Saturday Night Live - 25th Anniversary (2000)

vintage snl for baby boomers

all the classics, really laugh out loud. some skits seem flat now. but others, while outdated ,give
nice feeling of nostalgia. also some favorites are deceased now and that
makes it more a treasure. ck April 11, 2008

Too much to cover in too short a time

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. March 21, 2007

great nostalgia

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! April 27, 2006

Excellent Collection

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 January 9, 2006

Classic.... Just classic!

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. September 21, 2005

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