Content generation

I'm trying to decide when I'll come back to posting SNL reviews. They're my "bread and butter" when it comes to generating traffic for this site, but at the same time I hate pigeonholing myself into one-trick-ponydom by only writing about the show, and I worry that I can't appreciate anything else on the level I've devoted to SNL. Then there's the concern that I've exhausted my supply of things to write about the show itself, or that I should save the time and effort I've put into getting my opinion on the show into something that pays me money or advances my career.

The process of writing each review is fairly intensive: I watch each episode two times, one to take notes, and one to do screen captures and fill in gaps from my first note-taking procedure. I also do a little research regarding pertinent information for each show.  If I know there's an alteration in the rerun, I try to confirm what's different. Then there's the whole issue of translating rough notes into sentences that accurately convey what I felt worked and didn't work in each show, with enough evidence to back up my viewpoint. I also have to worry about the stats for the back half of the review. The whole thing is time consuming, a little tedious, and frustrating at times, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel some validation from everyone who has told me they enjoy my perspective.

I want to wait until I have access to the original airings of the Bruce Dern and Susan Saint James shows before I post those reviews, but I might as well try to get the Howard Hesseman and Jeff & Beau Bridges episodes posted as soon as possible. I've been keeping this blog inactive too long, so I need to come up with something else to post regularly in the interim, but do I just pick another season of SNL? Should I give my thoughts on the current season, which aren't especially favorable to the cast and writers? Try writing about a new TV show, or attempt to write about music, literature or film?

We'll have to see what eventually posts here.

Another break

I'm taking another break from the SNL reviews; there are a few things I'm working on that take more priority than this side project lately.  While the process to watch, screengrab, research and write these reviews takes a little more effort than I'm willing to put into lately, I'm also waiting until I get access to some original airings of a handful of shows with missing content.

I haven't been thrilled with this season either, which seems particularly lifeless.  Jim Carrey may bring the energy level up this week, and Chris Rock / Prince is the most exciting lineup the show's had in a while, but I'm not confident either will transcend the mediocre writing that's plagued the show for six seasons.  After all, Bryan Tucker can just write "KENAN REACTS" into a script and it will likely be accepted for air.  I need the sleep anyway.

Not sure what I'm going to do for content in the meantime.  It may be time to re-evaluate my focus.

Week off

The last review was posted a few days behind schedule because I've been busy with a few different things in the real world (including a trip out of town and a change in jobs).  Rather than rush the next review to get back on schedule, I'm going to take the week off.  This actually isn't a bad point in the season to do this, with 10 reviews posted and 10 reviews to go.  The reviews will resume on Saturday, August 30 with my critique of Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas / The Bus Boys (January 29, 1983).

I also want to thank Paul Barrosse and Gary Kroeger, who have been gracious enough to provide background information on their time at Saturday Night Live.  Several of my reviews have been updated with addenda to include their recollections.

Back to reviewing soon

I'll be resuming my reviews of SNL's 1982-83 season in the coming weeks; I've been working on other projects lately, as well as the whole business of working and having a life outside of watching a sketch comedy TV show, though I admit this whole SNL thing has put me into contact with some very interesting people.  

I still haven't decided whether to continue through the rest of the Ebersol era once I finish that, or to skip ahead (or back) to a Lorne Michaels season, but I'm considering having a dual review track for different days of the week, where I have the SNL review on a certain day, and another review (either SNL or another series) another day of the week.  I will not review the upcoming season of the show because there are a number of websites that already do this, and I feel that I can't help but be overly negative (and redundant) when evaluating the newer shows due to my bias against certain performers and writers.

I've also decided to change my regular review process; I originally had it set up where I would do an initial viewing for taking notes, then screencap and finish that specific episode, but I've decided to do my notes for the season's remaining episodes ahead of time, then work on the next review (Smothers Brothers/Laura Branigan) after that's finished.  

A number of the remaining 1982-83 shows are going to be from recordings of reruns where some content is missing or the correct running order hasn't been confirmed; I will review as much of the show as I have access to at the time, but will revise accordingly once I have access to recordings of the live broadcasts.

The next review won't be finished until sometime later this month, but in the meantime I'm going to leave you with some stills from promos of that season's shows; these usually aired during the midnight station break when NBC was showing SCTV Network on Friday nights.

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SNL Season 39: Autopilot (with Distractions)

Kenan Thompson, doing his stock reaction shot.

