Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

No news yet--I have no doubt we'll see it within the next few months though; I don't think they'll wait all the way to the fall.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Being only three episodes into S4 at this point, I'm in no rush. But obviously I'd love to add it to my collection, although I'm much more concerned about what the next release will be, if there even is one.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I hope season 5 gets released in May,so we could then get the 1980-81 season in December.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I'm sure it will be announced before too long. But devoted SNL fans will tell you that Season 5 was not so hot. However, Jane, Larraine & Gilda got a bit more to do in that season since so many of the guys had left by then.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Personally, I don't care if others think that certain seasons aren't that great.....doesn't matter what TV series it is, there will always be people who will trash a season that isn't well liked....Hell, I've done it myself on occasion. I say release all of them - warts and all. There will always be someone out there who will want them for their collection.

Hope they announce Season 5 soon.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

They need to include that special "Bob & Ray with Jane, Laraine & Gilda" as an extra. Also, season six WAS pretty bad; maybe they can release it as a combo set along with season seven?

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Yes -- even tho the Bob & Ray special aired during Season 4.

But then, so did "Things We Did Last Summer," and they added it to the Season 3 set.

"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" would have made a good extra, but it's already out on its own.

One thing that really should be available is "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever" -- essentially an SNL reunion show, done live from Studio 8H with the majority of the original cast. At least one segment from this special (Festrunk bros. with Belushi as their mom) is included in one of the "Best Of Steve Martin on SNL" DVD compilations (thanks to someone here who tipped me off to that; I had no idea any part of it was available anywhere) -- it's not really a SNL show, but certainly is in spirit.

Of course, it's from 1981 -- so all bets are off on where it would go.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I can't wait until season five is released. I already have the other four seasons, but I can't get the closed captions to work. The back of the box says closed captioned. Is there some sort of Easter Egg I'm not finding?? Has this been addressed before?

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I'm disappointed that Season 5 isn't going to be released in May.I thought that Universal would stick to the schedule of releasing season sets in May and December.Obviously not.I know it's much too early,but should I get concerned if there's going to be a release in December?

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Have you tried the "closed caption" option on your television set? Sometimes that's the only type of caption available on a DVD title.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I just recently started collecting SNL. I bought the first 2 seasons last month and plan on getting 3 and 4 soon. I really, REALLY hope season 5 gets a release. I remember dating back to the first season release, David Lambert had said that in order for subsequent seasons to be released, the first set would have had to sell extremely well. As is the case with most TV/DVDs, subsequent seasons tend to sell less copies than the one before it. Based on that, the struggling economy and the costs incurred to clear the music, I have to wonder if it's enough to justify a 5th season release.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Season 5 is definitely coming from what I understand; I believe Lorne mentioned it in an interview. Beyond that it's pretty certain that the non-Lorne seasons will not be released.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I am anxious to collect them I wish they'd get back to two seasons a year.. otherwise momentum will slow... but I don't mind if they skip the non-Lorne Years.... but I Hope they keep up with special nice hardcase editions when they first come out... I can't wait till we get to the seasons with Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn etc those were great years.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Well I'd like the non-Lorne yes solely because of Eddie Murphy. I remember in the late 80s I had the 'Best Of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live" VHS tape Paramount had put out. I watched it so many times I practically wore it thin. Should they decide to even consider releasing those seasons, they'd have to put either Murphy, Joe Piscopo or Julia Louis-Dreyfuss on the box art. I have a feeling the 'casual' fan won't remember too much about Charles Rocket, Mary Gross or Gary Kroeger.

Also, I know there's been a lot of discussion about the dreaded 80-81 season but I'd still like to see it released. That season after all was Eddie Murphy's debut. And given the quality (or lack thereof) of the season, it can't be much worse than some of the stuff SNL has spewed out in recent years. Just my $0.02.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Plus don't forget the infamous Charles Rocket incident. I think it could sell fairly well. Not only the Eddie Murphy aspect but the musical guest lineup would be a good selling point for that season as well (Prince, James Brown, Cheap Trick). Plus it was only 13-ish episodes so they would probably use a lower price as a selling point.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I don't remember what year Billy Crystal(You look Marvelous), and Martin Short(I must say) started but I want those seasons the most.
I also think it would be unfair to skip a season(80-81) just because it's frowned upon by fans of the show.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Billy Crystal was in the 84-85 season.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I'm primarily a fan of the original show and the '86-'93 seasons, but I'd still like to have the early Eighties on DVD:

'80-'81 - Lots of great music and one great show, hosted by Bill Murray, plus the first Ebersol show, a curiosity that I may have seen on Comedy Central years ago but hardly remember.

'81-'82 -In the first half, some weird Michael O'Donoghue-related stuff that I've read about but still haven't seen (or don't remember).

'82-'83 -The season where Andy Kaufman was banned and Buckwheat was shot.

'83-'84 - The show starts to get legitimately good again, with especially memorable episodes hosted by Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.

'84-'85 - The Crystal/Short/Guest/Shearer season. Classic.

I wonder what the apparent holdup with Season 5 is - clearance issues?

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I'm sure completists would like every season. The problem with releasing the infamous 80-81 season is that if it doesn't sell then that might slow down or even put a stop to future seasons coming out. Releases have to sell for the next one to come out. That's business. No one's going to pay $60 to hear the mildly-talented Charles Rocket say a naughty word.

