SNL Season 1 on 12/5/06 (and season sets in general) (1 Viewer)

[Jeff#]

Sure he does! Bill Murray joined SNL in the middle of the second season in January 1977....just two months after Chevy left the show, so we'll see him if a 2nd season set can be assembled and released.

As for the 1980-81 season, Jean Doumanian had some gems among the crappy sketches.

First of all, it was Jean who promoted Eddie Murphy from featured player to cast member in January 1981. That's when Eddie's writers Dick Sheffield and Barry Blaustein started coming up with the clever Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood sketches. Although except for more character parts, one show with him doing an "SNL Newsbreak" story before and after Weekend Update came on, and even a few minutes of his stand-up act in a couple of shows, it was still a few more episodes until Murphy really got more to do.

Joe Piscopo was terrific spoofing Frank Sinatra as well as two parts originally played by Dan Aykroyd in the previous decade: talk-show host Tom Snyder and commercial pitchman Crazy Eddie. Piscopo also introduced his sports guy on Weekend Update, a bit that was always a crowd pleaser.

The late Charles Rocket was one of the most believeable of all Weekend Update anchors. The reason? He was the only one who really was an anchorman (on a midwest local station in the 1970s). His Rocket Report filmed segments that sometimes aired on WU or elsewhere in the telecast were entertaining as well. The only thing that hurt Rocket before he said the F word was Jean's decision to have cast member Gail Matthius as Charlie's co-anchor in a few of those first 12 shows. Eventually he again became sole anchor. Rocket's final appearance was the week after he cussed when former regular Bill Murray hosted the Valentine's Day 1981 show. Obviously the bad writing is what brought the series to near-cancellation....which almost happened again in 1985-86 (the year Lorne Michaels came back) and the disasterous 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons.

Then Jean was fired and 13th show was postponed by her replacement Dick Ebersol by almost 2 months. That much improved show with some of Jean's cast and new regulars (such as Tim Kazurinsky and former SCTV cast members Robin Duke and Tony Rosato) aired in April 1981 and featured Chevy Chase. For some reason Chevy didn't get billed as the host, but he appeared in a few sketches and actually got his old set back for the last Weekend Update during what would be a 4 year run for Executive Producer Ebersol...who changed the name to SNL Newbreak in the fall and Saturday Night News for the 3 years after that until Lorne Michaels and the old WU name permanently returned.

Keep in mind that SNL's weak ratings weren't what cut the 6th season short: it was a writer's strike. The same thing happened in Season 13 (1987-88), one of the series' strongest creatively as with the previous season...but only had 13 episodes.

Jean Doumanian had been an associate producer on SNL under Lorne Michaels in the 70s, and when Lorne left in 1980 to start his Broadway Video production company (which is why his cast quit too), he actually opposed the idea of Jean taking over the show.

But she would be fired again years later: Jean also produced several of Woody Allen's movies in the 1980s and 90s...until Woody and her had a falling out in some kind of contract dispute in 2000, after his Small Time Crooks was produced.

 

[Cheetah]

This is so true Claude. Season six was looked upon so harshly in great part due to immediately having followed the original legendary era. Therefore, direct comparisons and full scrutinization was inevitable from an audience who at that time only associated SNL with the original cast members. I have these shows on tape when they ran on the Comedy Network in the late 1990's. When comparing it to a recent season like 04-05, season six is definitely superior.

 

[Cheetah]

Actually, it was five weeks between episode twelve and episode thirteen so it was really only one month.

 

[Cheetah]

Regardless of the order in which future additional seasons will be released, what is more important is that these shows are done properly. That is why I don’t mind the wait as long as all of the music licensing rights are cleared. With that in mind, hopefully Lorne and his associates will be successful getting the rights cleared to use “Stairway to Heaven”, where a short clip of it appears on the third episode of season three. It is in a sketch with Aykroyd as a radio station DJ from Eric Idle / Joe Cocker, Stuff. Of course Shout! Factory was unable to clear the rights to use that song for SCTV.

For those that want to see the shows just as they aired live (minus the commercials), please let Broadway Video know if you have not done so already.

This would include

•Not looping the audience applause and just simply have a brief black screen with silence at each point where the commercials were edited out, as is done for all other TV show on DVD releases.

•Include all the bumper photography and keep it intact just as it had aired during each live broadcast. SNL’s bumpers are the most identifiable and unique to the medium, as well as an important part of the show’s character and experience. They also add to the sense of nostalgia for those that viewed these shows live. A photo gallery on the other hand is meant for pictures that did not air during the original broadcast. The photos contained in the booklet that was included in the season one set would be a perfect example for what to include in a photo gallery.

•Insuring that the live version of the show be used for every episode as opposed to the rerun. That will prevent what happened to the Wrigley’s commercial parody ad. If the credits were cut short on the live broadcast, then and only then should that material be added to the live show.

•Do not edit out any segments that re-aired in multiple episodes. If any non-purist doesn’t like seeing them over again, they have a remote to simply skip over to the next segment.

•If there are any segments that aired exclusive to a rerun version, then include them as a bonus feature.

