SNL Season 1 on 12/5/06 (and season sets in general) (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

Well I'll be damned. And I admit that I was totally wrong a page back.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

I'm Flabbergasted. There I said it.

 

[David Rain]

A Mr. Richard Feder of Fort Lee, New Jersey writes:

I won't believe this for sure until it's released and I read a legitimate review. However, I do think I'm getting the vapors.

 

[David Rain]

Here's a dandy reference guide for anyone who wants to check the original sketch line-ups:

http://snlarc.jt.org/ep/listep.phtml

 

[george kaplan]

If this is indeed intact, I'll be buying it. If it is, that just shows you that it is possible not to cave with music replacement (though in this case it would deletion rather than replacement). Kudos to people who did it right! (even if I do remain somewhat skeptical at this point )

 

[Andrew Radke]

Ok, now I'm officially ecstatic. I only hope these releases aren't limited to only the first 5 years. Mainly because there's something about each era of SNL that I enjoy and would love to own. It may seem like an impossibiility.....but then...... we thought this release would be as well. I guess it's true what they say. Never say never.

All I know is I can't wait to own this. I've never seen the debut episode in its entirety, only the dumbed-down 60 minute version. So this will be a real treat. I don't think I've ever been this excited about a TV-DVD release before!

 

[MarkHastings]

To me, this sounds little different than recording a live performance. They say that the record companies own the recordings and that's what you pay for, but in a live performance, the audio 'recording' isn't owned by the record company. So I think Derek may be right about just having to deal with the publisher and not the record company because SNL is the one who is creating the 'brand new' recording of the song (i.e. they aren't using anything from the record company).

The only reason I thought of this was because of the new SNL music acts and that "Tonights performance was brought to you by Budweiser" - It seems like the music acts are handled differently than licensing a song to play over a visual.

 

[Jeff#]

Well, if you guys want to get this set for the lowest price I suggest Deep Discount DVD. www.deepdiscountdvd.com

I just pre-ordered mine after I discovered it on their website this afternoon. It's only $46.42!! It will only be that low until they get it in stock, at which time they will up it to its regular price (I'm guessing around $60 or close to it). $100 seems to be the actual retail value.

So Columbia House was wrong to say it's 24 hours. Now that we know it's 26+ thanks to Gord, that makes more sense. Hopefully, some of the surviving original cast and crew members from that period did at least a few commentaries and / or interviews for this DVD release.

 

[AnthonyC]

The SRP is $69.95, so I'm guessing most stores will have it for $50 or so the week of release. I really can't wait for this; part of me is thinking that it's so close to Christmas and that I've waited this long...but I know that I'll be reading reviews and drooling over it...


I agree. In fact, as much as I've made it known that I hate that Survivor and The Amazing Race are being released out of order, I actually wouldn't be suprised (or upset) if they did 75-76, then 86-87, 95-96...because someone who is a Dana Carvey or Will Ferrell fan will be waiting forever to get those.

I'm hoping the fact that an episode that Lorne Michaels supposedly hates (Louise Lasser) is being included in its entirety is a sign that he'll actually acknowledge the fact that SNL ran for five years in the early 80s without him too. Even though those seasons aren't held in the highest regard, there's no need to rewrite history and never show them again.

I was just thinking the other day how instead of best-ofs for cast members, they should do two-disc best-ofs by season...this is so much better. Thanks Universal!

 

[Jeff Brooks]

The show where Richard Pryor hosted is worth the price of the whole set. I remember it being one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

 

[WillG]

If it has become possible to get the ball rolling on season releases, I think it would be great if they could do four a year, where each release is one from a "Classic Era" so one for 75-80, one from the Eddie Murphy years one from the Carvey, Hartman years and one from the Ferrell years. That of course, is probably stretching it, but it would be nice.

 

[Jeff#]

Based on what I've been reading these past 2 days, the Louise Lasser show should be there. By the way, during the lame season finale the week after her show with Kris Kristofferson, Kris was actually drunk that night. I didn't really notice it when I watched the show (which I already have on DVD from NBC off-air from earlier this year), but he was.

