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

Gord Lacey

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They were working on this set for much longer than 6 weeks. I knew about the thing in early 2006, and it came out in late 2006. I don't know where they got the 6 weeks thing from, but it wasn't from anyone who worked on the DVDs at Broadway.

Gord
 

Krister_

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Hi guys,

I think I have some good news to you but I am sorry if you already knew this but according to Digital Bits Saturday Night Live Season 2 will be released in August but once again I am sorry if you already knew this
 

Marvin

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I've watched about 6 episodes so far. I like the Albert Brooks films though it's surprising that they repeat some of these (and also some commercials) from week to week.

One thing I can't stand are the Muppets skits - and they're basically all about the same anyway. I groan every time they come on. Do these go on all through the first season?
 

AnthonyC

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I've finished most of the first season and yeah, the Muppets are in almost every episode. They're not too bad when the cast/host gets involved.

The Albert Brooks stuff is probably my least favorite recurring part of season 1. The heart surgery one goes on forever.
 

Jeff#

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You'll be glad to know that The Muppets sketches are discontinued later in the season, and their roles are reduced to some banter with the regular cast and guest hosts. This was all intentionally done because muppeteers Jim Henson and Frank Oz left SNL to start The Muppet Show for syndication in 1976, which they did for 5 years in addition to their work for PBS on Sesame Street.

Albert Brooks was gone even before the end of the first year of SNL, and he was immediately replaced by filmmaker Gary Weis.
 

Bill Robertson

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Is it a reflection of our times and the way that TV shows are presented today that the pacing of these early shows seems slow? The sketches feel long compared to more recent examples, the muppet skits and Albert Brooks films seem to last an age a times (the heart surgery one was a nice concept but it felt drawn out to interminable length).

Its quite a contrast to today - the last time I was in the USA (October 2006) I found watching TV there incredibly frustrating due to the huge volume of commercials during the shows (even while the show was on I noticed - ads for "coming next on..." kept popping up on screen - very distracting) which made for a very fragmentary viewing experience as it was difficult to stay focused on a show when it was interrupted so frequently.
 

Mike Frezon

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Amen, brother. It seems as if hooking the viewer to stay on their channel for another few minutes with a loud, garish tease is much more important than actually presenting a quality, viewable product (which would want them to come back later).
 

Jeff#

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Long sketches have remained an element of Saturday Night Live during its 32 years on the air, and that timing hasn't changed any more than there being too many commericial breaks. The advantage to a long show like this is that those breaks are mostly 2 minutes long and there is a quick 1 minute break at approximately 1:17 AM, and those things also have been consistent over the years.

However, there have always been some in between that are at a more reasonabe length. It varies between each show depending on what the writers come up with, and sometimes they love their own material so much that they can't find it in themselves to cut things out. :)
 

Jeff#

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Albert Brooks is a brilliant comedian, which he proved even a few years before SNL when he got to do his stand-up a few times on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1970 and 1971.

His films in Saturday Night Live's first season were much funnier than anything Gary Weis ever did. The problem is that NBC didn't give Lorne Michaels a huge budget in those early shows, so Brooks had to use 16mm film. That's why the visual quality was rather poor even for that time.
 

Bill Robertson

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The quality of film stock isn't an issue. Funny is funny no matter how you dress it up. I thought the heart surgery skit was amusing but not outstanding. By contrast, the one in the Richard Pryor episode where he is in bed sick was just dull.

Different strokes for different folks perhaps? For the record, I like Albert Brooks (did anyone ever see that film he did with Meryl Streep, "Defending your life"?) he's a clever and witty guy but the films he did for SNL are hit or miss.
 

Bill Robertson

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I would agree with that. Some sketches seem dragged out for that very reason as the initial funny gag is milked for all its worth.
 

SilverWook

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The Muppets show up in the season two premiere. 16mm can look quite nice when transferred properly. Whatever telecine NBC was using for SNL at the time seems to have involved aiming an ancient 1960's studio camera at a piece of cardboard taped to a wall. :laugh:
 

Cheetah

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I don't know what you mean when you say the advantage to a long show like this is that those breaks are mostly 2 minutes long. In the end there are still 24 minutes of ad time to air per episode. In fact, up until recent years late night was disadvantaged over prime time with more ads in comparison. Only in the past several TV seasons has prime time begun to show 8 minutes of ads per half hour, something that SNL had always endured. During SNL's first season there were at least 2 or maybe 2.5 fewer minutes of commercial time per half hour for prime time shows.

I am not sure what "quick 1 minute break at 1:17 AM" your are referring? Often during that time in any given episode we are in the middle of WU, in a 2 minute plus commercial break leading up to WU, or less likely but still possible a commercial block of at least two minutes after WU. Maybe you are referring to the commercial time after the short WU teasers that ran in 78-79, but even then I think they had more than one minute of ads before WU actually began.

With regards to the show as it has aired over the past couple of years, they have rejigged the placement of ads where there now are fewer commercial breaks and more ads per break. It is now common to see three minute commercial breaks. As a result there are 8 bumpers per episode over the past couple of seasons instead of the previous standard of 9 from the other 30 years.
 

Jeff#

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Yes, they did that with Weekend Update then as they do now. The difference was that back then (I'm thinking the post Chevy-seasons), Jane Curtain would give us a news preview before the second of two back-to-back 2 minute commercial breaks. In the many years since, those breaks would continue but without a preview.

That one minute break at around 1:17 (I think I've seen it come as early as 1:08 a few times) has nothing to do with Weekend Update though, because the WU segment has long begun to air between 12:35 and 12:50.
 

Cheetah

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Jeff#Yes, they did that with Weekend Update then as they do now. The difference was that back then (I'm thinking the post Chevy-seasons), Jane Curtain would give us a news preview before the second of two back-to-back 2 minute commercial breaks. In the many years since, those breaks would continue but without a preview.

Exactly, each block was two minutes or both sides of the WU teaser and not one minute.


Jeff#That one minute break at around 1:17 (I think I've seen it come as early as 1:08 a few times) has nothing to do with Weekend Update though, because the WU segment has long begun to air between 12:35 and 12:50.

I don't know what SNL you are watching, but WU never airs between 12:35 and 12:50. On the early 80's CC reruns they sometimes move WU (actually called Newsbreak during Ebersol's era) down to the last third of the show, but that is not the way it aired live. Occasionally it may spill over into the first few minutes of the last half hour, but most of the time it begins and ends between 12:00 and 12:30.

By the way, I have an error to correct on my part. While the current version of the show has one fewer bumper after commercial breaks, there are actually still 9 per show. That is because one of them now appears after the musical guest's second number and it is almost always a photo of the MG.
 

Jeff#

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At this point we're really drawing at straws, because the number of commercial breaks isn't an issue anymore than the length of each break if you record the show for viewing the next morning as I do. ;)
 

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