•Discontinue the practice of revising history to try and clean up these shows. There will occasionally be little glitches that occur during some broadcasts because of the fact that they aired live. An example would be On Ron Nessen / Patti Smith where the opening theme music from the live show was replaced with prerecorded music and a new voice over by Pardo. If they were to continue with that practice, then other things would of course be altered. One example that quickly comes to mind is on Mary Tyler Moore / Elvis Costello from the 1988-89 season. In that episode, Don Pardo was hoarse when it originally aired. You can clearly hear this in the live show which I actually have a copy of. In reruns this was “corrected” after his voice had healed.

For those that would like to request that future seasons of SNL on DVD be released just as they originally had aired and with no edits (as was indicated with season one prior to its release) then here is the address to write to.

Broadway Video Entertainment
1619 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

There is no e-mail address provided on their website, but writing a letter is taken more seriously anyhow.

 

[Jeff#]

I'm not going to follow suit with a long sermon on how Broadway Video should produce their DVD releases of SNL.

In spite of the missing bumper pics from the first season set, I was very happy with the shows overall.

As far as the music clearances go, if they ever get up to the 6th season then getting the show with James Brown shouldn't be a problem. Even when Brown was alive he was always gracious in allowing old clips of his TV performances to make it to home video. I don't expect his estate to act any differently. And yes, I want Broadway Video to go through each season in order and not jump around to different eras.

 

[RyanAn]

To put it bluntly - I want my DVDs and I want them now.

I don't care what order they are in, if the season is considered the best or the worst - I just want something to tide me over until the next release and before the next format. At the rate of the possible release dates, 1 season a year, it could be 30 more years before every season is released and that is just not going to cut it.

Go for multiple season clearances at once, release seasons out of order - have a poll asking the consumer which seasons they want first - anything.

Slap your friend on the hand and tell them to purchase a copy of the first season to increase sales.

Ryan

 

[AnthonyC]

My guess (and I'll stress that it's just a guess) is that they waited to see how the first season sold before working on clearances for season 2. They might wait to see how that one sells, and if it does, they'll start working in advance for multiple seasons.

I hope they have the foresight to deal with repeat musical guests in one swoop.

 

[Dean C]

tvshowsondvd just announced a nother best of snl best of.

why can't they just go in order?

 

[Gimmetheremote]

That was a special disc available at Starbucks. They'll always do "Best Ofs" and more current cast members. I'd be surprised if S2 doesn't arrive by Christmas.

 

[Jeff#]

I don't buy Best Of compilations. If they want my money, it's full seasons or none.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

I've seen several places that Uni is actively working to have S2 out as soon as they can.

Add me to the list that would be front of the line to buy Season 6. When the episodes are banned from re-airing it just makes you more curious! I was born at the end of Season 5, so obviously have never seen these, but reading the books about them I'm most curious.

I worry that Lorne will want to skip the 5 years he wasn't involved in, and even perhaps his poorly recieved return in S11, going right to the start of the Hartman/Carvey era in S12. I wouldnt be surprised if we went from 5 to 12. But I hope they do them in order.

I actually think the Doumanian/Ebersol shows might sell better because they're really almost never seen in syndication anymore (much like the original cast years, and even the Carvey Hartman shows for that matter.)

 

[Corey3rd]

Like lead paint, those episodes are banned for your benefit.

 

[WillG]

I'm not sure I mind that too badly as it would mean a shoter wait for the great Carvey/Hartman years. But I would want to see the Ebersol years released at some point.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

Seems odd even tvshowsondvd hasn't even noted anythign about it and they get news super fast usually.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

season 2 announced for 12-4-07!

 

[Bill Robertson]

Hey Moe - got any links to someplace I can find out more info about this release?

Thanks

 

[JM Productions]

Lorne Michaels wouldn't skip the Murphy / Piscopo years, because he enjoyed them too (proof of that is their being shown in a number of Michaels-produced SNL specials). It's the Doumanian season introducing Joe & Eddie that let him down, and although the ratings certainly reflected that there were some entertaining bits during that year. WU and the Rocket Report were usually funny. So were Piscopo's Frank Sinatra and Joe the Sports Guy characters and Eddie doing Mr. Robinson for the first time.

 

[TravisR]

There's not much beyond saying that it's an eight disc set, has a $70 MSRP, is Bill Murray's first season and that the music is intact here:http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7974

 

[Cheetah]

Well I have been waiting since the release of season one to know if season two will be complete.

Will all segments be included this time by using only the live broadcast versions of every episode as opposed to rerun copies?

There are those who would like to know if the bumpers will be included this time. If they are included, are they presented originally as NBC had broadcast them during the episodes.

While the news release says that "all of the original musical performances are included", what about the music used within any of the sketches? Were any music substitutions made for any non musical performance segments?

Is Live from the the Mardi Gras included?

Are there any other extras and if so what are they?

 

[AnthonyC]

I'm curious about the Mardis Gras show too. I'd also love to know if that Colgate bit that was MIA from season 1 will be included, although I doubt it.

I remember reading that in the Eric Idle show, a bit of "Stairway to Heaven" is played in a sketch, so I wouldn't be shocked if that had to be replaced.