Shout Factory to Release Fridays (1 Viewer)

[Mark Y]

Best Of set:

http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Fridays-The-Best-Of/18433

 

[Radioman970]

Bummer, but pre-ordered. What can I do? I just hope it has the complete Shatner and Luke/Laura episodes. Plus select music performances like Devo...

thanks for the heads up Mark!

Note:
It's being listed at 17.5 hours. Not quite 58 episodes... I hope things get worked out and there's a followup set. I guess I"ll keep my homemade DVDs I have. Sure didn't want to watch those things again. Darn music rights problems!!

 

[BobO'Link]

Yep... bummer! But I pre-ordered anyway. I'm now hoping it's not a pre-cursor to a full-fleged release and we'll get burned but I just can't *not* get this one! It helps that the price seems pretty good (for now) for a series from Shout! whose product frequently gets little discounts.

 

[Radioman970]

They should give us a slight discount if we send in the UPC symbol for this if they do a complete set. Jut putting that out there...

 

[Ejanss]

I watched both shows during that period. I can say without a doubt that, in spite of pretty much being a clone of SNL, Fridays was the better program. (Edited to add): I also was a loyal SNL viewer from the first episode. We'd all gather at *someone's* house on Saturday nights *just to watch*. It was truly "event" TV and tended to lead discussions for a few days.

Although, at the time, I remember the general widespread opinion that the show was SO freakislhly unfunny, it seemed to have come from Mars.
The "How much of SNL were they stealing?" gripes turned into a whole abstract debate of "Why does NYC know how to be funny (in the late-70's/early-80's) and LA doesn't?" The discussions on that suggested some interesting cultural points: NYC is a "real" city and has real troubles to be funny about--Politics, headlines, the rat race of 9-5 workers, a city lived-in long enough to start bringing out all those personal grumbles that erupt when a half-million people are crammed into a small space... In LA, they're less experienced about being a city--They don't have seasons, and half the town is too preoccupied with celebrities, they don't really pay much attention to the rest of the world, and they find their own life funny: Drugs, trends, wacky minorities, drugs, annoyingly rich people, drugs, and, of course, drugs.
It didn't help that Lorne Michaels originally saw SNL as a "headline comedy" show back at the beginning, and had gotten his first cast from the two Second Cities that had experience at doing improv comedy bits on short notice. They WORKED for a living.

I'm guessing the revisionist love for the show isn't just about "Andy Kaufman was on it!" or "Two Seinfeld people started on it", I just remember, we wanted to get rid of this show so badly, somehow...Those who wonder how MadTV stayed so long on Fox somehow will probably understand.

 

[Radioman970]

"freakishly unfunny" I think it was a matter of taste, maybe age too. I was 14 or so... thought everything on it was completely naughty, cool and hilarious.

 

[Mark Y]

"freakishly unfunny" I think it was a matter of taste, maybe age too. I was 14 or so... thought everything on it was completely naughty, cool and hilarious.

I remembered SNL of the era being pretty impressive for a 90-minute live show done three times a month. Watched a bunch in fairly recent times (since the DVDs came out) and after a while started to get annoyed with all the drug references. I liked Fridays too, looking forward to seeing it again, but bracing myself for a letdown. Should still be fun.

 

[Radioman970]

Oh, I agree! A few things about SNL bothered me too. I hate that it doesn't capture the same feelings it did originally. I just need to be 12 again and watching it downstairs while the folks are asleep right above the TV (true!) lol

I have those homemade copies of Friday's and it is definitely a mixed bag. But I truly still love what I loved before for the most part. And the music acts that shout was able to get will most definitely be worth the price of admission. It can be tough, but I can still get myself in that frame of mind sometimes (without drugs, lol) and leave current behind and just go back. It's easier when I'm vacationing from work like I did last week. I won't have that again until next year unfortunately. Fridays' would be a terrific watch while I was vacationing...

 

[Ejanss]

I remembered SNL of the era being pretty impressive for a 90-minute live show done three times a month. Watched a bunch in fairly recent times (since the DVDs came out) and after a while started to get annoyed with all the drug references. I liked Fridays too, looking forward to seeing it again, but bracing myself for a letdown. Should still be fun.

