The fifth season of Saturday Night Live found the late-night sketch comedy mainstay at an interesting crossroads: original cast members Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi had departed, leaving most of the heavy lifting to the great Bill Murray. It would also be the final season for almost all of the original cast, including creator and producer Lorne Michaels; he would leave after Season Five, ushering in the controversial and legendarily weak Jean Doumanian/Dick Ebersol years. With the conclusion of the fifth season, Saturday Night Live's original dynasty had come to and end, and the show as everyone had known it would never be the same again. It was the end of an era.
The changes are evident all over Saturday Night Live: The Complete Fifth Season. Though it has its share of memorable sketches (including the great "Lord and Lady Douchebag" piece that graces the DVD cover, as well as not one but two Steve Martin-hosted shows), it's obvious that the series was running out of steam and settling into what it would eventually become: a too-comfortable, often too-lazy part of the mainstream. The edginess and freshness of the early years had mostly been worn away, even though it's still incredible to watch the supreme talents of people like Murray, Gilda Radner (though she's not very visible for the first several episodes) and unsung hero Jane Curtain (seriously, she's so great) perform. I like a lot of the cast members on the show's current incarnation, but no one is nearly as professional (no one is reading cue cards!) or as committed or inventive as some of these early stars.
Hosts and Musical Guests
Here are the episodes you'll find on Saturday Night Live: The Complete Fifth Season:
- ">Steve Martin/Blondie (10/13/79)
- Eric Idle/Bob Dylan (10/20/79)
- Bill Russell/Chicago (11/3/79)
- Buck Henry/Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (11/10/79)
- Bea Arthur/The Roches (11/17/79)
- Howard Hesseman/Randy Newman (12/8/79)
- Martin Sheen/David Bowie (12/15/79)
- Ted Knight/Desmond Child & Rouge (12/22/79)
- Teri Garr/The B-52's (1/26/80)
- Chevy Chase/Marianne Faithfull (2/9/80)
- Elliot Gould/Gary Numan (2/16/80)
- Kirk Douglas/Sam & Dave (2/23/80)
- Rodney Dangerfield/The J. Geils Band (3/8/80)
- The 100th Show/Paul Simon, James Taylor and David Sanborn (3/15/80)
- Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss/Grateful Dead (4/5/80)
- Burt Reynolds/Anne Murray (4/12/80)
- Strother Martin/The Specials (4/19/80)
- Bob Newhart/Bruce Cockburn & the Amazing Rhythm Aces (5/10/80)
- Steve Martin/Paul & Linda McCartney and 3-D (5/17/80)
- Buck Henry/Andrew Gold and Andrae Crouch & The Voices of Unity (5/24/80)
Though Season Five isn't up to the groundbreaking standards (is that an oxymoron?) established by the first few years, I'm thrilled just to have it on DVD at all. After putting up with compilation collections for decades, it's terrific that Universal is now releasing these season-length sets with complete, uncut episodes with even the musical guests included (which, by the way, are a great pop culture barometer for the times; we get greats like Bob Dylan and David Bowie, but also those forgettable "who?" bands like The Roches and Desmond Child & Rouge). I have no idea what will be released next -- if the Doumanian/Ebersol seasons, which are next in the sequence, will be released or if we'll skip ahead to Michaels' return a few years later. Though the next years are not as strong, I have to admit that the comedy nerd in me hopes they continue in sequence. Not only would they be great to revisit as a curiosity, but they also helped introduce to the world to a talented young man named Eddie Murphy. They also introduced Joe Piscopo, but nobody's perfect.
DVD Details
- Release Date: 12/1/09
- Running Time: 22 hours
- 1.33:1 Full Frame Presentation
- Dolby 2.0 Mono (English)
- Not Rated
- Studio: Universal
DVD Bonus Features
- Audio Commentary by Elliot Gould and Buck Henry
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