Back in December, I decided this season of Saturday Night Live wasn't likely to improve from the string of disappointing shows that aired up to that point, and figured it was no longer worth watching the live shows.  SNL wasn't truly bad this year, but it was more frustrating than enjoyable.  The show has clear potential to be good, but for a variety of internal reasons that I can only speculate about, the writers and performers continue to fall into traps that make their output so bland and rote: even the Dick Ebersol era (1981-1985), seen by many as a safer and corporate version of Lorne Michaels' show, comes off as relatively adventurous in comparison. 

Since that point, I have tuned into SNL only sporadically, deliberately skipping some of the less-than-exciting guest lineups and catching material online if the message board buzz tantalized me.  The nights I bothered to watch live, I usually regretted tuning in, particularly for the weak Jim Parsons and lazy Andy Samberg shows.  The studio audience doesn't seem to mind the show's quality, but outside the electric atmosphere of Studio 8H, the crutches seem more obvious than ever.

I feel that going too much into detail regarding my specific opinions about the cast, writing staff and general show hierarchy would be redundant, and fear that my true feelings about some of the talent on the show border on unkind.  I'll leave it at this:

SNL needs to cut a number of writers and performers that have overstayed their welcome before any cast changes that happen can seem anything other than cosmetic.  I get the sense the show is more concerned about their own internal hierarchy and rewarding loyalty and popularity than the overall quality of the show.  There's a noticeable rigidity and lack of personality to many of the proceedings, and I can't help but feel the sketches are written as Mad Libs templates.  The "surprise cameos" come across as mandatory and perfunctory; merely something to get the studio audience to cheer loud.  Even the show's use of filmed sketches make it seem like the live material is merely filler to pad airtime.

In an ideal world, the next season of Saturday Night Live would force the cast, writers and producers to cut the safety net.  I'm concerned that the lukewarm reaction to this season will only lead to next year's SNL being even more rigid, formulaic and pandering.

The Worst SNL Sketches of All Time: Part 2 - Runners Up

I apologize for not getting this posted before tonight; real-world commitments and a few other changes related to the future of my blog take precedence over these posts. I admit that I have also been pretty burned out on the show for a little while, which may be another factor in why I've put off work on this list. Unlike the winners for "worst recurring sketch", many of these sketches have not been posted online; some likely due to music licensing issues.

Third Runner Up

• Rookie Cop - SNL had already aired a few sketches centered around people vomiting before, notably 1980's Roman Vomitorium and 1993's Bad Taste Sketches, but both prior examples wrote sketches around the vomiting.  This time, vomiting is the sketch, as it systematically gives every cast member and featured player (aside from Al Franken) a chance to spew out incredibly watery-looking puke.
• Hot Plates - A one-joke premise where, despite the waiters' warnings, diners touch the hot plates at a restaurant.  The whole thing is done too cartoonishly broad: as if having Horatio Sanz and Rob Riggle screaming "HOT PLATES!" didn't seem like enough cover for a weak premise, the gags involving Hilary Swank's hand fusing to a plate and Amy Poehler turning into a skeleton from just looking at her plate felt desperate.
• Van Morrison Concert - Much of the distaste towards this otherwise weak sketch about a woman's obnoxious dancing blocking the other patrons' view of a concert is because Melanie Hutsell plays the dancing woman, and adds an extra layer of obnoxiousness to the character with her facial expressions.  One voter says "It's a pretty bad sketch but she makes it unwatchable".  Whether the antipathy towards Hutsell on SNL is deserved or not, many still consider her a sketch-ruiner.

Second Runner Up

• St. Kat's Middle - Another one-joke premise, where middle school kids take their teachers' lessons on positive thinking to heart and try to apply them to their friend with a broken knee (Kenan Thompson).  The audience could tell where this was going to go before the first fall, but what makes this one excruciating is the extended sequences involving Thompson's character's face in close-up, delivering agonized damnation of his friends in such an overwrought manner that it's plausible that someone just told Thompson to stretch out the sketch and milk it for all it was worth.
• Sunken Submarine - The worst thing to make it to air while Dick Ebersol ran the show: a ten-minute-plus sketch that plays to light chuckles at the very most; it's like they built the set first and only then decided to write a sketch around it.  So much of this sketch is a succession of attempted gags that just fail: Robert Culp eating oatmeal without a spoon while wearing a dress and gloves is a perfect metaphor for the pointlessness of the whole thing.

