Saturday Night Live-Season 5...Any News? - Page 3

Good. Wonder what, if any, extras we get.

That will make close to yet another 15 minutes of bumpers that the idiots will cut out for yet another incomplete season set. 

Glad to hear it. I've said from the beginning that I wanted the first five seasons. And you really can't beat those musical guests for season 5.

About time they released this....I will definitely pick this up on release day.  Keep them coming....I want Universal to get into the Eddie Murphy years.

Excellent news.

So, now everyone can start debating if and when a "Classic Years" complete set will be released. What extras will it include ? Will there be anything new added ? Will the bumpers be restored ? Will the packaging be different ? Will it be released in time for Christmas ?

Start the ball rolling, kids !

 would be nice if they included the SNL special about the first Five years as a bonus feature. do they even offer that as a DVD?

http://www.amazon.com/SNL-First-Years-Sheree-Ali/dp/B000A6T23A

Which "complete" series sets, featuring seasons already released individually, contained new bonus material? Did the Seinfeld box? (Haven't picked it up yet).

So will this have any extras?  I waited and waited for more details to be released and with this release only 1 month away I'm becoming convinced that there are no more details because there won't be any extras.

One no-brainer extra that could have been included was the Bill Murray screen test.  He tested with the original cast and Andy Kaufman before Season 1 and most of the other segments have found their way onto the season sets.  Now I can understand not including something like the George Coe screen test (though the wardrobe test with Howard Shore did made it on) but once the Shore and Kaufman tests surfaced on later season sets after the first season knocked out the bulk of them it made a lot of sense that the Murray test would be held for the Murray-heavy 5th season.

I'd love to be wrong but at this stage it's obviously not looking very good.  Everything about these seasons has been scaled back from season to season (quality of packaging, bonuses included with the DVD's, etc.) so I guess it was only a matter of time before they stopped including extras.  The same thing happened with the Kids in the Hall sets, the first two seasons had a documentary, live sketches and commentary, by the time 3 & 4 came out the documentaries were dropped and season 5 lost the live footage.

On the other hand, it could just as easily be an issue with Bill Murray.  I'd be surprised if Murray had any control over a clip he filmed as an unknown 35 years ago but if he did that would explain the lack of inclusion right there.  Murray is notoriously difficult when it comes to signing off on stuff like that, you can ask anyone collecting the new Ghostbusters action figures.

Anyways, as long as they clear all the music and they haven't dropped the larger book-style packaging I'll be happy but the lack of extras (if true) is a big disappointment.

I too am dismayed at the non-inclusion of Bill Murray's screen test, especially since the screen tests of all the other "main" regulars have been included -- and the "First Five Years" special has clips of several, including Bill Murray's. I can sort of understand not including it with Season 1 (even though it was taped at the same time as the rest, if I understand correctly) since Bill Murray didn't appear in Season 1 -- but if they were going to throw it in, I would have guessed Season 2. But some of the extras on these various sets don't seem to necessarily belong with the time period of the season they've been attached to -- like a 1980 Gilda Radner interview on the Season 4 set, etc. -- so who knows.

"Mr. Mike's Mondo Video" would make a great extra, but that's already available as a separate release (through Shout Factory). (The cast even makes a reference to it tanking on the 100th episode, in which John Belushi and Michael O'Donoghue appear.) Off the top of my head, I don't think "Bob & Ray, Jane, Laraine & Gilda" has been released on DVD yet (though it was on VHS) -- that was one of those specials that would air in the regular SNL timeslot occasionally. Other things that would make good extras:

Chevy Chase National Humor Test special (did he do more than one special?)

Steve Martin's Best Show Ever (1981 special reuniting most of original SNL cast -- one skit from it was even on a "Best Of Steve Martin On SNL" compilation DVD, so this may not be as far-fetched as it seems)

Coneheads animated special

(Have I forgotten anything?)

...but we'll see what, if any, extras end up being on there...

Will we get the collector type cases for the first run of the season? They used to post two different listings on amazon on the two diff types of packaging but past few releases they never mention it.

I prefer the book style collectable cases, so hoping they still offer those as they are released. Otherwise they are gonna look bad on the shelf.

I don't think the last season had different SKU's (I could be wrong) but Target has always had the bigger cases.

