Some of the greatest DVD news ever just came to my attention…the very first season of Saturday Night Live is coming to DVD! I can not tell you how personally exciting this is to me. I have no idea why, but for some reason my folks let me watch it with them when I was 4 years old, and I can so vividly remember that first sketch. A foreign accented John Belushi being taught non-sensical English by a slow speaking teacher. I can still hear it in my head, though it has been years since I saw that sketch.

“I would like to buy a badger.”

The set will also include a 32 page booklet about the history of the show, but, by far, the best news is that it’s going to be completely unedited, including the musical performances. If this is true, I will be stoked beyond words, as I’ve written before, studios do release “complete” DVD sets with out some music or skits. So, if they have truly gotten all the musical acts to sign off on this, this set is a steal at $69.95 SRP (but it’ll be cheaper than that on all of the online stores). So let’s just hope that this isn’t a line of bull they are feeding us about it being unedited.

For those who don’t remember, or weren’t even born yet, the original Not Ready For Primetime Players were:

Dan Akryod
John Belushi
Chevy Chase
Jane Curtain
Garrett Morris
Laraine Newman
Gilda Radner

Yep, you read that right…no Bill Murray. A lot of people think he was an original, but he actually joined in the second season as a replacement for Chevy Chase who was only a regular for the first season. The host and musical guests for that season included (host/musical guest), list from Saturday-Night-Live.com:

October 11, 1975
George Carlin / Janis Ian, Billy Preston

October 18, 1975
Paul Simon / Simon & Garfunkel, Randy Newman, Phoebe Snow

October 25, 1975
Rob Reiner / Joe Cocker

November 8, 1975
Candice Bergen / Esther Phillips

November 15, 1975
Robert Klein / ABBA, Loudon Wainwright III

November 22, 1975
Lily Tomlin

December 13, 1975
Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron

December 20, 1975
Candice Bergan / Martha Reeves, The Stylistics

January 10, 1976
Elliot Gould / Anne Murray

January 17, 1976
Buck Henry / Bill Withers, Tony Basil

January 24, 1976
Peter Cook & Dudley Moore / Neil Sedaka

January 31, 1976
Dick Cavett / Jimmy Cliff

February 14, 1976
Peter Boyle / Al Jarreau

February 21, 1976
Desi Arnez

February 28, 1976
Jill Clayburgh / Leon Redbone

March 13, 1976
Anthony Perkins / Betty Carter

April 17, 1976
Ron Nessen / Patti Smith

April 24, 1976
Raquel Welch / Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian

May 8, 1976
Madeline Kahn / Carly Simon

May 15, 1976
Dyan Cannon / Leon and Mary Russell

May 22, 1976
Buck Henry / Gordon Lightfoot

May 29, 1976
Elliot Gould / Leon Redbone

July 24, 1976
Louise Lasser / Preservation Hall Jazz Band

July 31, 1976
Kris Kristofferson / Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge

This is soooooooo number 1 on my Christmas Wish List! And considering how weak the latest seasons have been, it’ll be nice to see how it should be done!