First Runner Up

• Jack The Stripper - In their 1986 book Saturday Night, Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad mention that some considered this sketch about women on the streets of London being terrorized by a stripping heir to the throne of England "the most disastrous sketch ever on the show".  Even the lighting contributes to the sketch's problems, as this sketch is so dark, foggy and murky looking that the cast might as well have performed it in shadow.  Better lighting still wouldn't have fixed this sketch's aimlessness.
• Miracles Of Science - The Tom Arnold show from 1996 was an unusually bad show right in the middle of SNL's last major comeback year, and this sketch (which originally aired in the plum post-Weekend Update slot) is as unfunny as anything the show churned out during its low points.  Arnold plays a janitor who, following a nuclear accident, had his brain size, arrogance and physical pain grow instead of his intelligence, and new player Will Ferrell interviews him.  I wonder how much the sketch would have improved if the casting was reversed, but as a whole, this sketch dies early and hard, and both Arnold and Ferrell seem to know it.
• Rear Window - It's bad enough this sketch is little more than Grace Kelly farting; what's worse is that it feels like the writer thought that if the audience wouldn't laugh, it's because there weren't enough fart sound effects.  Even still, what brought an already terrible sketch to new depths of awfulness was host January Jones (easily the worst host the show's had in recent years) and her inability to finish the sketch without giggling.  One voter's comment said it best: "Jones gave a dreadful performance and actually ruined a sketch about the film 'Rear Window' that revolved around a fart joke. Think about that for a second."

The Worst SNL Sketches Of All Time: The Results, part 1: Recurring Sketches

The results are in, and so begins my series of weekly posts on the worst Saturday Night Live sketches. Unlike the vote for the worst individual sketches, there was no single recurring sketch that got a significantly higher number of votes than the other nominees; many sketches received one vote apiece, and there were considerably fewer nominees (and votes) in the recurring category than in the worst overall sketches.  In the end, there was a three-way tie for worst recurring sketch, with a clear second place winner.

The worst recurring SNL sketch or characters of all time are: (tied) The Californians, Garth & Kat, Gilly

The Californians - One of the voters summed it up best: "Every time I see some promo of SNL that lauds that piece of skit sketch I want to break things".  James Anderson and Fred Armisen wrote this sketch revolving around the characters'  accents and tendency to give driving directions, which likely would have been a forgotten one-off sketch had it not been for Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader breaking character at Armisen's exaggerated line delivery.  Like with Debbie Downer, the producers and writers decided it was going to be one of their new signature bits, but where they found ways to put Debbie Downer in different situations, the very format of The Californians limited any potential to develop beyond such a thin premise.  By the time Armisen and Hader left the show, they had done the sketch 6 times in the space of 13 months.

Garth and Kat - This Weekend Update segment featuring an unprepared musical duo in matching vests is little more than Fred Armisen and Kristen Wiig playing an improv game where one leads and their partner has to match what they're doing.  The whole thing is very self-indulgent and seems designed to kill 5 minutes of airtime more than anything else: like their characters, Armisen and Wiig don't rehearse their songs, and the result is more amusing to them than it is to the studio audience or home viewer.

Gilly - A polarizing character that even Wiig's own mother hates, Gilly seems to be the ultimate example of the bad SNL recurring sketch: one voter referred to it as "Kristen Wiig and the writers simply cashing paychecks".  I've said before the sketch reeks of Wiig and Paula Pell cynically coming up with a cash-grab character to be put on a T-shirt, because this sketch is neither's best work.  To Pell's credit, she did manage to put a genuinely funny moment in the first sketch (Casey Wilson's dialogue with Will Forte), but the sketches are tedious after the first run-through of the beats, which are limited variations on a set formula: if you see one minute of a Gilly sketch, you've seen the rest of the sketches in the series.  Inexplicably, NBC and SNL figured this was enough of a beloved character to warrant being used as a framing device for a compilation of Christmas sketches that aired in prime time (A Very Gilly Christmas).

Runner-up

Ching Chang (later Ching Change) - Saturday Night Live was arguably at its best during the late 80s, which is why this Dana Carvey character sticks out as especially bad: a stereotypical Chinese man who is emotionally attached to the live chickens he sells, insisting in Chinese Pidgin English that "chicken make lousy housepet!"  This rightfully attracted flack when it aired; at one point, SNL addressed the controversy by having Ching's sister Loose (Nora Dunn) criticize him for acting like a cartoon compared to her "positive ethnic role model" boyfriend (Phil Hartman).  This character is considered one of the most racist things the show has aired, and becomes more painful to watch as time passes on.

