SNL Season 2 - Page 5

Jon Martin · 04-29-2008, 11:03 AM

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Originally Posted by Mark Y

Okay, great...so, "Things We Did Last Summer" is coming out...the Bob & Ray and (especially) "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" seem like appropriate bonus material -- especially the latter since, as you mentioned, it pretty much is a reunion show, done live from 8H with the bulk of the original cast. (They'll probably need to add some enticements to a Season 5 set, since Aykroyd is absent and Belushi only appears in one show.) And Broadway Video owns all these, correct? I'd like to add "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" to the list too.

Yes, MR MIKE would be a great addition. Broadway owns it, and released it to VHS via Pacific Arts like THINGS WE DID.

There was another spin off of sorts in the 70's. There was an original movie that aired in the SNL time slot in the late 70's. I forgot the title, but during one of the NBC late night reairings of a 70's SNL episode in the mid 90's, they even replayed the promo for it as playing the next week. I think NBC must have thought it was a joke, but soon after that, I saw the VHS of that film (also released by Broadway and Pacific Arts) in the used section of one of my video stores.

Cheetah · 05-01-2008, 12:12 AM

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(PS -- I've been working my way through the shows sequentially, and I've just gotten into the first disc of Season 2. I don't mean to whine about the "bumper controversy" again, but I just wanna say that the overdubbed "smattering of applause" they've added to cover the breaks gets more and more irritating to me every time -- this is a completely separate issue from the bumpers themselves. But it also was weird hearing Richard Pryor making reference to them, saying that the people in the bumpers we've been seeing throughout the show -- which of course, we're NOT seeing -- were members of his family.)

Well I never chimed on this issue for sometime but I thought I would after reading this.

This is really not a separate issue. If it were not for the fake transitions then the bumpers would probably be included. It is a real shame they were cut and as this trend continues there is an ever growing amount of content cut from this series. With 8 cut per episode X 24 episodes + at least one that was substituted for a fake one that never aired on the show that equals 193. Now granted that some were repeated, but that is still content from the shows regardless. If each one were given say 5 seconds, then that is approximately 16 minutes of cut material. At this rate, by the time season four is released that will of course add up to around an hour. This is all for a pathetic attempt to improve the flow and to hell with the original broadcast format. Improve the flow for whom? Obviously not for anyone that really wants these shows originally as aired in their entirety. Perhaps for those with ADD, but who knows.

Perhaps it might be a case of “out of sight out of mind” for some of those who are not really bothered by how these DVDs are edited. I have begun working on a DVD to include all of the bumpers I have from my recordings off of television broadcasts from various sources. In seeing all of them it’s really disgraceful what was chopped up. In reference to the last one that was substituted on Carlin for example, that was of a purple tinted sunset with a view of the Statue of Liberty off in the horizon. It not only evokes emotion but it is also extremely fitting and appropriate with “Saturday Night” placed near the bottom.

In reading posts made by at least a couple of people in this thread who sounded disappointed that they never got the “collectible booklet”, I wonder how many of those people are just as disappointed over the fact that photos aired from the original broadcasts are also missing. Sure the collections of random photos are nice to have. However it is extremely strange that while Universal promotes these booklets in the sale of the sets, the official photography from the episodes (which is actually superior) was declared expendable. If it would mean getting the bumpers on the episodes I would give my booklets away in a flash.

For anyone who is even a little bothered by how these DVDs have been edited but didn’t feel strongly enough about it to write a letter, then perhaps you could at least send off an e-mail.

Here is the link to Lorne Michaels website from within nbc.com.
lornemichaels.com

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I also hope they leave all the Weekend Update teasers.

I obviously hope they are included also, but with how these shows are edited they may seem a bit awkward. They of course were placed between a block of commercials to keep the viewers tuned in. To follow each teaser with more fake applause as if the show never had commercials will be ridiculous.

Another thing that would be really great to include are the promos that appear on the Thursday and Friday nights during the week of a live show. As with the bumpers, their format is very unique to SNL. They help even further to take you back to the time when these episodes originally aired. Here is one with Roseanne Roseannadanna for the O.J. Simpson episode. The promo is about 2.5 minutes in.

YouTube - WMAQ Channel 5 - "Quark" (Ending & Break, 1978)

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There was another spin off of sorts in the 70's. There was an original movie that aired in the SNL time slot in the late 70's. I forgot the title, but during one of the NBC late night reairings of a 70's SNL episode in the mid 90's, they even replayed the promo for it as playing the next week. I think NBC must have thought it was a joke, but soon after that, I saw the VHS of that film (also released by Broadway and Pacific Arts) in the used section of one of my video stores.

I think you are referring to “Diary of a Young Comic”.

Amazon.com: Diary of a Young Comic - Richard Lewis: Richard Lewis,Stacey Keach,Dom De Luise,Bill Macy,George Jessel: Video

I saw that promo also and may still have it on tape. The special originally aired February 3, 1979, the week after Michael Palin / The Doobie Brothers. It says in the description that it was directed by Gary Weis and “was first offered to the world as a one-shot replacement for SNL in 1979.”

