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Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News? - Page 2

post #31 of 108
5/1/09 at 10:44am

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

Quote:
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.

I am in total agreement with these comments David. The Ebersol years were generally a really good era. Even the transitional 1980 - 1981 season is quite underrated and much better than the Lorne produced 2004 - 2005 season.

Quote:
Everyone involved with these releases would be utterly foolish if they didn't give the royal treatment to these years.

If you are implying that the royal treatment was given to the first four seasons then I strongly disagree with that comment. Not when between 12 to 15 minutes of material was cut from each season and artificial audience applause was inserted between many segments. The packaging is of secondary concern. If it was a choice between having all of the bumper photography intact and the packaging the sets have already been released in I wouldn't care if the discs were enclosed in plain transparent plastic bags to make these seasons truly complete.
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post #32 of 108
5/1/09 at 2:02pm

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

My worry is that they'll resolve the debate by either cancelling the series after Season 5, or skipping ahead fifteen years to the overrated late-Nineties era. After releasing the early years, it would be easy to sell '95-'00 as "SNL: The Next Generation", since it started up twenty years after the original cast. And of course, Will Ferrell is a huge star, and some members of that era's casts are still high-profile (Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan, Molly Shannon). Then they could either lurch back to the Eighties or continue with the '00s until they get to the most recent season.
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post #33 of 108
5/1/09 at 2:49pm

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Rain
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.

I don't know if you're referring to me and my comment that the non-Lorne seasons are very, very unlikely to be released--I want every season, but the fact of the matter is that Lorne is the ringleader behind what gets released. So it's not just a matter of what we want released (I think the majority of fans would want every season, or would at least acknowledge that every season should be released even if they aren't interested in certain eras); Lorne simply isn't interested in releasing 6-10, so we probably won't be seeing those for a long while, if at all.

I have a sinking feeling that this current season will be the next one on tap after 5. It was a pretty big year for the show, with the Fey-as-Palin stuff, the bonus Weekend Update Thursday shows, and just in general with the election going on. Creating and/or finding extras would not be a problem; they might even have commentaries (which I think would be really interesting, and a shame that they didn't see fit to do even one or two for the first four seasons).
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post #34 of 108
5/1/09 at 6:32pm

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyC
Lorne simply isn't interested in releasing 6-10, so we probably won't be seeing those for a long while, if at all.

With all due respect, what proof do you have to back this up? He may not be in favor of these seasons, as he had no involvement with them. But I've not heard, nor seen any concrete evidence stating that he "is not interested in releasing" the aforementioned seasons. I think you're chalking that up to personal assumption.
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post #35 of 108
5/1/09 at 7:40pm

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

In fairness, I don't think there's been any official word on it, but Gord has said he's almost positive Lorne will be skipping over the seasons he's not involved in.
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post #36 of 108
5/2/09 at 12:16am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankNolan
My worry is that they'll resolve the debate by either cancelling the series after Season 5, or skipping ahead fifteen years to the overrated late-Nineties era.

Wouldn't that be odd? It would seem very strange to go from season 5 to say the complete season 12. If Universal does that, it will be both unpopular, and unjust. Lorne isn't happy with the seasons in question...well, you can't just make them disappear forever.

I'm starting to wonder if the fifth season will be the last complete season on dvd also.
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post #37 of 108
5/2/09 at 6:00am

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

I hope not! As a Brit I'm watching all of these episodes on DVD for the first time. I'd like the opportunity to buy each season of the show, so I can judge which are my favourite and least favourite seasons.
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post #38 of 108
5/7/09 at 9:31am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnthonyC
In fairness, I don't think there's been any official word on it, but Gord has said he's almost positive Lorne will be skipping over the seasons he's not involved in.

Over at the saturday-night-live.com message board, there are reports of people asking this question of Lorne and him saying the same thing. In fact, don't be surprised if they jump to an era later than the '86 season, either (although I don't think anything has been officially decided yet).
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post #39 of 108
5/7/09 at 11:01am

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

Ive heard,from a reliable source,that Lorne plans to skip the Doumanian/Ebersol seasons and next release either the Sandler or Ferrell seasons.If he does that,then I stop buying SNL DVDs.
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post #40 of 108
5/7/09 at 11:59am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stephen Wight
Ive heard,from a reliable source,that Lorne plans to skip the Doumanian/Ebersol seasons and next release either the Sandler or Ferrell seasons.If he does that,then I stop buying SNL DVDs.