The Worst SNL Sketches of All Time: My own nominations

I've come up with a list of my own choices for worst sketch of all time, which will be factored into the overall vote (which closes at 11pm ET tonight):

• Commie Hunting Season - 11/22/1980 This easily makes my all-time worst list; many of the reasons have already been cited in my review of the Malcolm McDowell episodes, particularly that one line followed by the silence as if they were expecting to get a laugh. Knowing this was intended as a comment on the acquittal of a few Klansmen for their role in the Greensboro Massacre makes it that much worse, but there really isn't anything good about this sketch to begin with. Poorly lit, poorly scripted, poorly paced, poorly acted.
• Sunken Submarine - 04/24/1982 Easily the worst thing on the show during the Dick Ebersol years: a bloated, pointless and unfunny mess that plays to mostly silence. By the time Neil Levy comes in pretending to be a dog, you just want the sketch to be over with.
• The Limits Of The Imagination - 11/09/1985 The later live "Limits" sketches were better, but this one, while high in production values, seems to be more an excuse to show off the new SNL's film unit than anything worth the time in the show. The main joke is that it's "he's calling from inside the house" in a car. Lovitz's nasal whine as the maniac is only funny now that his voice is so recognizable.
• Brace Steele: Greenpeace Photographer - 04/20/1991 The most irredeemable part of the already bad Steven Seagal episode: this sketch about a Zen nature photographer happening upon an Exxon conspiracy feels like something he pushed to get on the show, and it plays like they're indulging him.  Points deducted for one of the most cringe-inducing endings in an SNL sketch.
• Disneyland Runner - 03/12/1994 The three Nancy Kerrigan at Disneyland segments really felt like the show was short on material and the writers were scrambling to use a host they knew to be a dud.
• Fortune Cookie Factory - 11/12/1994 The transition point where the 1994-95 season goes from just bad to joyless. This is also the first in a string of consecutive episodes where Mike Myers plays an accented character while donnning yellowface or race makeup.
• The ESPYS - 02/18/1995 Take a thin premise, a terrible host (even for a non-actor), a bunch of impressions by people who barely resemble or imitate their targets, repetition of the same gags that were barely funny to begin with (I'm looking at you, stock footage clip of Lou Diamond Philips), and pad it out to 10 minutes: you have this sketch.
• Miracles Of Science - 02/17/1996 SNL was on the comeback in 1995-96, but this particular sketch with Will Ferrell playing straightman to Tom Arnold as Brainiac (complete with oversized prosthetic brain-head) is painful to watch. You can smell the flop-sweat in the studio.
• Dr. Mrs. Frankenstein - 10/30/2004 One of many "the joke is he's gay" sketches that SNL has done in the last 15 years, with no real twist beyond that. Even more annoying is that this is one of the instances where Maya Rudolph plays a character in a period piece with an anachronistic "sassy black woman" voice.  I wouldn't be surprised if this was the handiwork of James Anderson, who is openly gay but behind so many sketches where homosexuality is the punchline.
• Rear Window - 11/14/2009 Grace Kelly has gas. That's the sketch.

Worst recurring sketches:

• Ching Chang/Ching Change One of the most racist things the show's done; this seems like it could have been written for a 1950s variety show.
• Trina There are a lot of Wiig characters I've been tempted to add to the list (Surprise Sue, Gilly, Secret Word, Dooneese). This stands out.  As much as Gilly comes across as a cynical attempt by Paula Pell and Kristen Wiig to create a marketable character, it at least had a few funny portions (OK, just Casey Wilson's part in the first sketch). Trina is Kristen Wiig as a wacky mental defective saying "Thomas!" over and over.
• Elinda Nade, Stenographer It was down to this and Regine, but where the latter is annoying and has enough telegraphing to keep Marconi busy, Elinda Nade is Fred Armisen trying to be Kristen Wiig. It's more aggravating when you realize what Armisen does well and compare it to this.
• Garth and Kat Another Fred Armisen / Kristen Wiig bit; this just feels like an excuse to eat up as much airtime as possible while making something mainly for them, James Anderson and Kent Sublette to get songwriting royalties from whenever the show repeats.

Dishonorable mention:

• Debbie Downer / The Californians Both are sketches that weren't much on paper, but through a fluke of corpsing, they ended up being more memorable and better than they should have been.  Of course, Lorne and the writers figure they might as well keep bringing both back, thereby tainting the originals.

