Question about SNL-related specials (1 Viewer)

[Mark Y]

I'm looking forward to the forthcoming Saturday Night Live Season 3 release. I've been enjoying watching the shows released so far and it got me thinking about some of the specials that were done around that time, which featured some or all of the cast. I note that the Mardi Gras show was included in the Season 2 set, which got me thinking some of this material might make great extras for future season sets...until I realized that the Mardi Gras show wasn't "only" a special, but actually a special episode of the show (albeit aired on a Sunday, not from New York, and as part of NBC's "The Big Event" showcase). Anyway, I remember some of these one-shot shows airing in SNL's regular timeslot, such as "Bob & Ray, Jane, Laraine & Gilda," which I think was in the fourth or fifth season. Steve Martin did a special in late 1981 called "Steve Martin's Best Show Ever," which was done live from Studio 8H and featured most of the classic SNL cast, including John Belushi in one of his last TV appearances. I saw this show live when it first aired and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic SNL show, not in name, but definitely in spirit. (Belushi even plays the mother of the "Wild And Crazy Guys!")

But once I got to thinking about this, they did so many...Chevy Chase even did a few, including one routine where I'm not certain (this is just my faulty memory of something I saw once on TV over 25 years ago) but he goes into a deli and starts asking the guys a bunch of questions...and I now wonder if that was the same deli later frequented by David Letterman.

Then there was also the animated "Coneheads" special which I remember NBC in Chicago running at 10:45 on a Sunday night.

Anyone know who would own all this material? Would any of it belong to Broadway Video and/or Universal? Heck, even if Steve Martin would release a collection of his specials (like other comics such as Gallagher, Rodney Dangerfield, George Carlin and others have done) that would be really cool to have too!

Like I said...these would make great DVD extras for the SNL seasons...I'd also love to see Bill Murray's screen test. I wonder why that didn't make the cut for Season 2. (Great to have the Andy Kaufman one, though.)

 

[Derek Miner]

I would bet that Broadway Video owns - at the very least - the "Coneheads" animated special. NBC as the network might own some of the other material if it wasn't produced by the same entities as SNL, but that should make them available for tie-in release anyway.

 

[Corey3rd]

I just want Mr. Mike's Mondo Video on DVD. someone stole my VHS.

 

[Mark Y]

I can't believe I forgot to mention that one! I rented that on VHS some 20 years ago. Michael Nesmith released it through Pacific Arts (in fact, Pacific Arts if I'm not mistaken, also released the Bob & Ray special, "Things We Did Last Summer," and "The Rutles" through some deal with Broadway Video).

I remember that being released for midnight shows at some theatres, very briefly, around 1980. (Never saw it then, though.) One theatre by me (which is now the site of a Best Buy) had it on the marquee: "Mr. Mike's Mondo Video - Saturday Night Live Cast." Kind of like how they'd do midnight showings of "Rocky Horror."

I've looked for it since then, but that original VHS release goes for some good coin on ebaY these days...

 

[texboil]

The Czech Brothers sketch from Steve Martin's Best Show Ever is included as an extra on the latest DVD incarnation of The Best of Saturday Night Live: Steve Martin.

While I wouldn't complain if the aforementioned specials were included on future SNL sets, it reminds me of a parallel situation with the now-discontinued series of SCTV DVDs. Much of the SCTV cast went on to produce comedy specials for cable, and those specials -- much more ambitious and funnier than the SNL-related specials -- would have made fantastic extras on the SCTV sets. Surely it had to do with rights issues/money, as all these things do.

 

[Mark Y]

Yes. I am a big SCTV fan too. And the saddest thing about the SCTV DVDs is how the first three seasons ended up being glossed over, with only three shows from Season 2 and 12 from Season 3 being released in a Best Of set. (Season 1 wasn't represented at all -- I would think it would be a no-brainer to at least include the very first episode, for a set called "Best Of The Early Years.") I have heard no official word about this at all -- regarding the half-hours specifically -- but it wouldn't surprise me if the problem was all the recorded music they used, especially early on. There are a few redubs on the "Best Of" set (as there are on the Network 90 shows) but think about all the recorded music they used in the early seasons...every theme song or intro cue for every skit...Spike Jones's songs, etc. (Still, there are some conspiracy theorists who are suggesting Harold Ramis is withholding his appearances -- I don't buy that one, especially since he's seen in the extras on other DVDs and also in reused earlier skits on Volumes 1 and 2 -- plus his 1982 guest appearance.)

Maybe some day...I'd love to have a comprehensive set of those in their original form. (Sigh.)

 

[Jon Martin]

Also would love to see MR MIKE'S MONDO VIDEO.

It would fit as an extra.

An early version of New Line released it theatrically, but they had nothing to do with the Pacific Arts video release. Broadway still owns it now.

 

[texboil]

Yep, the issue certainly isn't Harold Ramis. But is the issue with Fridays Michael Richards?

Poor sales combined with music issues doomed the SCTV series. It's funny, but I thought at first that if they could get past the NBC shows -- with actual musical guests! -- that the first three series and Cinemax would be a comparative breeze.

The Best of the Early Years was anything but. Shout! Factory was working on a third series release at the time which is why the third series was so heavily represented.

The first three seasons are sorely missed on DVD, but I still think Shout! did the right thing releasing the NBC shows first. Most of those early episodes are rough comedically and extremely rough production-wise, with re-used sets, cheap props, etc.