And the idea that the non-Lorne years shouldn't be released is absurd. Eddie Murphy is arguably the show's most popular performer ever.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

80-81 was such a short season, (only 13 episodes) why not combine it with the following season? (Or sell it alone for less, and put Eddie Murphy on the cover?) Bad rep or not, there's too much history there to just skip over it. And it's not like we ever see these in reruns.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I've always been curious about the first Ebersol show too, which I've never seen a sniff of. As far as I know, the host was Chevy Chase, and the cast was a one-show only mixture of Doumanian's cast who hadn't yet been fired (and of course Piscopo and Murphy) and some people that Ebersol had time to hire. (I believe a month past between Doumanian's last show and Ebersol's first.)

This may be off-topic, but I just read SNL writer Tom Davis's memoir and I was strongly hoping that he was going to touch on this period. Franken and Davis were scheduled to host Ebersol's second show but it was cancelled due to a writer's strike. Davis even has a ticket for the never-aired show on the cover. Anyway, Davis writes about a lot of less-interesting stuff in the book but never mentions his and Franken's very-brief history with the Ebersol years.

The best book about SNL is still Hill and Weingrad's, which came out in 1985 or 1986. Sure wish they'd do a sequel.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

I'm guessing we'll get it around the Holidays.

I'd be willing to bet that the season 3 didn't sell as well as the others due to the Spring release as opposed to the other 3 Holiday releases. A similar thing happened with "Seinfeld", they tried the Spring release once and after that all the releases came out during the holiday season like the first releases.

If they insist on doing it this way I wish they'd at least give us two releases at once to offset the horribly slow release pattern. I've said it before: yearly releases are a bad idea on a show with 30+ seasons. I understand holding releases for the holiday season but releasing 2 or even 3 simultaneously would be a way they could have their cake and eat it too.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Guys, seriously. You are never going to see the Doumanian year on dvd. First of all, Lorne Michaels would never waste his time and energy trying to get it onto dvd. It's got zero stars, zero quality and Lorne had nothing to do with it. The current dvd series is Lorne's baby. You won't see Doumanian's 1/2 season nor will you see much of Dick Ebersol's seasons. You probably won't see Lorne's first year back, which was one of the worst years in the series' history.

What you will see is season five, and probably a year later they'll re-commence, starting around 1986 when the show got back to the business of comedy. Despite the relative merits of the non-Lorne years, they were not his work and he's not going to spend energy getting them onto dvd in their entirety. You will have about a six-year gap in your collections and you're going to have to live with that.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

It may be "Lorne's baby" , but if NBC/Universal WANTS the episodes released,
they'll get released.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Does it feel like they'll do season 5 and then maybe a Best of 80s, Best of 90s and that's it? Then maybe the rest will be on some on demand service later on...

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Actually I believe Lorne Michaels and Broadway Video (his production company) do have approval over the entire run of the series, even the non-Michaels stuff. I could be wrong but as far as I know it's very similar to like a LucasFilm situation where Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros. etc. have rights to release the content but what is release and if/when it is even released in the first place is Lucas's call.

Universal may have the rights to release the non-Michaels stuff but there's a good chance that they are only able to release that after Michaels gives the go-ahead.

Speaking of my theory re: holiday releases, I could see them quietly issuing Doumanian and Ebersol seasons and saving the more-marketable seasons for the Holidays. There is a demand for them (not a huge one) and on top of that you have the inevitable confusion of skipped seasons.

Furthermore, people tuned into SNL back then expecting to see something comparable to what they'd seen before and there may be some money in similar DVD purchases.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

Let's put it this way: Lorne Michaels owns Broadway Video; he also is in charge of the content of any SNL-related product. Always has been. NBC/Universal controls the distribution of his products, but doesn't control the actual content. My theory about the SNL season sets is that the first five years is considered its own little series. Future releases will probably start in 1986, have a more modest trade dress, and be numbered according to year, not "Volume 11, Volume 12," or whatever. This is probably the only way to get away with it. They'll never be able to sell SNL: Season 31 or whatever in that same boxed trade dress...people would have gotten so sick of SNL dvds by then!

I think it only fair that they make the boxes more modest and number them by year. Many people are only fans of a certain era of SNL anyway. I like 75-80 and then not again until about 1991. That's just me. Everybody else has their favorite casts or seasons. They shouldn't have to buy "Volume 17" or whatever to get their favorite Adam Sandler sketches, and therefore feel like they're missing something.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

It still comes down to business. The early 80's Murphy/ Piscopo years were popular and very well-remembered. Everyone involved with these releases would be utterly foolish if they didn't give the royal treatment to these years.

Some of you, for whatever reason, don't seem to like this era or have never seen it and have no idea how good it was. You're pushing your own agenda by saying certain seasons or era could "never be released". In fact, what you're wanting is for them to skip over the seasons that you have no interest in so they can get to your personal favorites.

You're making wild assumptions about entire chunks of the show's history not being released and yet you have nothing to back this up with. To say that only Lorne's years are important or that they are the only ones that are worthy is just plain stupid. Lorne has produced MANY bad eps of SNL. He is not made of gold as so many of you seem to think.

Re: Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News?

AMEN! I personally don't think they'll skip that era. Lorne may have not been involved but for all rights and purposes, it was still SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. You also can't ignore the fact that this era had many, many memorable moments that fans and collectors of the show will want to relive. Most of Eddie Murphy's work on the show is enough reason alone to warrant the release of these sets. Then there's the amazing musical performances from that era. Should they all be discarded for the sole reason that Lorne wasn't involved? I think not. On a retail standpoint, this era has a lot going for it. Aside from the name recognition and star power of Eddie Murphy which would surely drive sales, we have Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. Between 'Seinfeld' and 'Old Christine', flash her face on a cover and I'm sure some people would take interest.

You know, frankly I would love.....LOVE to own the Hartman / Carvey / Nealon / Lovitz era as quickly as possible. But NOT at the expense of losing a huge chunk of the show which was great in and of itself, even without Lorne's involvement. It should not be overlooked.