SNL Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[chas speed]

It seems like if that were the reason they could just kill the sound and show a few seconds of the bumper.

 

[Corey3rd]

but then someone would complain that they still weren't complete.

 

[David Rain]

Hmm . . . wouldn't that instrumental music have been written especially for the show ? And even if they have dropped them because of the music then they should definitely have showed the bumpers and just killed the background music.

And now it will officially hit the fan as everyone goes apes*it over the missing bumpers - again. It's still a big thumbs way up for me on this release despite my mild disappointment.

How come no one's jumping up and down for joy about the fact that they supposedly cleared all the musical performances ? Now that's a miracle.

 

[Ethan Riley]

David; it seems to me that they almost always played their own music during those bumpers. I can't even recall any specific incidents where they did not.

As for the dress rehearsals; I have no idea when they started recording them. Maybe since Day One. What I am hoping, at some date, is that they actually release some of the rehearsal sketches that never made it on to the air at all. There's got to be dozens of unaired sketches sitting in a vault somewhere. They're probably not the greatest sketches on earth; the point is, we've never seen them. And some of them star actors who are no longer with us. I think SNL probably has enough unaired stuff to fit into its own dvd set.

 

[Corey3rd]

while the band played live, the music wasn't original compositions for the show. so they would have to pay for the publishing - which would be another 150 plus songs per season they'd have to pay for.

 

[Mark Y]

It definitely was repeated on NBC, I believe some time in the early 1980s...probably in the "in between" period between the Doumainian and Ebersol "regimes." That's what I seem to remember, anyway. If not, shortly afterward. I used to have an audio tape of it from back then. It may have been repeated on a Friday night preempting "SCTV."

That's the only time I ever saw it.

 

[bjdwsm]

They used a lot of the same cues over and over. I've seen the archive recordings of the network feed with the minute-long bumpers instead of local ads and they had a tendency to play "That's The Way of the World", "Peaches En Regalia", and "Move On Up" a lot in those old shows (and by the end of the second season Stevie Wonder's "Contusion" makes it into the mix). I doubt the minute long bumpers would make it but if they left all the bumpers in, they'd only be a few seconds long with either the last few notes or complete silence.

Here's a list of things I'm wondering about:
-more "next week" segments...there's a funny one with Gilda and Eric Idle promoting his October show but I hope they leave in the more straightahead ones with as well (just like the last set).
-the "alternate" cold opening to Eric Idle/Joe Cocker which is more of a promo for Mardi Gras (Eric arrives in New Orleans because he thinks he's hosting the show again).
-KLOG DJ sketch: I wonder how they'll get around the "Stairway to Heaven" clip (basically just the line "If there's a bustle in your..."
-it'd be nice to get the live broadcast versions of every episode...they cheated with a few rerun versions in the first few discs of the first season, specifically Reiner, Bergen (which shoehorned the stuff cut from reruns in), Klein, and Pryor.
-some of the master recordings from this season have pretty weak video quality...Ralph Nader and Fran Tarkenton in particular. I wonder how much can be done with those tapes. The finale also has an audio issue similar to the Candice Bergen Christmas show in season 1

 

[Bill Robertson]

Hey Ben, can you enlighten me about the audio issue you mention on the Candice Bergen Christmas show?

 

[bjdwsm]

For some reason, the sound on the master recording is weaker and tinny-sounding, like it was coming from an AM radio. Even when material from this episode is used in compilations you can tell the sound's not as good as even the other episodes in the season.

 

[Bill Robertson]

Can't say I'd noticed it before. Will have to go back and check now Maybe I'd just written it off like the video quality as being a product of its time and the way the show was put together.

 

[Ethan Riley]

I don't have my SNL reference books in front of me, but I seem to recall there was a reason that the Bergen Christmas episode sounded that way; wasn't that one of the episodes where they'd been kicked out of their own studio and into a crappier one?? Maybe we discussed it in the season 1 thread.


I have absolutely no memory of those Idle bits! I really hope they include them, along with his "strip tease" interstitials. Not because I want to see Eric Idle naked (lol) but because those photos are so often a part of the comedy...they're a part of the show. I really missed them from the season one box. If it's a music clearance problem, then I will put up with it if they just replace the music (ducks) or show them over silence. I admit to almost complete ignorance of whatever songs they were playing thru the bumpers. "Peaches en Regalia???" Too cool! I always just assumed they were playing Howard Shore's compositions.

 

[Brian Himes]

Just saw that the Mardi Gras special will be included. Cool. Looks like season 2 will be totally complete.

 

[AnthonyC]

Not that it's a big deal, but I'm surprised that Bill Murray's screen test isn't included.

 

[Cheetah]

We won't know for sure until the set is released. This set won't be complete unless they use the live version for every episode, they don't cut any segments that re-aired and all the bumpers are included. I'll gladly take the photography with the music muted if licensing rights possibly contributed to the mess made of season one.

 

[Jeff_CusBlues]

You don't trust Gord?

 

[Cheetah]

Just because we know that all 22 episodes and the Mardi Gras special will be included doesn't confirm that this set will be complete. That still remains to be seen as was proven with season one.

 

[TravisR]

Donald, given your posts about the S1 set, I think you're going to find something to complain about with the S2 set.

 

[Cheetah]

If the episodes are presented exactly as advertised...uncut episodes in their original 90-minute versions, with all original music and guests...then their should be nothing to complain about.

 

[David Rain]

Oh, somebody will find something to complain about.

 

[AnthonyC]

Why does the Laraine Newman disc have a blue background? Belushi already has the blue background, and even though it's a little darker, it's still the only repeat color! This is an abomination!!!