After Johnny Carson's request that NBC stop airing Best of Carson on the weekends, the network wanted to fill the gap with a 90-minute variety show. Former Laugh-In writer Lorne Michaels was hired to run the show, and the rest is television history, but how many people actually know the entire history? The Not Ready for Prime Time Players, "I'm Chevy Chase. And you're not," and The Bees have made their way into the pop culture collective consciousness, but how many fans remember The Mighty Favog, Jamitol, and cast member George Coe?
After finally securing music clearances, although it could just easily have been held up by some of the performers not wanting their former hairstyles revealed, The Complete First Season of Saturday Night Live is coming to home video, even though that wasn't the name of the show. ABC aired Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell a month earlier, so the show was called NBC's Saturday Night. After Cosell's show was canceled, Michaels took the program's name and its cast member Bill Murray.
Viewers get to see how the show progressed into its traditional format. During the first couple of episodes, the focus was more on variety than the sketch comedy it would be known for. George Carlin hosted the first jam-packed episode. He delivered routines, like "Baseball and Football," and introduced the acts, ranging from the first of six Albert Brooks' short films, comedians Valri Bromfield and Andy Kaufman, who performed his brilliant "Mighty Mouse," and Jim Henson's Muppets, who were very different from the ones your children watched on Sesame Street.
Music has always been a mainstay, but never so much as this season. The premiere episode had Billy Preston and Janis Ian each perform two songs. The following week offered 11 musical numbers, which was a natural fit for host Paul Simon, including the second time Simon and Garfunkel performed together publicly after their split in 1970. They sound absolutely fantastic on "The Boxer" with only Simon on guitar for accompaniment. The musical numbers appeared at different times throughout the show and offered a wide range of artists, such as Gil Scott-Heron, Anne Murray, Neil Sedaka, Jimmy Cliff, Desi Arnaz, Patti Smith, Leon Redbone, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, ABBA, who lip-synched, and a pre-recorded Carly Simon, who was reportedly too nervous to perform in front of a live audience.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
As I suffer through this tepid season of SNL, it's nice to know I can go back and revisit the experience on DVD. I was there from the very first episode, a young kid watching on a small B&W TV in my room. I was hooked from the start.
It's sometimes fortunate to be in on something like SNL from the very beginning (I feel the same about "24" which I watched from the first season- first episode). People who start watching later on become fascinated, but they never have that fresh experience and the feeling of being in on something that's going to get much bigger.
2 - El Bicho
I agree, Victor. It's always tough to go back view influential things and realize how groundbreaking they were for the time.
Although I couldn't make it through 24's first season. It got a tad too ridiculous for a drama.