I can't believe they would skip the Jan Hooks, Nora Dunn, Phil Hartman years those are golden!
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post #41 of 108
5/7/09 at 12:49pm

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

Quote:
With all due respect, what proof do you have to back this up? He may not be in favor of these seasons, as he had no involvement with them. But I've not heard, nor seen any concrete evidence stating that he "is not interested in releasing" the aforementioned seasons. I think you're chalking that up to personal assumption.

I don't think there's any credible sources indicating the fate of the non-Lorne years on DVD one way or the other and I wouldn't call message board postings by people who claim they asked Lorne as credible.

I do think, however, that the way that era of the show is treated in regards to reruns is pretty telling and I don't think it's unreasonable to speculate that Lorne Michaels may want to keep them off of DVD just like he clearly wants them out of the rerun packages.

But beyond that common-sense speculation I don't think there's any actual evidence.
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post #42 of 108
5/8/09 at 12:46am

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

Money talks, folks. The Eddie Murphy years would likely be big sellers. Not everyone is old enough to have seen the first five seasons when they originally aired. A lot of people discovered the show in the '80's and those are the seasons that mean the most to them.

I'll buy any of the good quality seasons that are released regardless of what order that happens in. But if Lorne and company ignore the '80's seasons (which there seems to be NO real proof of) then they are idiots and will prove that they are not concerned about what the fans truly want. What the most devoted fans want is most (if not all) of the seasons released.
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post #43 of 108
5/8/09 at 4:23am

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by texboil
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.

The first Eberson produced program wasn't that great, for the most part...though I did enjoy the first segment featuring Chevy Chase and Mr. Bill, of all characters. Another highlight was a commentary by Al Franken during Weekend Update, in which he urged viewers to send in "Put SNL to Sleep" postcards to NBC. He also did note that he'd be hosting the program the following week (which, of course, never happened) and encouraged viewers to watch that episode...but to stop watching after that.
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post #44 of 108
5/8/09 at 7:59am

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

I would not take it as any sort of sure thing that Eddie Murphy seasons would be big sellers. The sorts of people who buy full seasons of a television series are more collectors of a favorite series than fans of a specific actor. There is a "best of" Murphy SNL DVD that appeals to those fans. The first five seasons with the original cast have always had a certain cachet, regardless of the age of those of us who saw those episodes live, and regardless of whether those seasons were consistently better than later years (I would contend that novelty trumped actual quality quite often in those early years).

I'm always suspicious of people who declare on the internet that this or that is "what fans want." "Fans" always seems to simply mean "I." Only the most obsessive completists will really buy 34 (and counting) full season sets of a television series. Very few people have the time, money, and space to devote to such a collection. I certainly would not, though I have bought the four seasons released thus far. I am not claiming to speak for anybody but myself, and I certainly hope people who want it all are somehow able to get it. But I don't really see that as being especially realistic.
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post #45 of 108
5/8/09 at 2:19pm

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill GrandPre
I do think, however, that the way that era of the show is treated in regards to reruns is pretty telling and I don't think it's unreasonable to speculate that Lorne Michaels may want to keep them off of DVD just like he clearly wants them out of the rerun packages.

But beyond that common-sense speculation I don't think there's any actual evidence.

What rerun packages are you talking about? Comedy Central used to show reruns of the Ebersol shows quite a bit. They even showed Doumanian-produced episodes. Over time, they dropped these and started running mostly '90s shows. From what I understand, E! owns the rights to the entire SNL canon now and could conceivably air shows from any decade, but they, being E!, prefer to run only the shows that Britney Spears hosted. Lorne's preferences have nothing to do with that.
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post #46 of 108
5/11/09 at 10:09am

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

Quote:
What rerun packages are you talking about? Comedy Central used to show reruns of the Ebersol shows quite a bit. They even showed Doumanian-produced episodes. Over time, they dropped these and started running mostly '90s shows. From what I understand, E! owns the rights to the entire SNL canon now and could conceivably air shows from any decade, but they, being E!, prefer to run only the shows that Britney Spears hosted. Lorne's preferences have nothing to do with that.

I don't know if SNL still does the full 90-minute reruns late on Saturday nights but as of a couple years ago they were airing full episodes as far back as Season 1 and the best way to describe what was part of these reruns would be to say if it was after Bill Murray left and before Phil Hartman joined you wouldn't see those episodes.