It's sad how most of these nominees for worst recurring sketches feature Wiig and Armisen; maybe it's just because both are better performers than this dreck that even they can't save allow them to be.

The Worst SNL Sketches of All Time: A Poll

A few years ago, I did a poll where readers could vote on the best and worst episodes of SNL of all time.  Despite only getting eleven votes, the results page has become my most frequently accessed post.  Since then, I've been considering doing a poll about individual SNL sketches, but I wanted to come up with something slightly different.  There are so many "greatest SNL sketches" posts on the web, usually with a lot of the same contenders, so I want to focus on the other side. When discussing bad SNL, it's so easy to talk about how bad the show gets from time to time without getting specific, or just mentioning the show's tendency to milk a sketch or character for all it's worth.  This isn't just a "10 most irritating characters" poll: I want specific examples of the most terrible sketches the show's ever brought to a network audience.

My primary focus is going to be a list of the worst individual sketches, but because of the show's reliance (or over-reliance) on recurring material, I'm going to have a separate category for the worst recurring sketches.  I will also allow votes for individual sketches featuring a recurring character, but the main reason for having a separate category for the recurring stuff is because there have been some truly terrible one-offs that the show never felt necessary to bring back.

To have your voice heard, submit your picks using the form at the bottom of this post.  I also prefer if you also give a good rationale behind your choices, so tell me why you thought these sketches were terrible.   You can submit as many or as few choices as you want.  The more people that pick something, the better.

I will keep the voting open until March 1, 2014, at 12:00 am Atlantic time.  Once all the votes are tabulated, I'm going to do a series of weekly posts based on the results; the number will depend on how many votes come in.

EDIT: VOTING HAS NOW ENDED.

Giving up on SNL

I've been watching SNL regularly for about 20 years.  I still have my original tapes from when I first started recording the show back in March 1994; in fact, I can tell you that the first episode I taped was a rerun of the show with John Malkovich and Billy Joel.  I've stuck with the show through that horrible season with Janeane Garofalo.  I've seen the historically bad years that almost got the show cancelled.  I've sat through that godawful 10 minute sketch with the sub at the bottom of the ocean.  None of these low points has made me want to give up on the show as much as this current season has.  

Last month, I wrote that I mainly watch the show out of a routine I can no longer justify to myself.  I was originally going to pack it in at that point, but held out hope that the next four shows would show some flicker of life that's been noticeably absent this year.  That would not be the case.

Josh Hutcherson was dull.  Paul Rudd had cameos and a Bill Brasky sketch, but weak writing pretty much everywhere else.  John Goodman's long-overdue return to SNL had more tepid writing, plus a sketch starring Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro that felt like a rejected script from a bad Bob Hope special; the kind of sketch that SNL would make fun of when it spoofed bad variety shows.

The Jimmy Fallon show that aired last night was a bit more fun than the show's been in a while: Fallon has come a long way since he was the messy-haired new kid 15 years ago, and his collaborations with Justin Timberlake guaranteed several fan favorites would be trotted out.  That said, so much of the show felt like pandering: Paula Pell's Dancing Mascot sketches doesn't do much for me (it just feels too by-the-numbers and obligatory), and the cameos by Paul McCartney, Madonna, Barry Gibb and Michael Bloomberg felt like they were intended to distract from how lifeless the writing is on the show.  The episode came off as self-congratulatory towards Lorne Michaels' takeover of NBC late night.; an extended commercial for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, if you will.

It's not that the show is actually terrible: a truly bad year would at least be interesting.  Yet, more than ever this season, it feels like the show's on auto-pilot.  There's no need for the show to try anymore; it's one of the few relative successes NBC has left, so there's no impending cancellation to force the show to correct course.

Sketch comedy shows by their very nature are uneven, and even SNL's best seasons have had their dud shows.  This season feels different; I don't think "mediocre" is the right word, though, because even something mediocre can have an appreciable effort behind it.  The six new faces added to the show in the wake of the recent departures of Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis just feel purely cosmetic; only a mask to cover stagnant and lazy writing.

The cast has too much potential that's not being used properly.  Taran Killam and Kate McKinnon are in a class by themselves on the show, and could potentially carry a new era of the show, but they're weighed down by so many people who have overstayed their welcome.  The move to make Kenan Thompson the cast anchor (a la Hader or Sudeikis) is baffling; Thompson doesn't have the range to pull off that role in the cast, and he's already demonstrated everything he's capable of as a performer years ago.