Father Guido Sarducci might've dropped a few drug references for his audience in his monologues, and John Belushi might've let it slip, oh...one or two times. But SNL rarely wrote whole SKETCHES around drug jokes. Nor were they the central concept for running-sketch premises. The cast might've been a bit snowdrifted off-camera, but on camera, drugs simply weren't their own punchline. (At least, not until the Joe Piscopo years.)

Fridays was just...I dunno...watching Left Coasters try to tell a joke. Wow, geez, no kidding, they really DON'T know how, do they?

 

[BobO'Link]

Although, at the time, I remember the general widespread opinion that the show was SO freakislhly unfunny, it seemed to have come from Mars.
The "How much of SNL were they stealing?" gripes turned into a whole abstract debate of "Why does NYC know how to be funny (in the late-70's/early-80's) and LA doesn't?" The discussions on that suggested some interesting cultural points: NYC is a "real" city and has real troubles to be funny about--Politics, headlines, the rat race of 9-5 workers, a city lived-in long enough to start bringing out all those personal grumbles that erupt when a half-million people are crammed into a small space... In LA, they're less experienced about being a city--They don't have seasons, and half the town is too preoccupied with celebrities, they don't really pay much attention to the rest of the world, and they find their own life funny: Drugs, trends, wacky minorities, drugs, annoyingly rich people, drugs, and, of course, drugs.
It didn't help that Lorne Michaels originally saw SNL as a "headline comedy" show back at the beginning, and had gotten his first cast from the two Second Cities that had experience at doing improv comedy bits on short notice. They WORKED for a living.

I'm guessing the revisionist love for the show isn't just about "Andy Kaufman was on it!" or "Two Seinfeld people started on it", I just remember, we wanted to get rid of this show so badly, somehow...Those who wonder how MadTV stayed so long on Fox somehow will probably understand.

There's a lot of truth there but as I originally posted SNL was in severe decline when Fridays began its run. While I enjoyed the series, and liked it better than SNL during the same time period, I was one of those proclaiming it a SNL clone/wannabe during the initial run. It can't hold a candle to the first 4 seasons of SNL. I disliked Kaufman then and still do. I've never found him to be particularly funny. I watched Fridays as much for Melanie Chartoff as anything else and it was a good fill in for the ailing SNL which was *less* funny in those years than Fridays at its worst (and it could be pretty bad). But when Fridays was "good" it could be very good. It will be interesting to see these episodes after all these years.

 

[BobO'Link]

Note:

It's being listed at 17.5 hours. Not quite 58 episodes... I hope things get worked out and there's a followup set. I guess I"ll keep my homemade DVDs I have. Sure didn't want to watch those things again. Darn music rights problems!!

Shout has a details page up. They show it to be 16 episodes on 5 discs "...With vintage musical performances (including Devo, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Cars, The Clash, KISS and more) as well as the show’s infamous guest appearances by the legendary Andy Kaufman..."

Kaufman was only on 3 times. Guess it means the "infamous" Marijuana sketch will be included but that entire show was pretty bad due to Kaufman. I still remember how unfunny that one was as Kaufman seemed to be trying to be unliked (of course that was his schtick so I guess he succeded on that one...).

 

[Radioman970]

16 shows. Well, not bad for a sampler. But I have high hopes they'll get the rest of the series out if this sells really well.

I'm a big Kaufman fan so it'll be all good. I have the famous appearance by him on my homemade copies of the show and it's still fun, but I was surprised to learn that some thought it was real. I wasn't even fooled when I watched the original airing. I don't think I had yet caught on to Andy's act (fully, anyway) but I knew it was just the show doing it's thing.

Very excited about this release. One I'd lost all hope for...

 

[Mr. Handley]

I'm also in for this release. I was 14 when Fridays debuted and I loved all the drug references, etc. I'm still holding out hope for a full series release someday, but this'll do for now. The musical guests were almost always top-notch.