Growing up (I was born in '81) Nick at Nite and Comedy Central would air stuff from the first five seasons (it was mostly NaN that did this, I believe they were edited down to 30 minutes) and I remember seeing stuff from the Billy Crystal season occasionally but none of that has been part of the reruns since '92 or so. I don't think I've ever seen any Eddie Murphy stuff on television that isn't on his Best-Of special since then either, and even then it would pretty much be limited to Murphy with Crystal.

As for what E! airs, I'm guessing it's a situation where Broadway Video has this same package of reruns with certain eras removed at the behest of Lorne Michaels and then E! simply chooses to run only super-recent episodes. It's probably a situation where E! could air a Belushi-era episode but not a Murphy-era episode but simply chooses to only air something from the last 5 years or so.
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post #47 of 108
5/11/09 at 10:54am

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

If they're smart, Universal will just put together mega-sets of performers pulling out their best sketches. Make it a 4 DVD set - not merely the 75 minute specials that were put out on DVD.
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post #48 of 108
5/11/09 at 12:51pm

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill GrandPre
I don't know if SNL still does the full 90-minute reruns late on Saturday nights but as of a couple years ago they were airing full episodes as far back as Season 1 and the best way to describe what was part of these reruns would be to say if it was after Bill Murray left and before Phil Hartman joined you wouldn't see those episodes.

Unfortunately, they stopped airing the late night reruns a few years back to make room for some poker show.


During the 8 year run of late night reruns, they did show several episodes from the Ebersol years, as well as most of the episodes from the first year Lorne came back (1985), when they had a bunch of actors (Quaid, Cusack, Downey Jr, etc...) in the cast. Except for one episode, they did ignore the 1980 season.
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post #49 of 108
5/11/09 at 8:38pm

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

I remember watching those late night re-runs on NBC which aired at 3:30 to 5:00 am. And Paste is right, a lot of the Ebersol era shows did air during those reruns. They definitely jumped around from week to week though jumping from one era to another and then back again.
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post #50 of 108
5/11/09 at 10:41pm

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

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill GrandPre
Growing up (I was born in '81) Nick at Nite and Comedy Central would air stuff from the first five seasons (it was mostly NaN that did this, I believe they were edited down to 30 minutes) and I remember seeing stuff from the Billy Crystal season occasionally but none of that has been part of the reruns since '92 or so. I don't think I've ever seen any Eddie Murphy stuff on television that isn't on his Best-Of special since then either, and even then it would pretty much be limited to Murphy with Crystal.

The thirty-minute cutdowns were part of a syndication package called "The Best of Saturday Night" that aired on local networks for a while before getting picked up by NaN in 1988 (I think) and then CC in the early Nineties. Around 1990, there were two separate comedy channels on cable; one of them, HA!, won rights to all the post-1980 SNLs. Eventually the two comedy networks merged to become Comedy Central. For CC's first few years ('91-'93), they showed many Doumanian/Ebersol episodes either full-length or edited down to an hour. I taped, but unfortunately didn't save, many of these shows back in high school. They were on so much that I figured CC would air them indefinitely. Oops.

It's true that the reruns tended to focus on more recent shows as time went on, but I think this was the result of CC deciding to target younger viewers rather than Lorne or Broadway Video suddenly excising the Eddie years from syndication. Personally, I remember seeing Eddie-era shows on CC all through the Nineties. At some point - I'd say '96 or so - they became increasingly scarce, but they did turn up. They also dropped the "Best of SN" altogether. Again, I think this was part of an overall effort on CC's part to tailor their network to an audience that id'ed Chris Farley and then Will Ferrell with SNL more than Belushi or Murphy.

Quote:
As for what E! airs, I'm guessing it's a situation where Broadway Video has this same package of reruns with certain eras removed at the behest of Lorne Michaels and then E! simply chooses to run only super-recent episodes. It's probably a situation where E! could air a Belushi-era episode but not a Murphy-era episode but simply chooses to only air something from the last 5 years or so.

From what I read at the time (2002-ish), E! was sold the entire SNL library. Basically everything, including some shows that had been blocked (by Lorne) from reruns before (eg. the Milton Berle show, which they reportedly aired once). Initially, they were only allowed to run shows from the first five years. So they ran those for a year and then when granted rights to everything else, they jumped straight to the Will Ferrell era and pretty much never looked back.
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post #51 of 108
5/11/09 at 10:43pm

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

No, we don't want mega-sets or compliations or so-called "best ofs". We want full, complete seasons like we've been getting!

