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What you you think will happen next with the Saturday Night Live season sets? (1 Viewer)

David Bixenspan

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Going by the previous release dates, we should be hearing about the next SNL season set in the next few months. If they keep going in order, then the next release is Season 6 ('80-'81), which is the first season without Lorne Michaels and pretty universally considered by far the worst season of the show, with no redeeming value other than the few Eddie Murphy sketches. The non-Michaels seasons (S6 mostly produced by Jean Doumanian and S7-10 produced by Dick Ebersol) have been heavily de-emphasized in recent years aside from the Murphy compilation DVDs, disappearing from cable at least a decade ago. Even when they aired, many of the episodes weren't in rotation, like the Hulk Hogan/Mr. T episode, which never aired on Comedy Central and only aired once on the network's precursor "Ha!". Michaels returned for S11 with a new cast and then replaced most of them in S12, starting the 2nd golden era with Phil Hartman et al.

So what's next? Would enough people buy S6 to make it worthwhile? I can certainly see S7-10 (especially S10 with the "superstar") cast selling well enough, but given how Michaels has treated those seasons lately, I'm not sure if they'll be released, either. Maybe lip service to S6(-10?) with a compilation (or compilations)? Specialty mail order releases via Shout Factory or something? I would be pretty surprised by a full retail release of S6. S7-10, I'm not as sure about.
 

Andrew Radke

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Well I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd certain buy season 6....and every other season for that matter. What I wouldn't settle for however are compilations. I love the season releases and still continue to watch the ones I own to this day. The upside with season 6 is that it was short, and can be sold for relatively cheaper than a full season set. The set could easily be marketed using Eddie Murphy's image on the cover, regardless of how brief his appearances were. As for the lack of Lorne's involvement, I frankly don't care. With or without him, the show was STILL "Saturday Night Live" and seasons 6 through 10 shouldn't be overlooked merely because he had no involvement with them. Seasons 7 though 10 had some fantastic moments that deserve to be made available.

I do however fear the worst for the future of SNL season sets. I remember a few years ago when Dave Lambert had stated that so many sales of the 1st season needed to be made before they could even THINK about putting together a second season release. Also, it's common knowledge that subsequent seasons of a show tend to have less sales than the one before it. So if a lot of people bought season 1, how many in comparison would have purchased season 5? And that being said, were there enough sales to even consider moving forward??

Be that as it may, we'll know soon enough as announcements for SNL seasons are usually made in August/September. Fingers crossed.
 

Kevin EK

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We've talked about this here on the forums a few times, most recently on the review thread for the 5th Season set.

One idea we discussed was the idea of making Seasons 6 & 7 a combo set, given that the 6th season was stopped partway in, after Jean Doumanian was fired and Ebersol took over for a single episode. They could then do individual sets for seasons 8 (lots of Eddie Murphy), 9 (some Eddie Murphy - mostly in pretaped bits he did over one weekend in 83), and 10 (the Billy Crystal/Martin Short/Christopher Guest year). We also wondered whether anyone would really want to see Michaels' return season from 1985, which was almost as bad as Season 6.

I recall that Michaels did rotate in a few Ebersol shows when NBC ran its Classic SNL slot on Sunday morning wee hours several years ago. It was rare but he did do it here and there. Whether he would want to wait around for 2 years to get back to his own material is another story entirely.

And the question about diminishing sales over succeeding seasons is entirely valid. One argument about this was the idea that they might jump ahead to one of the Will Ferrell seasons and completely skip over the 80s and most of the 90s entirely.

Personally, I'd like to see at least one of the Eddie Murphy years get done, and I'd love to have the Phil Hartman/Dana Carvey years done.
 

David Bixenspan

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By the way, does anyone know if they only have the versions with the "previously recorded" graphics from the Ebersol years? They're what aired on the Classic SNL slot.
 

FrankNolan

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Originally Posted by David Bixenspan
By the way, does anyone know if they only have the versions with the "previously recorded" graphics from the Ebersol years? They're what aired on the Classic SNL slot.
It would really surprise me if those were the only versions they have. And that was by no means exclusive to the Ebersol years - many of the '85 - '90 shows aired in that slot also had the "previously recorded" message, and several of the original cast shows were rerun versions (in fact, some of these are what ended up on DVD).

Are you sure the Hulk Hogan/Mr. T episode never aired on Comedy Central? That would seem to be strange oversight, as I recall seeing most of that season on CC and that was one of the more talked-about episodes from that year.
 

David Bixenspan

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FrankNolan said:
Are you sure the Hulk Hogan/Mr. T episode never aired on Comedy Central? That would seem to be strange oversight, as I recall seeing most of that season on CC and that was one of the more talked-about episodes from that year.
Going by an old Usenet post from when it aired on NBC in '99 by someone who kept track of these things, it had one airing on Ha! and never aired on Comedy Central proper. It's definitely pretty strange with that ep's Fernando sketch (interviewing Hogan & T, which did get shown on clip shows in some form over the years) being one of the most well-remembered segments from that season along with "Male Synchronized Swimming" and Gumby et al in the deli. I would guess that it also aired on The Comedy Network in Canada since they showed the full 90 minute shows and aired episodes not in common rotation in the US.
 