The real dead weight is in the writers' room.  There are 23 writers on staff this year, including Lorne Michaels, who always gets a credit.  Steve Higgins and Paula Pell have been with the show since the last big changeover in 1995 (Pell is part-time); their tenure with the show is longer than those of the original writers who were still with the show before Michaels cleaned house.  James Anderson has been around since 2000; he and frequent collaborator Kent Sublette seem to be the writing staff's equivalent of Kenan Thompson, in that they recycle their bag of tricks and that their output tends to annoy more than amuse.  There are a handful of prolific and talented newer writers (Zach Kanin, Sarah Schneider and Chris Kelly) and a fair bit of turnover in the staff over the last five years: the only trouble with this is that it's the newer writers that leave, while the veterans stick around and churn out the same old material.

I need a break from the show.  I've come to the conclusion that I'm getting too frustrated by SNL this season to justify watching live anymore; until some non-superficial changes are made to the creative side of the show, I'm not going to be tuning in.  Whatever's worth checking out will be on the internet the next day (unless it has a music clearance issue).  

My original plan was to finish the 1982-83 season reviews, but I think I'm going to take a break from those as well.  I'll try to resume those in a few months.

Announcement regarding the future of SNL reviews

I still haven't bothered watching the beginning of the Kerry Washington show; I did watch the Lady Gaga episode but I don't think I'll be posting a post-mortem on the show.  I actually found myself a little distracted and eager for the show to end last night, and not in any mood to regurgitate details of the show for my review, which would have been another variation of "the cast is strong, but the writing lets them down".  Even Lady Gaga, whose whole raison d'etre is to draw attention to herself, seemed like she was grasping at straws with her performances: the dry-hump with R. Kelly almost seemed like a parody of the lengths she goes to in performances.  My response to this was simply "And....?"

I see the show still has these bright spots, but the fact is I don't feel like staying up until 2am my time just to watch SNL anymore.  If there's something going on in the real world, I'd rather do that than watch something that will be mostly made available online the next day anyway.  There's always the chance something infamous may happen in the live show, or the audience may be witness to the birth of a new classic, but when was the last time either happened?

I watch it because it's a routine more than anything.  I may tune in to see a particular guest or to see if there's a big change after Seth Meyers finally leaves the show, but the show just doesn't have the importance it once held for me.

I would have thought that the thing that would have turned me off the show would be another disastrous season on the level of the Janeane Garofalo/Michael McKean year, but I honestly have no problem with the cast in general; most of them are very strong performers who find ways to work with whatever they're given.  I just don't know if SNL is really the best use of their talents anymore.  Landing a spot on the show is an achievement and a way to get name recognition, but I can't get over the feeling that they rein themselves in to belong to the institution.

I still plan on completing my 1982-83 reviews, but afterwards I'm going to take a long break from dissecting the show.  I'd rather watch to be entertained than watch to analyze; I have other priorities, and there are only so many hours in a day.

An updated want list

I've previously published my "want list" for SNL on my blog; I have access to pretty much the show's complete run, but because of the discrepancies between live and rerun versions, the copies of the shows currently circulating may not have all the segments that aired in the live show, or else may use dress rehearsal takes.   I have plans for future reviews once I'm finished 1982-83, but am looking for the live airings of many of these shows.  Original commercials would be a bonus, but I'm aware how expensive blank tapes were back then, so it's not as big a deal.  Comedy Central ran a few original versions back in the early 90s, but most have some additional editing (mostly bumpers and the Don Pardo closing voiceovers); many of the missing segments are also available through streaming sites, but I prefer to have a copy of the complete airing.

Revised: January 30, 2016

SNL-Primary want list (missing content, unconfirmed live run orders, and dress rehearsal substitutions):