 

[BobO'Link]

16 shows. Well, not bad for a sampler. But I have high hopes they'll get the rest of the series out if this sells really well.

I'm a big Kaufman fan so it'll be all good. I have the famous appearance by him on my homemade copies of the show and it's still fun, but I was surprised to learn that some thought it was real. I wasn't even fooled when I watched the original airing. I don't think I had yet caught on to Andy's act (fully, anyway) but I knew it was just the show doing it's thing.

Very excited about this release. One I'd lost all hope for...

Kaufman seems to be either a "You like Him" or "You don't like him" with little in between. I'm firmly in the "don't like" camp. IMHO his absolute best performances were on Taxi but I really didn't care for him on that show either. I've read that off camera he was a really sweet and reserved guy. A complete about face of his on-stage persona.

I did a bit of reading on his appearances to see what we're getting. The first appearance was as host on the Marijuana Skit program (S2E31). The second was a videotaped apology which aired the week following the Marijuana Skit (S2E32 - hosted by Billy Crystal) and continuing the farce. The third was later that year (S3E1) when he hosted again. There was a bit in that show where he announced he and Kathie Sullivan (a Lawrence Welk Show gospel/standards singer) were engaged. They sang a gospel song (or two?) together and he talked about his newfound faith in Jesus (Kaufman was Jewish). That whole segment was another joke. Later Kaufman was supposed to introduce the band The Pretenders but instead he delivered a nervous speech about the harmfulness of drugs (this followed a sketch about a drug-abusing pharmacist) while the band stood behind him ready to play. After his speech he told the audience that he had talked too long and they had to go to a commercial. The Pretenders later got to perform "The Adultress," "Message of Love" and "Louie, Louie."

It would be nice to know just which episodes are included other than those. I did a bit of research and came up with these based on the list of musical guests.

Devo (3 appearances): S1E6 - no host; S2E8 - no host; S3E3 with hosts Tony Geary and Genie Francis (ABC soap stars - General Hospital)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: S1E8 - no host
The Cars (2 appearances): S2E15 - no host; S3E12 with host Valerie Harper
The Clash: S1E3 - no host
KISS: S3E15 with host Tab Hunter

So it looks like a done deal for S1E8, S1E3, and S3E15 as those were the only appearances by those musical guests. That makes 6 episodes we know for sure will be included. I'd almost guess they'll include all Devo and The Cars appearances simply because it would seem to be easier for music licensing but we won't know for sure until later.

 

[Radioman970]

Luke & Laura. That's 1 of 2. Just need Shatner and it's worth my money. The Shatner musical guest was Kim Carnes. I didn't even remember that, just that The Shat was hilarious with moments that look like self mocking, but you never know with The Shat.

 

[BobO'Link]

Yep... The episode with Shatner would be a fantastic inclusion! Based on the musical guests I'd like to see the episodes with Heart, Pat Benetar, Warren Zevon, King Crimson (with guest host Peter Fonda), and George Thorogood (with guest host George Carlin for a double wish).

 

[LeonaB]

Do we know if this "best of" set is going to have whole, complete episodes? What if (heaven forbid) they just do what they consider "best of" segments.

 

[BobO'Link]

Do we know if this "best of" set is going to have whole, complete episodes? What if (heaven forbid) they just do what they consider "best of" segments.

Shout's site shows the set to consist of 16 episodes (link in post 31). With the ~1050 minute runtime shown on Amazon that's about 65 minutes per show which is about right for late night programming in that era filling a 1 1/2 hour time slot.

 

[Radioman970]

Yep... The episode with Shatner would be a fantastic inclusion! Based on the musical guests I'd like to see the episodes with Heart, Pat Benetar, Warren Zevon, King Crimson (with guest host Peter Fonda), and George Thorogood (with guest host George Carlin for a double wish).

I remember watching the Thorogood one at my grandma's. I immediately called my cousin and he was watching it too. We thought Bad to the Bone was the coolest song in the history of songs.

 

[John Stell]

I hope the "Diner of the Living Dead" skit is on here somewhere. It created a bit of controversy at the time.