by Author Name Withheld 96

Created on: May 19, 2008

Saturday Night Live is a show that has been on NBC for over thirty years. It is up for debate as to whether the show has lost some of its luster as the years have gone by. In order to do that you have to see how the show worked from the beginning so I decided to watch the DVD for the first season in its entirety. The first episode on the DVD of course was the very first episode of the show hosted by comedian George Carlin. The show had to go through a very early feeling out process so much so that Carlin did not participate in any of the skits. Carlin just did three monologues with some basic observations on religion and everyday life. He also did his bit on the game of football and the taking of land. It was interesting to see how the audience reacted because the camera kept panning to this one lady who obviously did not find Carlin amusing. In fact she even seemed annoyed when the admitted atheist Carlin was making some of his controversial statements about God and faith. I really had the impression that she and many other members of the audience did not know what to expect when they decided to come to the show.

Some of the nuances of the first season include Chevy Chase doing the Weekend Update news segment by himself with the very talented Lorraine Newman merely working as a correspondent. This is a time when Chase himself admits he was at the top of his game. Chase was made a star out of the first season of Saturday Night Live and has later said that leaving the show was a mistake as noted by Answers.com Some of the quirky portions of the first season include Jim Henson's Muppets and short films by comedian James Brooks. One of these more humorous films was about the possibility of the state Georgia (the one in the United States) switching places with Israel to ease tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians over the Gaza Strip.

Other hosts for the first season include singer/songwriter Paul Simon. This appearance includes the very humorous one on one pickup game between Simon and former NBA forward Connie Hawkins. This one on one match up has play by play from former defendant Marv Albert. These are just a few brief highlights from a very enjoyable DVD collection. Some of the musical acts are outdated, but as someone who enjoys history some of the topics discussed and appearances made on the show are very interesting. Plus Randy Newman's performance and many others were far better then most of the musical guests they on Saturday Night Live these days. There was even an appearance on one episode from fringe activist Abbie Hoffman. You can now get your copy of SNL: The Complete First Season online at a place like Amazon for a robust $40.00 and enjoy all the laughs!

Sources:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alia s%3Ddvd&field-keywords=SNL%3A++Complete+First+Season &x=0&y=0

Answers.com Staff. "Chevy Chase Biography." Answers.com

http://www.answers.com/topic/chevy-chase-2?cat=enter tainment

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