All 45 seasons of SNL coming to Peacock Streaming

True.

Also, his fault or not, he didn't have the Groundlings/Second City type background. He wasn't "bad" in the sketches and

There was only 20min of episode 12 (80-81) available online at Peacock. The Bill Murray opening was intact.

 

Sometimes they get it wrong though, and the last sketch is killer. But usually not.

A few that come to mine
1) Chris Farley as "El Nino" done as a WWF/WWE style interview.
2) Apple picking skit from a few years ago. I'm not sure how well it resonated outside of New York State, but classic sketch for New Yorkers. I won't give away any jokes in case anyone hasn't seen it and wants to.

 

Speaking of edits, something else I remember: In the fall of 1981, the first five seasons of SNL were syndicated. They offered two versions of the show, one 30 minutes and the other 60 minutes.

The 60-minute version was officially called "Saturday Night." They "resembled" the original shows, but were cut down to one hour including breaks. Sometimes that meant a guest act would be left out and they'd have to revise the show opening to edit names out.

Also, in the early seasons, they eliminated NBC's name from the title of the show, so where it was originally "NBC's Saturday Night," now it was just "Saturday Night." If they had to redo the opening, they completely redubbed the audio and brought Don Pardo in to redo the announcing. They would dub in recorded crowd noise and it would fade in right as Chevy Chase said, "live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" -- and it was very obvious that it was dubbed. Also, I seem to recall often seeing what looked like "jump cuts" just prior to the monologues when the revised intro reverted to the original tape.

They did take great care to use the right opening montages for the right seasons. Now, starting towards the end of the second season when the show started being called "NBC's Saturday Night Live," Don Pardo *usually* said "Saturday Night Live" in the revised opening titles, but in a few cases he said "Saturday Night" even though the on-screen title said "Saturday Night Live."

Also, he corrected his on-air "The Not FOR READY Prime Time Players" goof in the series premiere and said it correctly.

Anyway -- I read the Hill/Weingrad book and they noted how Rob Reiner's monologue in show #3 bombed. I had only seen the one-hour version of the show in reruns and I didn't remember him doing a monologue at all -- Pardo introduced him, then Reiner took the stage and immediately introduced John Belushi as Joe Cocker.

When I got the DVDs, I realized this wasn't part of the monologue segment at all -- Belushi's Joe Cocker routine actually appeared very late in the show, but in the syndicated version, they moved it up near the top of the show and dropped the monologue altogether. I wonder how much of that kind of thing was done in the one-hour syndicated shows, and whether they mixed and matched any segments from one show to another, or if they were 100% true at least to the night something was performed.

The half-hour syndicated version was called "THE BEST OF Saturday Night," and it was much more obvious that it was a "best of." They didn't even pretend to present the footage in its original form. At the end of a skit, there would often be a freeze-frame and then the image would cross-fade to an Edie Baskin style "added color" watercolor-ish picture.

But oddly, the half-hour edits sometimes included skits left out of the one-hour edits. One example was "Pre-Chew Charlie's" from the show Chevy Chase guest-hosted in Season 5. It was cut out of the one-hour syndicated show, but it was in the half-hour version.

In Chicago, WGN-Channel 9 ran the one-hour shows for a few years, and when their run ended, WFLD-Channel 32 carried the half-hour version. I later saw the one-hour version of the show again on WWOR.

 

That's weird--at least some of those sketches were included in the Netflix/Hulu versions.

 

I remember the WWOR (channel 9) reruns in the NYC area. I also have a very vague memory of the Nick at Night cable network running the 30-minute shows for a while, as well.

 

That's a relief, but just in case there is something you missed, I have the fourth and fifth season on DVD, since, to me, those were the two most risque seasons. I'd be surprised if some things weren't cut out of those.

 

I discovered the Hill/Weingrad book in college (mid-90s), and it was a revelation. I knew the classic SNL sketches from the cut-down, syndicated reruns, and "best-of" television specials and VHS tapes. The authors had access to the full shows for their research, and there was plenty of things I didn't know when I read it. I had no idea there had been a live broadcast from New Orleans that was a total disaster, for example - all video evidence of that show was out of circulation until it was included in one if the DVD sets much later. The Milton Berle episode was also new to me, as I think it had been withdrawn as well.

If I remember correctly, the authors sort-of implied that Laraine Newman's career was in dire straits when the book was published, five years after she left the show. Fast forward to 2020, and she's had an extraordinarily successful second career as a voice actress for the animation industry.

 

I remember the Mardi Gras show actually was rerun around 1981 or 1982-ish. This was just after the first five years episodes were syndicated and it was probably the only thing NBC had with the original cast that they could show at the time.

