Saturday Night Live - 25th Anniversary

Starring:Dan Aykroyd, Alec Baldwin, Candice Bergen, David Bowie, Garth Brooks, Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase, Billy Crystal, Will Ferrell, Al Franken, Ana Gasteyer, Sarah Michelle Gellar, John Goodman, Tom Hanks, Jan Hooks, Victoria Jackson, Jon Lovitz, Steve Martin, Tim Meadows, Dennis Miller
Director: Beth McCarthy-Miller, James Signorelli
Studio: Lions Gate
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Like many of the clips that make up the bulk of its content, the Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary special suffers from that malady specific to almost every SNL sketch: it starts out brilliantly, loses steam about halfway through, then slowly but gamely limps to the finish line with occasional spurts of humor. This special (which actually marks the show's 24th anniversary, but never you mind about those small details!) gathered almost all of the Saturday Night Live alumni--well, the funny ones, anyway--for a celebration of the show's entrenchment in the cultural landscape. It's basically an occasion to show a lot of clips, ranging in time from the Coneheads to Mary Katherine Gallagher, put together in a sprightly, rapid-pace manner and interspersed with occasional live audience-interaction bits. An hysterically funny Bill Murray kicks things off as a lounge singer at an Indian reservation casino who hobnobs with the celebrity audience members; Tom Hanks, a fave guest host, offers up a lively Q&A session (with a dryly funny Christopher Walken, among others); and Billy Crystal revives his Fernando persona to great effect. Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman, and Steve Martin provide the best cast tribute, warmly remembering John Belushi while wryly offering up memorabilia for online auction, and Jan Hooks introduces a heartfelt short film featuring her and the late Phil Hartman. Other cast members, with the notable absence of Eddie Murphy and the surprise appearance of Norm MacDonald, pop up for various intros of clips--some are funny (Dennis Miller), some are not (Adam Sandler), some are obviously uncomfortable (David Spade), but at about the halfway mark it all starts to wear on you, like most tribute shows. Still, the stable of classic skits (including a surprisingly strong showing from the current cast) make this worth sticking around for. And at least this time, unlike during the live broadcasts, you can fast-forward through the unfunny parts. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews:

Too much to cover in too short a time.......2007-03-21

This DVD functions more or less as an advertisement for the other SNL DVDs that have been and continue to be marketed by NBC. The 25th anniversary special on this DVD lasts 2.5 hours, which sounds like a long time, but it's not long enough to do justice to the talent that appeared on the shows over such a long period of time. As uneven as the show was from week to week and year to year, there was still a lot of great material--far too much to cover in this format in any satisfying way. As a result, the clips that are shown are soundbites of soundbites--often, just enough to cover a famous quote ("wild an crazy guys," etc.) with a touch of lead-in. This may be enough to evoke a smile of nostalgia from someone who's seen the skits, but that's about it. When the skits were originally aired, they usually went on too long, but here the DVD's producers err by going way too far in the opposite direction. I'm not sure how you could do a worthwhile retrospective of 25 years worth of programming that would fit on one DVD, but if it can't be done... maybe one shouldn't do it.

The DVD comes with three "extras": an interview of Lorne Michaels by Tim Russert, which is mildly interesting; the "day-after" coverage of the 25th anniversary show by a heinous TV show I never heard of, "Access Hollywood"; and promotional TV coverage by some other NBC news show, which featured clips that mostly overlapped with the special included on the DVD. Again I ask: Why put this material on a DVD? The so-called extras bring nothing to an already lackluster party.

All in all, disappointing.

By the way, for those who care, the Beastie Boys don't actually perform a number on the DVD. They play a couple of measures of one of their own songs before getting interrupted by Elvis Costello, and then they end up playing back-up for him.

great nostalgia.......2006-04-27

I only started watching SNL in early 2001 after moving to the US from Britain, and hadn't heard much of it before then apart from knowing that was where the Blues Brothers movie etc had originated. I soon became an avid watcher, partly because of a teeny weeny crush on Tina Fey but also because I loved Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon, amd later on, Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler.

I bought this DVD because I was keen to have a look for myself at some of the older stuff that other SNL fans were in raptures about. I have to say some of it was a bit dated, somewhat inevitably, but a lot of it was still very funny. I guess the people putting it together avoided topical political stuff, which quickly dates, although some of the stuff like impressions of various presidents holds up well.

On a slightly macabre level, I loved the opportunity to watch people who have since died, particularly the outstandingly charismatic performers such as John Belushi and Chris Farley. In fact, the funniest thing on the whole show for me was Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney - funny and sweet all at the same time!