I think the smaller ones are made to be compatible with restrictive shelving like Wal-Mart has with their spring-loading merchandisers that only fit cases with basic DVD dimensions but Target just uses regular shelves that can accommodate different dimensions.

I know it's a long shot, but I really hope season 6 does come out, just for two reasons:

1. I am a HUGE Prince fan, and the SNL appearance that season is one of the only existing pieces of footage besides music videos of him from the "Dirty Mind" period, which is regarded as one of his greatest eras.

2. I'm also a big Blondie fan and would love the episode where Deborah Harry hosts.

Someone on the saturday-night-live.com forum says that the S5 bonus material will be commentary tracks by Elliott Gould on the episode he hosts and two commentaries by Buck Henry on the episodes he hosts. If it's true, commentaries are long overdue--I wish they'd gotten the cast, crew, Lorne, etc. involved but I'm glad to see this. I can't help but think there has to be tons of material related to the first five years that could serve as bonus material though but will probably never see the light of day now. The separately-released LFNY special fulfills the retrospective end of things at least.

Speaking of that special, I really hope the 90s special is released on DVD.

You know what they really should have done with these sets. Each sketch should have come with some notes that give the historical context of the sketch. A lot of them I feel I "don't get" because I was too young at the time the show started.

I know what you mean--maybe not every sketch but Weekend Update for sure. I can't tell you how many times I've watched the DVDs and there's a WU joke about some person I'm not familiar with that the audience goes crazy for...I always tell myself I'll Google it afterwards but by the time the episode's over I've forgotten.

I may have been the only person freaking out over this but I think I found confirmation that the larger packaging will be maintained through season 5.  From the Wal-Mart product page:

"Limited Edition Outer Box Packaging While Supplies Last"

If you Google that phrase it doesn't show up anywhere else so it's not a remnant from a Season 4 listing or anything.

I personally don't care if they drop this style after Season 5.  The first five represent an iconic era with a definitive end and if we're lucky enough to get further seasons (and yes, they do need to come out much quicker) it wouldn't bother me one bit if subsequent seasons were smaller on the shelf compared to the first 5.  It would actually be appropriate in its own way if that's how they wanted to do it.

Still, even though Wal-Mart is the only site addressing the packaging issue I still wouldn't count on finding it in their stores.  Again, the whole issue with the smaller packaging seems to be that Wal-Mart needs to be able to fit them into their spring-loaded merchandisers.

Target is where I'll be going to buy mine.  I think Season 3 is the one I ordered from Amazon.com but for the other 3 Target has always had the limited-edition packaging.

One other thing I've considered: perhaps burn-on-demand would be the way to go with certain seasons.  It would be better than nothing and even if the audience of, say, season 6 is extremely limited BOD would still make it available to the people who want it.  I'll live if they don't release awful seasons but if they make them available I'll buy them.

The problem with that is that, at least for Amazon.com's CreateSpace there's a maximum of two hours per disc. Even without commercials, you'd only be able to include one episode on a disc (unless they went with the Comedy Central edits but I don't think any fan wants that).

Even though they'd be more expensive, perhaps they could make less popular seasons available on DVD only at NBC.com. That way the distribution and advertising expenses are mooted.

Seems like Univeral and NBC decided not to place ads for this season set at all. Usually Target is the best place to get them retail wise. They have always had the limited edition packaging, but I wonder what the prices will be on tuesday.

I was hoping for a 39.99/44.99 sale price.

 since this is the last snl set I plan on buying, I'll bide my time and wait for it to hit $15 like the other sets
Edited by Corey3rd - 11/30/09 at 12:05pm

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Edited by Powell&Pressburger - 12/1/09 at 6:43am

Picked the set up on the way to work at Target and it was 49.99. Not much of a sale although I realize it retails for 69.99. I just have to have the so called "collectable case" to go with my other seasons.

again, I don't mind if they drop these style cases for further seasons etc, if they do skip the non-Lorne years I hope they start back up when Lorne returns calls that is when things start to take off, esp the following year when they get Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson and I think the show is great.

excited for the commentary tracks that are included.

For anyone who has the set, does Bill Murray still sing the end of "Stairway to Heaven" during the Nick the Lounge singer skit in the final episode?

