Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season, 1975-1976

Groundbreaking Season
For several years, I stayed up well past 2am on Saturday nights hoping to catch reruns of the classic, full SNL shows from 1975-1980. NBC was re-airing some of these great programs in their entirety (not "best of" packages) with few exceptions, starting in the late 1990s in most NBC outlets. Unfortunately, the original cast shows were the exception and the Dana Carvey and/or Will Farrell years were the norm. After several years, I managed to videotape about 25-30 original cast shows, but only about 4 from the first season.

Younger audiences unfamiliar with the original SNL will likely be surprised by a number of things in viewing this great collection. Firstly, for those of us who remember, SNL was the most weird and cutting-edge show to be found in those days. The concept of "late night" television was certainly not then what it is today either. There really is no "late night" anymore, what with hundreds of cable/satellite channels and the Internet to keep us entertained...

Restored to original format & titles, but no technical restoration.
I must say that it is absolutely great that we can finally see the shows as they were originally broadcast (minus the 25 minutes of commercials that I hated sitting through). This is SNL in its prime. In seeing these uncut shows, you will see just how good the original cast was. Just one show from this season is better than any yearly "Best Of" they can put together from the current cast.

THE DOWN SIDE: There has been little effort made to restore the 30+ year old videotapes. The picture is often soft with color bleeding to the right of objects on screen. This is not the original way we saw the series live, so some restoration would have been nice. Other shows have gotten better DVD treatment.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW if you never saw the first season live:
1) Take away the 25 minutes of commercials and these "90 Minute" shows only run 65 minutes.
2) In those days the show was NOT called "Saturday Night Live", that title was used by sportscaster Howard...

This Set Is Plush and Deluxe-A Fan's Treasure
I will tell you now that my review is primarily about the box set itself. It's so nice and something that a fan of the show will really treasure.

SNL The Complete First Season (1975-1976) is a really sweet collectors item. A fan of SNL really would be pleased with this first season set release. Hopefully, the quality of future sets will measure up to the dedication and effort put into the first season set. If you have purchased those SNL "Best of Sets" in the past, don't even compare those to this release. This is a really nice deluxe box set.

The 1975-1976 cast were the one's who got the ball rolling with the series. Cast members from the debut season were Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtain, Chevy Chase, Garrett Morris, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner. Surely these names ring a bell to you. The majority of the cast members went on to have successful film and television careers in the 1980's.

The great thing about the DVD box set is that it...

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Parenthood: Season One

Beautiful Show
I enjoyed this show right from the beginning, but as each episode aired I fell more and more in love. The writing is intelligent and incredibly full of depth - the characters in this family have been developed in such a way that I honestly feel like I know them in real life . . . they mirror such traits that are so often found in everyone's family. The acting is absolutely top-notch. Peter Krause and Lauren Graham shine in every episode and do a nice job of anchoring as the oldest siblings. The younger two siblings, played by Dax Shepard and Erika Christensen, also give surprisingly poignant, and often hilarious, performances. As if that weren't enough, add in Monica Potter, Craig T. Nelson, Mae Whitman, and Bonnie Bedelia to perfectly round out the cast. One of my favorite things about this show is how it has lovely balance of drama and humor. Just as in real life, the most heart-wrenching of dilemmas will be quickly followed by a hilarious quip (usually perfectly delivered by Lauren...

A Breath Of Fresh Air
Parenthood swept onto the airwaves mid-season this past year and filled in a void on television. As the title of my review says, the show was a real breath of fresh air. I have never been one for procedurals and doctors and lawyers, and we get a lot of that on network TV. So, it was nice to see a family show come on that was just about people. It's not flashy, or gimmicky, or trying to be hip and edgy(which most other shows fall all over themselves trying to be and end up looking and feeling like everything else). Given it's pedigree (coming from a wonderful 1989 hit film and a cute 1990-91 series)from executive producers Ron Howard, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel, it had a lot going for it. So, let's jump right in....

The series is not about the same family in the 1989 movie or previous series. It's a whole new family. They are the Bravermans, and they reside in Berkley, California. The patriarchs of the family are Zeek and Camille Braverman(Craig T. Nelson, Bonnie...

A great show
This is one of the best shows on TV. Real-life drama that gets to your heart because it's stuff that actually happens in real life. You'll find yourself relating to these characters and yearning to find out what is going to happen next. Add in the subtle humor, great videography and there's not much more you need in a TV show. The actors/actresses all do a beautiful job in playing their parts. Can't wait to see what comes next in Parenthood!

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