The show is put together pretty smoothly, with current performers coming out and introducing each set of skits, which fits well with the DVD format since I can skip easily to the bits I regularly rewatch - I do think it could have been divided into shorter sections though. The introductions were quite variable in quality as other reviewers have pointed out, I was hoping for better things from Chris Rock and Adam Sandler for example. I was also a bit disappointed with the musical guests - it's a shame the Beastie Boys didn't get to play for real, and the Eurythimcs got too long, good though they were. I suppose the music had to a mix of up tempo and relaxing stuff to fit the mood of the show.

I really enjoyed the special features like the interviews with former cast members and with Lorne Michaels, and I loved watching all the stars turn up in their tuxedos and dresses - there was such a sense of anticipation beforehand! The atmosphere was clearly very convivial among the audience, one could tell that former anxieties and tensions were put aside for the evening and former cast members and writers were all very much aware that the show was much bigger than they ever were.

I really recommend this DVD for fans of SNL. Its the kind of show that you can dip into here and there according to your mood. Buy it and enjoy!

Excellent Collection .......2006-01-09

SNL- 25th Anniversary really shows the best of the best. Running about 2 hours and 40 minutes long, you get the history of the show for sure. The musical guests were excellent, and the tributes to the ones that have sadly passed on were touching and times very sad especially when Jon Lovitz can barely speak when having to give an intro to the memory of Phil Hartman because he is literally holding back tears.

This is a loving tribute to the first 25 years of SNL and I really do pray that it will go on for 25 more, and I really do think it will

Classic.... Just classic!.......2005-09-21

I haven't seen anything this funny in a long time. There doesn't seem to be anyone in Hollywood (who's funny) that isn't on this DVD. The old (Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtain, The Blues Brothers, etc.) and the newer (Mike Meyers, Chris Rock, Will Farrell, etc.). Some of the best SNL ever and the DVD has got to be over 3 hours long. I really enjoyed this and will watch it many times with my friends and family. You get your money's worth here, and more.

Okay anniversary REPEAT; let's just get each season released.......2005-06-19

This anniversary show was just okay the first time around-in 1989. That's right. If anyone taped that show(or owns it)there's a really good reason why THAT show, the 15th anniversary, isn't here-IT'S THE EXACT SAME SHOW!!! The 25th anniversary is not a taped rerun, mind you, but the EXACT same script(with minor changes in guests-which is understandable: some may not have been able to make this one). I thought that this was beyond surreal, when I first saw this one. I mean, it was down right just plain lazy on the writer's part. Am I the ONLY person to have caught this? C'mon, you guys!!! Anyway, since the 15th anniversary is no longer available here, no one else will ever know. Pathetic! As far as the show goes, itself, it's about as good-and bad-as the other criticism here explains. What really needs to be done is, as with any other TV show, start freaking releasing the seasons. I mean, they can stand on their own. Sadly, it'll only become more obvious that the writing became lazier-and less pointed-after the 70s. However, very little ever holds up to it's original incarnation-ie. original seasons(M*A*S*H, All in the Family, The Jackie Gleason Show, Texaco Star Theatre w/ Milton Berle, Bewitched, Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke). There are fans for most of the seasons, though. Anyway, if there are completists for shows like "X-Files" and "M*A*S*H", there are surely those for this show. Just get them out NOW-or be caught behind the times(really, with what's left of the big 70s-90s shows finally being released, it's already way late). C'mon, already!

Average customer rating:

Too much to cover in too short a time
great nostalgia
Excellent Collection
Classic.... Just classic!
Okay anniversary REPEAT; let's just get each season released

Saturday Night Live - 25th Anniversary
Starring: Dan Aykroyd , Alec Baldwin , Candice Bergen , David Bowie , and Garth Brooks
Director: Beth McCarthy-Miller
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Saturday Night Live - The Best of Steve Martin
Saturday Night Live - The Best of Eddie Murphy (Bonus Edition)
SNL - First 5 Years
Saturday Night Live - Christmas
SNL - Best of Dan Aykroyd

ASIN: B0000214GF
Release Date: 1999-11-30

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Customer Reviews:

Too much to cover in too short a time.......2007-03-21

great nostalgia.......2006-04-27

Excellent Collection .......2006-01-09

Classic.... Just classic!.......2005-09-21

Okay anniversary REPEAT; let's just get each season released.......2005-06-19

Average customer rating:

Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary

Manufacturer: Time Life
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0009TUJLM

Product Description

Celebrate SNL's 25th Anniversary with this extraordinary feature length special. Relive this star-studded gala event feturing top SNL cast members and guests, past and present. Extra features: Media coverage including "The Today Show," Access Hollywood" and Tim Russert interview with Lorne Michaels.

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