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HTF DVD REVIEW: Saturday Night Live - The Complete 5th Season (1 Viewer)

Stephen Wight

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Iit's a little premature to think that as official news doesn't come out until around August or September.
 

Kevin EK

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True, but we were previously seeing two releases a year. At this point, if they do release something for the holidays, I'll be pleasantly surprised.
 

AnthonyC

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We only saw two seasons a year once. We didn't hear anything about S5 until late August last year.
 

GE Cafe

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Thanks for the info, Skeeter. Wanna see that Stones footage :)


There is one important fact that hasn't really been addressed regarding further seasons, which is cost/effort of licensing. If it was a simple matter of transferring episodes and funding a DVD release, it MAY be financially viable. But securing 30 more years' worth of rights would be a gargantuan task.


Consider: The first season's initial release was in a premium book-style package, with a full-colour scrapbook. The second season, which was released a year later, featured a scrapbook, but slightly less elaborate packaging, which the next 3 season sets would use. The third season was released 6 months later, with only a set of postcards of vintage photographs. The fourth season was released a year later with no bonus ephemera, and the wait for the fifth season also lasted a year and arrived with no inserts, and the box was a bit thinner than its predecessors. Consider, too, that between the first season and the fifth there's been a massive downturn in the economy, and NBC Universal isn't doing too well financially, and I feel as though we were lucky that we got the fifth season at all. How much of a hurry do you suppose Broadway Video is in to mount another costly project for a season that was universally panned, will be virtually unmarketable, and will almost certainly not be able to recoup what it would cost to produce? I wouldn't want to try to convince the studio to bankroll it, either.


Even if a faerie came down from the sky and erased all worries about licensing, the sixth season would still need to be paired with something else to make it happen. A dual set designed to promote Eddie Murphy, as has been suggested here, or a five-year set as I've suggested, but by itself, no way.


But since that faerie doesn't exist, to pay for itself, season six would need an MRSP comparable to that of the previous years. Would you pay $50-$60 for it? Bundling it with another season won't make it cost less to produce, so a 2 year set will still cost as much as 2 sets, maybe a little less.


...


I keep hearing rumours that they plan to resume season sets starting at 1995, aka The Will Ferrell years. Perhaps the idea is to strike while that iron is still lukewarm, rather than 15 years from now were they to keep doing them chronologically.
 

WillG

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Even if a faerie came down from the sky and erased all worries about licensing, the sixth season would still need to be paired with something else to make it happen.
I think they should just add a few episodes from the 6th season on each subsequent season release as bonus features.
 

AnthonyC

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Offer S6 (and maybe all unpopular seasons) as a limited edition online-only title at NBC.com and/or Amazon. Maybe even do it as a pre-order so they have an idea of how many copies to press. They could probably get away with charging more for these too.
 

Kevin EK

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Anthony, you're absolutely right. But I still don't think we're likely to see another release this year, particularly for the reasons Frank has listed. I can't see them putting the 6th season out on its own due to the reasons we've all discussed, and doing a 6th+7th Season would likely involve a larger pricetag than people are going to enjoy.


Frank's notes about the diminishing nature of the packaging are also well taken. The fact is, they put most of the oomph into the very first season, considering the history, and the significance. With each following season, the packaging got minimized. Now, I must acknowledge that the fifth season at least had the 3 commentaries, which would have been really interesting if they could have done them for the earlier seasons. I could see them putting commentaries on the 6th season with some of the cast, but I'm not sure what they could say other than "Ouch!" And there is no chance that Eddie Murphy would have anything to do with any SNL releases.
 

WillG

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And there is no chance that Eddie Murphy would have anything to do with any SNL releases
Why does Eddie refuse to have anything to do with the show anymore? Is there some kind of bad history there or he just thinks he's too big.
 

Kevin EK

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My understanding of it is that he simply doesn't talk about it, and wants nothing to do with any retrospectives or materials about his time on the show. When the excellent "Live from New York" interview book was put together, he did not participate.

Personally, I would love to see him make a return appearance there as a host, as he never worked with Lorne Michaels. (His entire time was spent with Dick Ebersol during Michaels' five year break.) I think this could break the ice a little.
 

AnthonyC

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From what I understand, his ego just sort of gets the best of him. He refused to appear on the 15th anniversary special because Billy Crystal was going to be there and they had a history of some sort, and then he apparently refused to do the 25th because he was still bitter over David Spade's "falling star" joke a few years before. Lorne actually said recently (within the last ~2 years) that he wants Eddie to host and Eddie wants to host and it's just scheduling difficulty; and last year when Eddie was on...either Conan or Jimmy Fallon, he talked pretty lovingly about his characters from the show.


I think he's just over it though. But then again, he used to block the release of Delirious on DVD because he wanted to keep a family-friendly image (and a lot of that stuff is pretty...er, let's say no longer timely) but later he did interviews for a DVD release. So who knows.


I know the rumor going around was that the Will Ferrell years were next--I'm hoping for something new this year, but alas, I do think you guys are right. Even without an official announcement, I'm sure that the more recent seasons would involve abundant extras and we'd probably be hearing about how Will Ferrell is recording commentary or doing interviews, etc.
 

GE Cafe

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Originally Posted by WillG /forum/thread/296345/htf-dvd-review-saturday-night-live-the-complete-5th-season#post_3703995



This board got some goofy UI... anyway, if it isn't plainly visible in this intricately-detailed drawing, these would not be premium boxes like we saw with the first five years, but more in line with the standard packs used for the standard SNL sets and most other NBC Universal shows. This would help offset the added cost in producing (read: clearing) the extra disc in each set.


Seasons 7, 8 and 9 (1981-84) would feature an extra, eighth disc which contains 3 episodes from season six. Season 10 (1984-85) would only use six discs since it was a shorter season, freeing up the last two for the final 4 shows of season six, plus some extras. This last release would include a URL wherein one can choose to buy a box for the five discs, probably for a nominal fee like $9.95 which covers shipping.
 

streeter

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How about Time Life? No idea if they've licensed from Universal before, but SNL seasons 6 and on would be excellent for that. My guess is that they'd be good at exploiting properties like this (music/comedy/nostalgia) and wouldn't it be great to see Gilbert Gottfried host the infomercials? I'm just dreaming...
 

Bryan^H

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We don't have to sugarcoat anything. As long as the sets are selling well enough, Universal OWES us season 6. Otherwise it's just withholding to withhold....it makes no sense.

I just want classic SNL on dvd.
 

Stephen Wight

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Perhaps Shout can release the Eddie Murphy seasons,and any others that Lorne might want to skip over. They,obviously,license from Universal as they've released Simon & Simon,Leave It To Beaver,Dragnet and others.
 

David Rain

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I've been a loyal customer of the SNL season sets so far. But getting Season 6 on DVD is NOT my idea of a "gift". It's more like coal in a stocking. If they want to give us what we deserve then they need to get going on Murphy/Piscopo years.


Does anybody really need more of Will Ferrell ? Seriously ? He's nowhere near the best person to ever appear on that show. Even just from his group, Cheri Oteri could entertain rings around him.
 

Jon Martin

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Originally Posted by Stephen Wight

Perhaps Shout can release the Eddie Murphy seasons,and any others that Lorne might want to skip over. They,obviously,license from Universal as they've released Simon & Simon,Leave It To Beaver,Dragnet and others.
And don't forget SHOUT released MR MIKE'S MONDO VIDEO, which as an extra had several SNL skits. Also, they included the SNL "Broctune" sketch on the MR BELVEDERE set.


So, that makes a lot of sense.
 

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