I haven't got that far yet but there's a sketch where Harry Shearer plays a DJ and it has the actual "Stairway to Heaven" audio so I see no reason why they'd edit it later in the season when they were able to clear the original recording.

I was pretty surprised to hear it on there.

Yeah, I was surprised on that skit with Shearer over the Led audio, and the funny thing is, it occurs on the Howard Hessman skit where he plays himself talking about WKRP. :-)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the Teri Garr epidode and the Martin Sheen episode is solid also. Thise season I think out ranks the first 4 seasons to me. Very solid skits usually. Their comedy gets to be very on target much of the time.

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While I understand and empathize with the desire to see these bumpers on these sets, their exclusion in no way makes the set "incomplete" in the traditional sense of the word.  I don't know of any American television series that has been released on DVD with commercial bumpers contained within the episodes, but if it has happened, it is certainly the exception to the rule.

I understand that bumpers were included on VHS releases of these same episodes, and that these bumpers have more artistic value than most.  However, they are still in fact bumpers, and their absence is simply not equivalent to the removal of a sketch or a song contained within the actual programming.

Unfortunately, the season sets of The Twilight Zone had the bumpers included. They're completely intrusive and break up the flow of the story (though that wouldn't be an issue with SNL).

Even though the sketches are self-contained, I still think it would be irritating, disruptive and awkward to have silent still pictures in between every sketch for 5-10 seconds. That said, there was one instance, the Richard Pryor episode, where he references the (missing) bumper--in that case, I think it should've been included. Otherwise, I'd love to have them included in the packaging, perhaps as a booklet/poster. But their absence isn't making me lose sleep at night. (Not that removed sketches/performances would either, but certainly I'd be much more peeved at that.)

Did you ever watch the VHS tapes of the old shows? The bumpers aren't the least bit intrusive. I think it would take a major effort to be irritated by them - at least as much as Cheetah has exerted in his annoyance over their absence. It's not really a big deal to me either, but the decision to leave them out seems completely arbitrary.

The “actual programming” is anything that actually ran on the network the night the episodes were broadcast.  With the exception of advertising, everything else that aired during a program’s time slot is the actual program.  Edie Baskin’s name appears in the credits as part of the program’s production.

 

While it is true that a viewer of these episodes as presented on the DVDs will get to see all the sketches and songs and in the order that they appeared on the original broadcast, they are still being denied the true and complete SNL experience.  Furthermore the audience applause that appears between some segments in place of the bumpers is not from the actual programming.  Watching these shows on DVD is more removed from presenting the show as it was originally broadcast than it should be or even needs to be.

 

I have many episodes from the 70’s and 80s from the live NBC broadcast and with the ads intact. While I understand that the commercial DVDs will never give the viewer that same trip back in time as those recordings, for the enhanced picture quality I don’t mind forgoing the commercials.  Don Pardo’s promotional announcements were never expected to be included (although it would have been really neat to see them on there).  However I along with others never expected the bumpers to be cut save for one.  Particularly given where the show is segmented unlike a drama, how they are so unique and also the quantity of them.  If the in house band music presented additional licensing issues then it would have been preferable to mute them than just discard them as if they were an unwanted nuisance. 

 

I know that season one of The Untouchables on DVD has the bumpers included as does at least some of the episodes of Hee Haw, a show I do not collect but have seen some of its presentation on DVD.  However regardless of the number of series which made it to DVD that do or do not have any of the bumpers intact, this should not be used as a form of rationalization or justification to leave them off of the SNL DVDs.  Particularly with the flow of the show being altered and as you already mentioned how they hold more artistic merit than those from other programs.  Unlike other prime time shows, SNL’s bumpers are episode specific and enhance the nostalgia for those that have seen the episodes the night of the original broadcast.  The commercial DVDs unlike my massive private collection take that away and for no good reason. 

By the way, having the bumpers included in the Twilight Zone sets was one of the many reasons which made those season sets the gold standard for presentation of TV shows on DVD.  I can never understand why anyone would think that a bumper even for a dramatic show would actually be intrusive.  How then would such a person ever have enjoyed watching any TV shows whatsoever before they arrived on DVD with the several minutes of commercials per hour they had to sit though? 

 

What's a bumper? Is it just something used as a transition to commercials (Such as some episodes of Newhart before the final commercial break that feature the show's title card with the voice of Joanna stating "Newhart will be right back"?