 34 (and counting) full season sets of a television series. Very few people have the time, money, and space to devote to such a collection. I certainly would not, though I have bought the four seasons released thus far. I am not claiming to speak for anybody but myself, and I certainly hope people who want it all are somehow able to get it. But I don't really see that as being especially realistic.
 

FrankNolan

Agent
Joined
May 25, 2008
Messages
29
Real Name
Shawn

What rerun packages are you talking about? Comedy Central used to show reruns of the Ebersol shows quite a bit. They even showed Doumanian-produced episodes. Over time, they dropped these and started running mostly '90s shows. From what I understand, E! owns the rights to the entire SNL canon now and could conceivably air shows from any decade, but they, being E!, prefer to run only the shows that Britney Spears hosted. Lorne's preferences have nothing to do with that.
 

GuruAskew

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2001
Messages
2,069

I don't know if SNL still does the full 90-minute reruns late on Saturday nights but as of a couple years ago they were airing full episodes as far back as Season 1 and the best way to describe what was part of these reruns would be to say if it was after Bill Murray left and before Phil Hartman joined you wouldn't see those episodes.

Growing up (I was born in '81) Nick at Nite and Comedy Central would air stuff from the first five seasons (it was mostly NaN that did this, I believe they were edited down to 30 minutes) and I remember seeing stuff from the Billy Crystal season occasionally but none of that has been part of the reruns since '92 or so. I don't think I've ever seen any Eddie Murphy stuff on television that isn't on his Best-Of special since then either, and even then it would pretty much be limited to Murphy with Crystal.

As for what E! airs, I'm guessing it's a situation where Broadway Video has this same package of reruns with certain eras removed at the behest of Lorne Michaels and then E! simply chooses to run only super-recent episodes. It's probably a situation where E! could air a Belushi-era episode but not a Murphy-era episode but simply chooses to only air something from the last 5 years or so.
 

Corey3rd

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
1,728
Real Name
Joe Corey
If they're smart, Universal will just put together mega-sets of performers pulling out their best sketches. Make it a 4 DVD set - not merely the 75 minute specials that were put out on DVD.
 

paste

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
59
Real Name
David

Unfortunately, they stopped airing the late night reruns a few years back to make room for some poker show.


During the 8 year run of late night reruns, they did show several episodes from the Ebersol years, as well as most of the episodes from the first year Lorne came back (1985), when they had a bunch of actors (Quaid, Cusack, Downey Jr, etc...) in the cast. Except for one episode, they did ignore the 1980 season.
 

Andrew Radke

Screenwriter
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
1,258
Location
Guelph, Ontario - Canada
Real Name
Andrew Radke
I remember watching those late night re-runs on NBC which aired at 3:30 to 5:00 am. And Paste is right, a lot of the Ebersol era shows did air during those reruns. They definitely jumped around from week to week though jumping from one era to another and then back again.
 

FrankNolan

Agent
Joined
May 25, 2008
Messages
29
Real Name
Shawn

From what I read at the time (2002-ish), E! was sold the entire SNL library. Basically everything, including some shows that had been blocked (by Lorne) from reruns before (eg. the Milton Berle show, which they reportedly aired once). Initially, they were only allowed to run shows from the first five years. So they ran those for a year and then when granted rights to everything else, they jumped straight to the Will Ferrell era and pretty much never looked back.
 

David Rain

Screenwriter
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
1,165
Real Name
Dave
No, we don't want mega-sets or compliations or so-called "best ofs". We want full, complete seasons like we've been getting!

Don't drop your standards, kids. We've put up with badly-compiled corporate bullshit product for years. Enough already.
 

Powell&Pressburger

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
1,820
Location
MPLS, MN
Real Name
Jack
There doesn't seem to be any love for Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, or Nora Dunn years at all those were glorious. You also had Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz among others. I want those seasons so bad. I loved the Kirstie Alley, Delta Burke episodes, and the Rick Moranis one with Nora Dunn as Leona Helmsly (did I spell that right?) and who played Zsa Zsa I forget lol

also with Jan Hooks and Nora Dun you get the vocal stylings of the Sweeney Sisters!
 

Andrew Radke

Screenwriter
Joined
May 8, 2003
Messages
1,258
Location
Guelph, Ontario - Canada
Real Name
Andrew Radke
Oh trust me, there's love for that era. That was the cast that introduced me to Saturday Night Live in the late 80's, and I most definitely want to own them...........but not at the expense of losing the era which preceded it.
 

vekster

Auditioning
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2
Real Name
Kevin
I was young when the early years of SNL were on and I too have fond memories of sketches involving Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo. I even liked Mary Gross as Alphalpha. There were a lot of good sketches in the 1980-85 seasons. To act like it didn't exist and not release it just because you didn't have your hand in it is like forgetting you past. Sure there were some ugly times but that is what is cool about collecting. It is neat seeing things that you have not seen in years that brought you laughter and being able to appreciate all of the aspects of the show.

I recall Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., Julia Louis Dreyfuss. I really liked the 1985 cast and I really want that season. Since that was the only year with this combination of actors, it is even more desirable to me.

I really hope they don't thumb their nose at these years and not release them. I think that would be a dis-service to the fans of the show.
 

RyanAn

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 5, 2004
Messages
1,523
I've watched repeat episodes on E! and Comedy Central adnausem when they used to air with a smile on my face. Nowadays E! seems to only reair about 6 or 7 episodes in extremely high rotation: Jennifer Anniston with Black Eyed Peas, 2 different Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and two different Britney Spears. I assume they use those episodes because of the female starpower but it's enough to make me hate those episodes. I've seem them way to much and am dying for OTHER classic episodes!

I'd love for them to release a classic season and a recent season every year. NBC, I'm willing to give you my money - I wish you'd listen up. And Broadway Video, please lease out more episodes!
 

David Rain

Screenwriter
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
1,165
Real Name
Dave
I'd be OK with a classic and a current release each year. I'd simply avoid the more current seasons cause I don't think the show's been that great in recent years compared to how it used to be. The women on the show, however, still rock. They always have.
 

vekster

Auditioning
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
2
Real Name
Kevin
I think that would be a great idea as well. Release two each year; stick to the the order of seasons with the "classic" and then pick a season that is more current. That would satisfy a great deal of people I would think.

Aybody have any more news on what the deal will be for this year? I'm guessing it will be a December release to hit the Christmas selling season. I'm just hoping it will be two and not just one.
 

RocketReport80

Auditioning
Joined
Aug 17, 2009
Messages
1
Real Name
Dave
Saturday Night Live Showcases

Television History


Saturday Night Live is too important of a television time capsule to skip any seasons and three seasons should be released each year.

Seasons One through Four have had collectors buzzing but the editing out of most of the original bumpers sucks--why?


Once Blu-ray releases replace DVD, the issue of editing material because of disc time constraints will disappear.

The original bumpers gave the older episodes their classic flavor with the short blast of music and various funny pictures.


Season Five will be somewhat of a letdown for John Belushi fans but give it a chance--many great sketches and musical guests.

Season Six is not widely known by most Saturday Night Live Fans as re-runs of these thirteen episodes are rarely seen anywhere.


Season Six is one of my favorites as the debut of a new cast made for different material and interesting musical guests too.

I simply cannot wait to see the entire runs of seasons five and six...let alone seven, eight, nine, and ten!

Still no clue as to when season five will show up in stores but I will be there the first day to get my copy!


Take Care My Fellow Saturday Night Live Fans!!!!!

[Font reduced from x-large by moderator. No need to "shout".]
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,810
Messages
5,123,567
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top