Bryan^H

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Every season of SNL is worthwhile. I'd buy season 6 on the first day of release. Hoping Universal doesn't stop these fantastic season sets cold turkey. I'd love to see the Martin Short Billy Crystal seasons again.
 

Timothy E

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Originally Posted by Bryan^H
Every season of SNL is worthwhile. I'd buy season 6 on the first day of release. Hoping Universal doesn't stop these fantastic season sets cold turkey. I'd love to see the Martin Short Billy Crystal seasons again.
I would too. The tenth season with Billy Crystal and Martin Short is hilarious.
 

GuruAskew

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Last year Season 5 was announced in late August. August 25th, to be exact. We should know what Universal has planned within the next 5 or 6 weeks.

I personally wouldn't count on ANY future season sets. I don't even think skipping to more popular seasons is a given. The first 5 are unique in the history of SNL in that there was a substantial amount of people who stayed on throughout the whole 5-year period (though there were obviously high-profile departures) and the whole era definitively ended at a singular moment.

Deciding where to pick up after that becomes a lot trickier. Does Universal suck it up and release obscure and controversial seasons doomed to sell less than the iconic first five? If they skip do they skip to Lorne's return? To the arrival of certain castmembers? Hartman? Carvey? Myers? Farley? Do they then stick to the plan and release unpopular seasons featuring popular performers like the infamous Season 20?

Releasing the first five was a no-brainer. After that it all becomes complicated to the point where it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they ONLY released the first five in this format. We were all pleased with the releases we got (barring the people upset over the bumper controversey) but there's no plan for future seasons that would be similarly well-received.

Again, we should know within a few weeks, but if September rolls around with no announcement whatsoever I won't be surprised.
 

SilverWook

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Maybe if they were offered exclusively through the NBC website or something? Shout Factory has been doing that with shows they didn't think would sell a lot of copies.
 

Ethan Riley

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I still think the first five seasons are going to remain unique in that particular line and in that particular packaging style. Anything else would be a revamp, really. If you think of it, everything past those first five years is really another show--there's no continuity in terms of cast members, etc. It should be treated as such. If they really want to put the Ebersol years on dvd, it should be in different packaging and probably not say "Season 6, Season 7 and so on;" it should just state the years, not the seasons. I really don't see seasons 6 and onward in those leatherette blue boxes.
 

Claude North

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Originally Posted by Bryan^H
Every season of SNL is worthwhile. I'd buy season 6 on the first day of release. Hoping Universal doesn't stop these fantastic season sets cold turkey. I'd love to see the Martin Short Billy Crystal seasons again.
The year that season 6 aired was the year that my parents started letting me stay up as long as I wanted on non-school nights, so that season was the first that I was able to watch. As a result, I thought of the new cast as "my" SNL cast -- the previous cast was so 1979 in my book. To this day, I have a real fondness for that season and would definitely buy it.

I imagine that I'm not the only viewer who feels that way. It might not be the biggest seller, but I think it would sell.
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by Claude North
The year that season 6 aired was the year that my parents started letting me stay up as long as I wanted on non-school nights, so that season was the first that I was able to watch. As a result, I thought of the new cast as "my" SNL cast -- the previous cast was so 1979 in my book. To this day, I have a real fondness for that season and would definitely buy it.

I imagine that I'm not the only viewer who feels that way. It might not be the biggest seller, but I think it would sell.
I disagree. They need a new strategy. They can't just keep numbering the seasons and expect diminishing returns to not be in effect. I predict that Season 6 would sell about 10% of whatever Season 5 sold. And that said, it will absolutely kill the chances for the "good" seasons that came afterward. It's time to skip ahead to the better seasons and just put the years on the cover, not the season number.
 

Cheetah

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Originally posted by Ethan Riley

I disagree. They need a new strategy. They can't just keep numbering the seasons and expect diminishing returns to not be in effect. I predict that Season 6 would sell about 10% of whatever Season 5 sold. And that said, it will absolutely kill the chances for the "good" seasons that came afterward. It's time to skip ahead to the better seasons and just put the years on the cover, not the season number.

Due to the nature of SNL, after the release of the first 5 seasons there may well be diminishing sales, but I don’t see it being due the issue of having successive season numbers on the packaging. The different casts & eras make SNL a unique situation for DVD releases. In that respect SNL has the best of both worlds, each season is still of course part of the SNL franchise and under the same title. Throughout each season each thing that has been more or less constant is the show's format (guest hosts, sketches, commercial parodies, news segments and musical guests) which in turn gives every season a commonality. However each individual era reflects a different social & political reality which is addressed by different groups of casts and writers. This would alleviate much if not all of the problem of diminishing sales that are shown with most other TV show releases (more of the same old) as each era is still part of the same program but yet distinct enough that they could almost be considered by some (namely those that only had an interest in specific eras) as a new series release.