 

[Michael Alden]

The 5 funny seasons of the show will be great to see released. After that, no thanks.

 

[David Rain]

Those of you who are putting down the later seasons clearly don't realize how terrific they could be. If they're released I'd likely buy all of the seasons with the obvious exception of the infamous 80-81 season. I saw all of those episodes when they were finally released from the vault and syndied. They're pretty bad. But once they cleaned house and brought in Louis-Dreyfus, Gross, Kazurinsky, etc. the show started to get back on it's feet.

The 80's were a fabulous era for SNL and if you haven't given those shows a fair chance then you should.

 

[Andrew Radke]

From wikipedia re: Louise Lasser:

One of the first hosts to be barred from performing again was Louise Lasser, who hosted at the end of the first season on July 24, 1976. Lasser was said to be going through personal problems at the time and was reportedly nearly incoherent throughout the broadcast. Lasser refused to do all skits (except ones where she was by herself or with Chevy Chase), and locked herself in her dressing room just before airtime, coming out just in time to do the opening monologue, although as all this was shown on air with cameras already set up it was presumably planned. This episode was such a disappointment to producer Lorne Michaels that it was also barred from syndication until as late as 2002.

Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Lasser

I really can't wait to see this episode in particular. From what I've read, both in this thread and on the aforementioned site, it sounds like it was quite the controversy. I'm just glad it's being included in the set.

 

[David Rain]

Where exactly is this release listed on the Deep Discount DVD site ? It didn't seem to come up in the search engine. Can someone provide a direct link to the actual page ?

And speaking of the Louise Lasser ep, there was a story that had Lasser been unable to perform, Chevy Chase was prepared to step into her roles wearing a wig. Also, I'm sure everyone already knows this but George Carlin hosted the very first episode stoned. As I'm sure many people watched the first episode in the very same condition.

 

[David Von Pein]

And that's just exactly what the info on the TVShowsOnDVD blurb figures out to -- i.e., 1594 minutes divided by 24 episodes = 66.4 minutes per show. (I assume that time statistic is for only the 24 episodes and probably doesn't include the run time of any bonus supplements.)

The 66-minute stat surprises me. I would have thought a 90-minute show would yield 70 to 73 minutes of material (sans commercials). In 1975, NBC piled 24 minutes of commercials in a 90-minute timeslot?? Sounds high to me. But, I guess not...because Jeff's "66 minute" data is backed up by the Universal blurb (via TVSoDVD), which match exactly to the minute.

Sounds like a good SNL set to be sure. And the "Screen Tests" for all 7 NRFPTP should be very interesting too.

BTW, does anyone know when the official name for SNL switched from "NBC's Saturday Night" to "Saturday Night Live"? Did that occur mid-way through Season 1? Or was it Season 2? And if it was Season 2, I guess the title of the Universal S.1 DVD set ought to be re-titled "NBC's Saturday Night". But that's kind of a minor matter. It'd be better to just make all the seasons "SNL" (assuming additional seasons will be forthcoming).

 

[Carlos Garcia]

What season contained the controversial episode that was hosted by Chevy Chase after he came back to host? Supposedly he couldn't stand Bill Murray and they got into a fist fight backstage before the show. As I recall, either Murray or Chase had bruises on his face during that episode.

 

[David Von Pein]

That's odd that DDD would have it listed at $99 SRP, which is positively wrong. The Universal data shows $69.98 MSRP for it. It'll be $48.99 at Amazon (30% off; just a prediction; but I'll bet I'm right). So the $42 DDD price tag is excellent indeed.

 

[David Von Pein]

http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=DVD001154

If you search for "Saturday Night Live 1", it's the first item that appears on the search page.

But that page is very plain and non-exacting. It doesn't even say the release date (of 12/05/2006) like all other Pre-Order DVDs say. It's probably the 1st-Season release, but I'm a little hesitant to place an order from that page until at least a release date is added. Plus, they've obviously got the MSRP incorrect.