I am – Hercules!!
NBC’s promos for “Live From New York: The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live” did not inspire me to tune in tonight, but the reviews are doing a much better job.
I’m an “SNL” fanatic, and have been essentially since its autumn 1975 debut, when Michael O’Donoghue was a cast member and Albert Brooks was its resident filmmaker.
I am in awe of the talent Lorne Michaels and his show have attracted. I love O’Donoghue and Brooks and Michaels and John Belushi and Bill Murray and Steve Martin and Al Franken and Jim Downey and Martin Short and Christopher Guest and Jon Lovitz and Mike Myers and Adam Sandler and Tim Herlihy and David Spade and Robert Smigel and Chris Rock and Norm Macdonald and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen and Will Forte. I’ve never missed an episode, even during those troubling Joe Piscopo years. I still compulsively read everything I can find on the show, and highly recommend two big books on the topic: “Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live” (1986) by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad and “Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live” (2002) by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller.
I like that tonight’s documentary is going light on the clips and putting emphasis on new material: interviewing the writers and others who created this show when “cutting-edge series television” on NBC still meant silly, toothless affairs like “Laugh-In” (a show Michaels wrote on and apparently detested).
The Hollywood Reporter says:
... This painstakingly constructed two hours from filmmaker Kenneth Bowser ("Easy Riders, Raging Bulls") rises far above the level of clip reel, coming closer to art in assessing just what those magical five years were about, anyway. It altered the course of TV comedy, all right. But it wasn't pretty. … fast-paced, interview-heavy … noteworthy for its gathering together of those who lived those years together in the trenches. Many of the people who made it happen usually are loathe to talk about the good ol' days, either because narcotics have blurred their memories or it's no longer relevant to their lives today. But here, even writers such as Jim Downey, Al Franken and Rosie Shuster are only too happy to take the journey back and reflect on what remains the most profound period of their careers. There is plenty of creator/exec producer Lorne Michaels, who remains a notably dull interview. More interesting are the reflections of original Not Ready for Prime Time Players Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase (who famously bolted for the movies after a year, replaced by Bill Murray), Laraine Newman and Garrett Morris. … The special doesn't shy away from the tales of drug use/abuse, neither glorifying nor apologizing for it. It was what it was. And as we can see from the clips, the show's early greatness wasn't simply a result of the times in which it arrived. …
USA Today gives it four stars (out of four) and says:
… must-see documentary … a two-hour film that is as smart, novel and entertaining as SNL itself … neither a sappy trip down memory lane nor a casually thrown together collection of highlights. Instead, it's a TV rarity: a thoughtful, critical look at a TV classic that attempts to explain the show's influence and celebrate its achievements while owning up to its problems. …
Entertainment Weekly gives it an “A-” and says:
Most interesting are the writers who rarely talk about the old days, including Rosie Shuster who broaches the taboo: ''There probably need to be — can I say it? — a few black writers or something.'' Preach, sister!
The New York Post says:
… NBC didn't attempt a - God forbid - reunion show. …
Instead, there's this terrific documentary, "Live From New York: The First Five Years of Saturday Night Live," by Kenneth Bowser - so good it debuted at the Miami Film Festival earlier this month. … With many of the original stars and guest hosts, as well as clips of musical guests from George Harrison and Paul Simon to The Grateful Dead and Blondie, and clips from the most unforgettable, ground-breaking, and screamingly funny stuff ever on TV, this show is definitely a keeper. …
The San Jose Mercury News says:
… no mere collection of clips broken up by warm and fuzzy reminiscences. Rather, it is a sharp documentary that deals with the drug use, rampaging egos, messy relationships and the price of fame. … And for the first time since February 1977, Michaels and others talk publicly about what might have been one of the greatest disasters in the history of live TV: a prime time ``SNL'' special live from New Orleans' Mardi Gras that got totally out of control. (The clips used in ``Live From New York'' are the first footage of that special to be seen since it originally aired.) …
9 p.m. Sunday. NBC.
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