As far as season 6, I have a hard time thinking that the sales would be only 10% of whatever season 5 sold. In addition to the sales from completists, that season’s underexposure in reruns has many people curious about it. Many would want to watch it for themselves to form their own opinion and not necessarily accept what they read or what someone had told them.

I recently was transferring over my VHS copies of that season along with the entire Ebersol era onto DVD and season 6 is indeed underrated. It has a unique part in SNLs history coming right after the original era which makes it fascinating to watch. I definitely prefer it over a couple of seasons from this past decade and if others were given the chance to watch it they may agree. Those that had watched season 6 when it originally aired may possibly in hindsight not judge it so harshly. Its cast after all had followed directly on the heels of the original cast and therefore they were held to a near impossible standard. At that time the original era is all anyone could compare it to.

Among a couple of things that some to mind that season are Charles Rocket’s Rocket Reports which I find quite entertaining, it was a great season for musical guests not to mention my favorite closing theme for the goodnights/credits. It has in my opinion one of the (if not the) hottest cast member in the history of the show in Gail Matthius. Of course any fan of Murphy & Piscopo would not have their collection of those cast members tenures on the show complete unless they owned a copy of season 6.
 

Ethan Riley

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Originally Posted by Cheetah


Due to the nature of SNL, after the release of the first 5 seasons there may well be diminishing sales, but I don’t see it being due the issue of having successive season numbers on the packaging. The different casts & eras make SNL a unique situation for DVD releases. In that respect SNL has the best of both worlds, each season is still of course part of the SNL franchise and under the same title. Throughout each season each thing that has been more or less constant is the show's format (guest hosts, sketches, commercial parodies, news segments and musical guests) which in turn gives every season a commonality. However each individual era reflects a different social & political reality which is addressed by different groups of casts and writers. This would alleviate much if not all of the problem of diminishing sales that are shown with most other TV show releases (more of the same old) as each era is still part of the same program but yet distinct enough that they could almost be considered by some (namely those that only had an interest in specific eras) as a new series release.

As far as season 6, I have a hard time thinking that the sales would be only 10% of whatever season 5 sold. In addition to the sales from completists, that season’s underexposure in reruns has many people curious about it. Many would want to watch it for themselves to form their own opinion and not necessarily accept what they read or what someone had told them.
I'm just saying that continuing to number them as "Volume 6, Volume 7" and so on is what causes diminishing sales. They simply need to start going by years and then casual collectors wouldn't get bent out of shape, thinking that they have to buy every season. It's weird logic, but true in almost every kind of collecting in which numbering determines the release. (And especially true in tv-on-dvd, I might add). But I have a hard time believing that any true SNL fan wouldn't consider Season 6 to be the worst in the long-running show's history (an' that's sayin' something). You may think it's underrated, but I thought that season was potting soil compared to the 5 glory years before it. That season almost got the show cancelled for good. Season 7 was at least 10 times better. I'm not suggesting that Season 6 doesn't deserve to be seen on dvd--it does--but it's only ever going to enjoy a very small niche audience for its sales. Hardcore collectors will want it, and a very small number of curiosity seekers, who would buy it simply to see if it was as bad as people say.

I think they should just skip the Ebersol years for the moment and put out the "Dream Team" Season 10; ah yes--the Fernando season; who doesn't love that one? It would be mahvelous! And then they should skip Season 11 (gahhh!!!) and start cherry-picking through some of the more popular eras of the late 80s and early 90s. With so many, many good and memorable seasons to come, they shouldn't stumble over the incredibly bad seasons 6 and 11 this early in the game.
 

Stephen Wight

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I've been visiting a couple of SNL forums,recently,to see if anybody posted any quazi official insider type of news as to if there'll be another season set released,and what season it will be. So far,no luck. All they want to post about is recent stuff;crap like Gilly(whoever that is),MacGruber,who should host this year,etc. I don't even think they know that SNL has been released in season sets,as I couldn't find any threads on that topic. Will more season sets be released? I was hoping we would have heard something by now. If there's now news,within the next couple of weeks,I'm going to be very disappointed.
 

Andrew Radke

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You and I both Stephen. I've enjoyed these sets a great deal, and would really love to keep collecting them. My heart almost skipped a beat 2 days ago when I get an e-mail from TSoD with a news item for SNL..........only to find it was for a single-disc Christmas themed release. At this point, I'm starting to have serious doubts about any more being released....period. God I hope I'm wrong.
 

Stephen Wight

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I had a similar reaction,Andrew. Talk about a major letdown. Isn't that going to be the same Christmas DVD that's been released before,except with many of the older skits cut out and more recent ones put in their place?Similar to what was done with the last SNL Goes Commercial DVD. Still no news on season set front. /img/vbsmilies/htf/confused.gif
 

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