There were 106 shows during the first five seasons. The syndicated package had 102. I know the Milton Berle one was missing (although I am sure I remember seeing the "Village Persons" skit -- maybe in first run or during the 1979-80 "Best Of SNL" prime time series). I'm not sure which other ones were missing. I know the Louise Lasser show was supposed to be "forbidden" from being rerun, but it was definitely in the WGN syndicated package as I have an audio tape of it.

 

Holy crap !!!

Call me Rip Van Winkle !

I watched SNL for about 4 or 5 years and that's the only incarnation I know. I realize Eddie Murphy and a host of others were of the main cast later on...but my only real knowledge of them is The Primetime Players. Seems just like yesterday Chevy Chase left the troupe.


45 years !! Wow.

 

I was very young when this originally aired and the early 80s seasons have long been ignored later on, outside of some Eddie Murphy sketches. I do have vague memories of the show at closer to the mid 80s and of course watch more as I got into high school.

All that to say, while the episode wasn't very good, they had a bit during a not good Weekend Update, that kind of just, I don't know was historically chilling.

During Weekend Update, they "went to the streets" to get info on the secretive new John Lennon album and they went to the Dakota, noted how fans wait outside (and you can see them) and then try to interview the doorman and sanitation people.

This aired in November 1980, so it was a little surreal to watch this footage at the Dakota in what would be weeks before Lennon was killed.

 

I think SNL relies heavily on topical humor and current events, meaning the relevancy might be lost now.

 

A season which will live in infamy.

 

Wouldn't have been earlier that year, when Father Guido Sarduchi would be waiting to interview Paul & Linda?

 

Here's what I don't get about SNL on Peacock: I understand them editing out the musical performances, but why are some episodes like 27 minutes long? Also, why are there so many episodes totally missing in some seasons? Like, I went straight to Season 10 (the VIP season with Billy Crystal, Martin Short, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer) to look for a specific episode hosted by Rob Reiner, and it's nowhere to be found.

 

That sounds absolutely horrible!

 

Yes, I believe that was the next to last show of the original SNL, hosted by Steve Martin (5/17/1980).

In the BBC interview John and Yoko did with Andy Peebles on 12/6/1980, John mentioned an SNL skit about himself and Yoko which must have aired the prior weekend or maybe the one before. IIRC it had to do with a role-reversal and Lennon's self-described role as 'househusband."

 

Wow. What if they had done that skit the weekend before it happened? The perp might have been in it.

I was actually watching that night -- couldn't believe the whole cast and crew from one of my favorite shows just up and quit and yet NBC decided to keep the show going anyway -- but I don't have any recollection of that bit. But it was 40 years ago, and maybe I'd gone to bed by then.

 

Rob Reiner didn't host in season 10. Michael McKean did, and I think Rob was shown in the audience.

 

From the Malcolm McDowell episode, November 22, 1980, with McDowell playing John (and sounding more Scottish than Scouse):

 

Incidentally, although he eventually became a solid character actor before his death, I'd forgotten just how awful Charles Rocket was on Weekend Update!

 

The musical performances are the only reason I'd watch a lot of the old shows, especially after the original cast left.

 

Exactly. I want to watch those episodes in their entirety. Fine if they cannot include the musical performances. But remove half of the skits? Makes no sense.

 

I thought the first sketch was decent

 

Lorne Michaels contract was up and they couldn't reach an agreement so he left. Everyone else had been hired by Lorne so many also left out of loyalty. Whoever remained bolted when they announced that the wildly unqualified Jean Doumanian was the new boss.

 

My sister and I were watching the last show of the 1979-80 season where Buck Henry announced that SNL would be back the following year, but "not with the same people, of course, but an entirely new cast." He then proceeded to introduce the supposed "new cast," who were actually "behind-scenes" people including Don Pardo and Walter Williams.

I thought it was just a comedy bit, but then a few weeks later, my dad told me he had heard on the news that it was true, SNL was going to have a new producer and an entirely new cast. I couldn't believe it, and I couldn't imagine how it could possibly work. This was a hugely popular show and although the current season was challenging with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi having left, it was still a pretty big deal.

On a retrospective special, I remember Gilbert Gottfried likening the situation to a scenario where The Beatles suddenly replaced John, Paul, George and Ringo with four new Beatles. Having been a fan at the time, that was a good analogy!

Earlier, I remember saying to my mother (who sometimes watched with us) that I thought Bill Murray might quit after the current season (he'd made a few movies and I figured he'd follow Aykroyd and Belushi to Hollywood). I guess I was right, but I never imagined the whole cast would leave en masse like that. (I wasn't aware of the "codependency," for lack of a better word, between Lorne Michaels and his cast and crew, that if he left, they left.)

And the "new" version of the show did indeed crash and burn, because that crew was not replaceable. However, against all odds, the show eventually did recover.