Mark Y · 05-01-2008, 09:45 AM

I know this is beyond trivial, but I remember watching "The Best Of Saturday Night Live" during Season 5 (1979-1980). As I recall, that started with a couple of prime-time specials the previous year (1978-1979). Then in the fall of 1979, they had a weekly series of one-hour "best of" shows (sometimes, as in the case of the Elliott Gould show, 90 minutes). It aired Wednesday nights at 9:00 (Central) and was later moved to Fridays (or maybe the other way around). Earlier in the run, the show would have one main host (like the regular live show) and for instance, if it was Steve Martin, they'd usually combine segments from more than one episode, so you'd have all eight of the "main" cast members including Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. The opening montage was like the Season 4-5 opening, but only one shot of each cast member (rather than two like in the regular opening) with Chase added. The closing was cross-faded after the "goodnights" and used a bunch of Edie Baskin photos (like the guy playing pinball, etc., or sometimes pics of that week's host). I remember for the Michael Palin episode, since it included the entire "Miles Copperwaithe," they used stuff from two different Palin episodes so Chevy Chase didn't appear that week. Later in the season, they stopped having one main "guest host" and it would just say: Starring Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, etc. and then after the cast and musical guest, Don Pardo would say, for example, "and special guests Elliott Gould and Rick Nelson." They used the Season 4-5 intro on these shows, even after the opening montage was changed in the new Season 5 shows...I remember some very recent skits being reused in some of these shows which had just aired in new Season 5 shows.

Specific guest hosts I personally remember: Steve Martin, Elliott Gould, Fran Tarkenton, Michael Palin, Candice Bergen (for the Christmas show), Jill Clayburgh, (I think) Richard Pryor (this one was aired just after the real-life incident where he got burned up from smoking in bed, at least I think I recall that).

Completely inconsequential, I know. But I wonder if Lorne Michaels/Broadway Video saved a set of these shows? (As far as I know, each one only aired once.)

bjdwsm · 05-07-2008, 10:27 PM

Has anyone received any advanced copies? I'm curious about how intact the episodes are.

texboil · 05-09-2008, 04:27 PM

I saw a review in the Tuscon Weekly of all places. Mentions a Belushi wardrobe test and the Summer special.

Don't seek out the review if you're a Garrett Morris fan.

AnthonyC · 05-09-2008, 05:37 PM

I'm still looking for a good review that details what's included and what isn't...although I did find the chapter list at bn.com.

Stephen Wight · 05-09-2008, 09:07 PM

Sitcomsonline.com has a review posted.

Mark Y · 05-11-2008, 12:24 PM

Just got this set last night, and obviously I have not had a chance to watch everything, but kind of skimmed through it and watched a couple shows. A few things to mention:

The season premiere episode with Steve Martin (Show #47, 9/24/77) has a repeat of the second "Beatles Offer" from Season 1 inserted. I looked at a couple different sites that list the skits in each show and they don't list this for that episode (if I recall correctly, it originally aired in the Raquel Welch episode from Season 1 -- this is the second offer, where Lorne Michaels raises the fee to $3200). My specifics might not be 100% correct on that. I didn't notice anything missing from that episode, but haven't gone over everything with a fine-tooth comb (yet).

The Weekend Update teasers are included!

Todd is called "Todd La Bounta" at least once (not muted) in the science fair skit in show #64 (again hosted by Steve Martin, 4/22/78).

Having watched all of Season 1 and most of Season 2 in sequence...this is starting to look like the SNL I remember, but one thing kind of jumped out at me for the first time, and that is that right at the top of Season 3, now all of a sudden this seems like a big-time rock & roll arena show, where before, it was kind of like "our hip little secret" for viewers who had found the show. The cast really does seem to gel and they do seem to be hitting their stride, but now the audience is going crazy, whooping it up when the Festrunk Brothers come out, etc. I imagine for the cast, on one hand that must have been very gratifying, while possibly being annoying at the same time. I've read stuff about how things changed for them once they became "stars," but it's weird how I never picked up on the energy inside that studio being exchanged between the cast and the audience, until now. (When I was watching the show originally, I came into it part way through the third season, and at that point, they would do three live shows a month and take a week off, where they'd usually have a rerun of an earlier show. So maybe I never noticed the "shift," as it were, because I hadn't seen all these shows in their original context.)

Anyway, sorry for rambling. I'm also impressed with how consistently good the material is...every skit is not a classic, but given that these people were doing a live 90-minute show three times a month, it's remarkably consistent. I appreciate even more now the things like "Theodoric Of York," which are period pieces and assume the viewer has at least some knowledge or awareness of history. They didn't "dumb it down" or play down to a audience (well, not too much, anyway), and I have to respect them for that.

bjdwsm · 05-12-2008, 01:36 AM

Did the end credit sequence of the first show have a Don Pardo voiceover? I know the Beatles repeat offer showed up in the rerun version of the show (Kromega and Royal Deluxe don't appear at all though, and Acid Generation from the next episode is edited in).

Mark Y · 05-12-2008, 01:00 PM

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Originally Posted by bjdwsm

Did the end credit sequence of the first show have a Don Pardo voiceover? I know the Beatles repeat offer showed up in the rerun version of the show (Kromega and Royal Deluxe don't appear at all though, and Acid Generation from the next episode is edited in).

I'll have to watch it again, but I am pretty sure I remember Don Pardo's voice-over being on there. Both Kromega and Royal Deluxe II are in the Steve Martin episode. The Acid Generation film is in the following episode, with Madeline Kahn.

These lists on the internet...like Frank Serpas' list and so forth...what are they based on? I notice sometimes a discrepancy in a show's running order and so forth...I'm learning a lot of stuff about these shows I didn't know before. I never realized so much tampering had been done to the reruns on NBC (I thought they had reserved most of that for the syndicated reruns).

bjdwsm · 05-12-2008, 03:40 PM

Most of the episode guides are based on a combination of tape listings (live if available) and other notes. The versions of Steve Martin / Jackson Browne show that ran in the last 10-11 years were all from a fall 1978 repeat broadcast, and while the original show content was listed in the other notes the rundown order was not included there.