• Bill Murray / The Spinners, Yale Whiffenpoofs (12/12/81): Original airing with NBC news bulletin about martial law in Poland and complete goodnights with Bill Murray mentioning the incident (repeat goodnights are edited).
• Robert Blake / Kenny Loggins (11/13/82): Original airing with "Best Little Whorehouse On The Prairie", "Blue Lagoon", unedited "that's a mouthful" ad-lib in Dr. Jack Badofsky segment, and Dick Ebersol's Andy Kaufman announcement.
• Eddie Murphy / Lionel Richie (12/11/82): Original airing with "A Special Christmas Message".
• Flip Wilson / Stevie Nicks (12/10/83): Original airing with complete monologue and "Older Sisters Of The Young"
• Father Guido Sarducci / Huey Lewis & The News (01/14/84): Original airing with uncut cold opening (rerun removes mention of Andy Kaufman) and unedited "Countdown 84" segment.
• Don Rickles / Billy Idol (01/28/84): Original airing with "David Letterman 2nd Anniversary Promo" intact
• Chevy Chase / Sheila E. (11/16/85): Original airing.
• Pee-Wee Herman / Queen Ida & The Bon Temps Zydeco Band (11/23/85): Original airing. (I have a copy with the music paused out; seeking a complete copy).
• Ron Reagan / The Nelsons (02/08/86): Original airing.
• George Wendt & Francis Ford Coppola / Philip Glass & The Philip Glass Ensemble (03/22/86): Original airing.
• Tony Danza / Laurie Anderson (04/19/86): Original airing with "Cliff Robertson For AT&T".
• Jimmy Breslin / Level 42, E.G. Daily (05/17/86): Original airing.
• Danny DeVito / Bryan Ferry (12/05/87): Original airing.
• Angie Dickinson / Buster Poindexter, David Gilmour (12/12/87): Original airing.
• Carl Weathers / Robbie Robertson (01/30/88): Original airing.
• Justine Bateman / Terence Trent D'arby (02/13/88): Original airing.
• Wayne Gretzky / Fine Yong Cannibals (05/13/89): Original airing
• Steve Martin / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (05/20/89): Original airing.
• Kathleen Turner / Billy Joel (10/21/89): Original airing.
• Alec Baldwin / Whitney Houston (02/23/91): Complete original airing (I have the first 57 minutes of the original broadcast with ads)

SNL - Secondary want list (Ebersol-era with minor missing segments or small edits, plus upgrades over repeats/Comedy Central).

• Lauren Hutton / Rick James & The Stone City Band (11/07/81): Original airing.
• Tim Curry / Meat Loaf (12/05/81): Original airing with next week promo.
• Robert Conrad / The Allman Brothers Band (01/23/82): Original airing with next week promo.
• Howard Hesseman / Men At Work (10/23/82): Original airing.
• Teri Garr / Mick Fleetwood's Zoo (11/12/83): Original airing with next week promo.
• Edwin Newman / Kool & The Gang (02/25/84): Original airing.
• Barry Bostwick / Spinal Tap (05/05/84): Original airing with next week promo.
• Mr. T. & Hulk Hogan / The Commodores (03/30/85): Original airing.
• Howard Cosell / Greg Kihn (04/13/85): Original airing.

SNL - Tertiary want list (Quality/completeness upgrades; these I prefer to have in good quality with commercials)