Don't drop your standards, kids. We've put up with badly-compiled corporate bullshit product for years. Enough already.
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post #52 of 108
5/13/09 at 7:28am

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

If you believe a price drop on an existing set means the imminent release of the next box in the series, we may be close to S-5. Drift on over to the DVDTalk bargains thread, where seasons 3 and 4 are sale priced at Barnes & Noble:

SNL Complete Season 3 $27.99 at B&N.com, ships free. - DVD Talk Forum
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post #53 of 108
5/13/09 at 8:33am

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

There doesn't seem to be any love for Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, or Nora Dunn years at all those were glorious. You also had Victoria Jackson, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz among others. I want those seasons so bad. I loved the Kirstie Alley, Delta Burke episodes, and the Rick Moranis one with Nora Dunn as Leona Helmsly (did I spell that right?) and who played Zsa Zsa I forget lol

also with Jan Hooks and Nora Dun you get the vocal stylings of the Sweeney Sisters!
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post #54 of 108
5/13/09 at 8:37am

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

Oh trust me, there's love for that era. That was the cast that introduced me to Saturday Night Live in the late 80's, and I most definitely want to own them...........but not at the expense of losing the era which preceded it.
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post #55 of 108
5/18/09 at 2:25pm

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

I was young when the early years of SNL were on and I too have fond memories of sketches involving Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo. I even liked Mary Gross as Alphalpha. There were a lot of good sketches in the 1980-85 seasons. To act like it didn't exist and not release it just because you didn't have your hand in it is like forgetting you past. Sure there were some ugly times but that is what is cool about collecting. It is neat seeing things that you have not seen in years that brought you laughter and being able to appreciate all of the aspects of the show.

I recall Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr., Julia Louis Dreyfuss. I really liked the 1985 cast and I really want that season. Since that was the only year with this combination of actors, it is even more desirable to me.

I really hope they don't thumb their nose at these years and not release them. I think that would be a dis-service to the fans of the show.
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post #56 of 108
5/18/09 at 8:52pm

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

I've watched repeat episodes on E! and Comedy Central adnausem when they used to air with a smile on my face. Nowadays E! seems to only reair about 6 or 7 episodes in extremely high rotation: Jennifer Anniston with Black Eyed Peas, 2 different Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and two different Britney Spears. I assume they use those episodes because of the female starpower but it's enough to make me hate those episodes. I've seem them way to much and am dying for OTHER classic episodes!

I'd love for them to release a classic season and a recent season every year. NBC, I'm willing to give you my money - I wish you'd listen up. And Broadway Video, please lease out more episodes!
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post #57 of 108
5/19/09 at 12:16am

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

I'd be OK with a classic and a current release each year. I'd simply avoid the more current seasons cause I don't think the show's been that great in recent years compared to how it used to be. The women on the show, however, still rock. They always have.
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post #58 of 108
6/15/09 at 8:50am

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

I think that would be a great idea as well. Release two each year; stick to the the order of seasons with the "classic" and then pick a season that is more current. That would satisfy a great deal of people I would think.

Aybody have any more news on what the deal will be for this year? I'm guessing it will be a December release to hit the Christmas selling season. I'm just hoping it will be two and not just one.
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post #59 of 108
8/17/09 at 9:26pm
Saturday Night Live Showcases

 

Television History


Saturday Night Live is too important of a television time capsule to skip any seasons and three seasons should be released each year.

Seasons One through Four have had collectors buzzing but the editing out of most of the original bumpers sucks--why?


Once Blu-ray releases replace DVD, the issue of editing material because of disc time constraints will disappear.

The original bumpers gave the older episodes their classic flavor with the short blast of music and various funny pictures.


Season Five will be somewhat of a letdown for John Belushi fans but give it a chance--many great sketches and musical guests.

Season Six is not widely known by most Saturday Night Live Fans as re-runs of these thirteen episodes are rarely seen anywhere.


Season Six is one of my favorites as the debut of a new cast made for different material and interesting musical guests too.

I simply cannot wait to see the entire runs of seasons five and six...let alone seven, eight, nine, and ten!

Still no clue as to when season five will show up in stores but I will be there the first day to get my copy!


Take Care My Fellow Saturday Night Live Fans!!!!!

[Font reduced from x-large by moderator. No need to "shout".]
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post #60 of 108
8/25/09 at 5:18pm
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Saturday-Night-Live-Season-5/12551

It's finally happening guys.
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