• Kiefer Sutherland / Skid Row (11/02/91): Original airing.
• Macaulay Culkin / Tin Machine (11/23/91): Original airing.
• Mary Stuart Masterson / En Vogue (03/21/92): Original airing.
• Woody Harrelson / Vanessa Williams (05/16/92): Original airing.
• Nicolas Cage / Bobby Brown (09/26/92): Original airing.
• Joe Pesci / Spin Doctors (10/10/92): Original airing.
• Christopher Walken / Arrested Development (10/24/92): Original airing.
• Tom Arnold / Neil Young (12/05/92): Original airing with uncut "Wayne's World".
• Glenn Close / The Black Crowes (12/12/92): Original airing.
• Danny DeVito / Bon Jovi (01/09/93): Original airing.
• Harvey Keitel / Madonna (01/16/93): Original airing.
• Luke Perry / Mick Jagger (02/06/93): Original airing.
• Bill Murray / Sting (02/20/93): Original airing.
• John Goodman / Mary J. Blige (03/13/93): Original airing.
• Miranda Richardson / Soul Asylum (03/20/93): Original airing.
• Jason Alexander / Peter Gabriel (04/10/93): Original airing.
• Kirstie Alley / Lenny Kravitz (04/17/93): Original airing.
• Christina Applegate / Midnight Oil (05/08/93): Original airing.
• Kevin Kline / Paul Simon & Willie Nelson (05/15/93): Original airing.
• Charles Barkley / Nirvana (09/25/93): Original airing.
• Shannen Doherty / Cypress Hill (10/02/93): Original airing.
• Jeff Goldblum / Aerosmith (10/09/93): Original airing.
• John Malkovich / Billy Joel (10/23/93): Original airing with complete "Mac Post-Its" commercial.
• Christian Slater / Smashing Pumpkins (10/30/93): Original airing.
• Rosie O'Donnell / James Taylor (11/13/93): Original airing.
• Nicole Kidman / Stone Temple Pilots (11/20/93): Original airing.
• Charlton Heston / Paul Westerberg (12/04/93): Original airing with unedited "Hollywood Minute" (John Candy joke cut from rerun).
• Sally Field / Tony! Toni! Tone! (12/11/93): Original airing.
• Jason Patric / Blind Melon (01/08/94): Original airing.
• Sara Gilbert / Counting Crows (01/15/94): Original airing.
• Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger / UB40 (02/12/94): Original airing.
• Sarah Jessica Parker / R.E.M. (11/12/94): Original airing.
• John Turturro / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (11/19/94): Original airing.
• George Foreman / Hole (12/17/94): Original airing.
• Deion Sanders / Bon Jovi (02/18/95): Original airing.
• Madeline Kahn / Bush (12/16/95): Original airing.
• Tom Arnold / Tupac Shakur (02/17/96): Original airing.
• Elle MacPherson / Sting (02/24/96): Original airing.
• John Goodman / Everclear (03/16/96): Original airing.
• Phil Hartman / Gin Blossoms (03/23/96): Original airing.
• Teri Hatcher / Dave Matthews Band (04/20/96): Original airing.
• Christine Baranski / The Cure (05/11/96): Original airing.
• Tom Hanks / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (09/28/96): Original airing.
• Lisa Kudrow / Sheryl Crow (10/05/96): Original airing.
• Bill Pullman / New Edition (10/19/96): Original airing.
• Dana Carvey / Dr. Dre (10/26/96): Original airing.
• Rosie O'Donnell / Whitney Houston (12/14/96): Original airing.
• Kevin Spacey / Beck (01/11/97): Original airing.
• David Alan Grier / Snoop Doggy Dogg (01/18/97): Original airing.
• Neve Campbell / David Bowie (02/08/97): Original airing.
• Chevy Chase / Live (02/15/97): Original airing.
• Sting / Veruca Salt (03/15/97): Original airing.
• Mike Myers / Aerosmith (03/22/97): Original airing.
• Rob Lowe / Spice Girls (04/12/97): Original airing.
• Pamela Lee / Rollins Band (04/19/97): Original airing.

SCTV - Primary Want List

Any pre-1984 airings of season 1-3 episodes with the original opening credits sequences and bumpers are appreciated (I have a handful), but I'm looking for some rare sketches and compilation episodes.

• Season 1, episode 8 "Shock Theatre" with Al-Pro Dog Food intact.
• Season 2, episode 22 "Consumer Action Line" with Family Crisis intact.
• Season 2, episode 25 "Best Of 1".
• Season 2, episode 26 "Best Of 2".
• Season 3, episode 26 "Best Of".

Fridays - Primary Want List

• Warren Zevon (05/09/80)
• Boz Scaggs (05/16/80)
• Ian Hunter (05/30/80)
• Kim Carnes (09/12/80)
• Ted Nugent (10/24/80)
• Jamie Lee Curtis / Garland Jeffreys (11/13/81)
• Peter Fonda / King Crimson (12/04/81)
• Bob Balaban / The Blasters (02/05/82)

Fridays - Secondary Want List (completeness/quality upgrades)

Looking for full 70-minute (53 without ads) 1980-81 or 90-minute (66 without ads) 1981-82 airings. Preferably single source live airings (not edited from several recordings)

• Father Guido Sarducci / Jefferson Starship (04/03/81)
• Tony Geary & Genie Francis / Devo (10/09/81)
• Karen Allen / The Stray Cats (10/16/81)
• Shelly Duvall / Al Jarreau (11/20/81)
• Valerie Harper / The Cars (01/08/82)
• Tab Hunter / KISS (01/15/82)
• Howard Rollins / Quarterflash (01/22/82)
• Valerie Bertinelli / Bill Champlin (02/12/82)
• Victoria Principal / Chubby Checker (02/19/82)
• Lynn Redgrave / Huey Lewis & The News (03/05/82)
• Gregory Hines / Bonnie Raitt (03/12/82)
• Marilu Henner / Sister Sledge (03/19/82)

The New Show

• Any complete airings with music performances intact; commercials preferred.

Almost Live! 

• Any airings from the first five seasons (1984-89), before the show changed format to a half-hour sketch comedy show.