2024 the best saturday night live skits review

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Saturday Night is the intimate history of the original Saturday Night Live, from its beginnings as an outlaw program produced by an unruly band of renegades from the comedy underground to a TV institution that made stars of John Belushi, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy. This is the book that revealed to the world what really happened behind the scenes during the first ten years of this groundbreaking program, from the battles SNL fought with NBC to the battles fought within the show itself. It's all here: The love affairs, betrayals, rivalries, drug problems, overnight successes, and bitter failures, mixed with the creation of some of the most outrageous and original comedy ever. "It reads like a thriller," said the Associated Press, "and may be the best book ever written about television." Available for the first time in ebook format, this edition features nearly fifty photographs of cast, crew and sketches.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Untreed Reads Publishing, LLC (August 26, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 588 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1611877091
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1611877090
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.88 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.47 x 9 inches
Reviewer: Torrie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: LOOKING BEYOND THE TV SCREEN
Review: Looking for something amusing and light I bought “Saturday Night” because I had been a fan of the program, especially the program of the original cast. I got more than I bargained for. On one level, the book tells you all about how Saturday Night Live came about- all the high pressure interworking of network TV. The narrative flows easy and quick. The author teaches you more about the “big business” of TV than you’ll ever need to know. The author makes it interesting and easy to understand.On another level we get a good long look the founding cast of Saturday Night Live. I, like many Americans tend to idealize celebrities. We forget that in many cases, especially in the entertainment business these people are often self centered, egotistical, selfish, petty and mean. Add in a super dose of drugs to this mix and you have the original Saturday Night Live cast. The author names names, but always allows the accused a say in his/her own defense.One of the many interesting things about the book is the detail it gives to the extensive drug use among the cast and writers of Saturday Night Live. I couldn’t help but wonder why, with all the drug use going on in the Saturday Night offices in NY, no arrests were ever made. Plenty of kids all over America have been booked for infinitesimal amounts of marijuana, but these great maharajas of TV seemed untouchable. Who paid off whom?Ample time is given to some of the more famous skits done on Saturday Night Live, that the reader will remember with a smile or a chuckle. The book traces the rise and sometimes fall of the principal cast members, as well as those who came on board later.Being the nation of TV watchers that we are, this is an important book for all of us because it brings us beyond the TV screen to the reality. It might make us a little more critical of how we evaluate the TV shows we like, and the people who put them in our homes.

Reviewer: Jamie H.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Like Jimmy Hoffa in the Teamsters HQ, SNL is a cornerstone of television
Review: I downloaded this book accidentally thinking it was the book by Tom Shales, but nonetheless it was a happy accident. The book is a fascinating look at the early history and formation of what is now a taken-for-granted TV staple. The book is well researched and full of amusing, shocking, and sometimes unbelievable anecdotes. The amount of ego and screaming and fighting that took place is hard to imagine with today's current cast.That said, the book suffers from two problems: non-linearity and variety. The book is told in terms of theme or subject, rather than an evolving linear history. Bill Carter's "The War for Late Night" is probably the most riveting example of a narrative interwoven with tangents and asides that build to a cohesive whole. "Saturday Night" suffered from too much doubling back and repetition. Also, if I had to read the phrase "not a few" one more time, as in "Not a few executives hated the show..." It's used roughly a billion times in the book.Despite that, I'm thankful to have read this. It was a quick read and thoroughly insightful.

Reviewer: Jim Stewart
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great read!
Review: If, like me, you love SNL and especially if you were part of the generation the show was initially aimed it, you will love this book. I thought I knew everything about the show, especially the early cast. I did not. Who knew that Dan Ackroyd , e. g., got really pissed and spray painted (and chiseled) obscenities on an NBC wall? Or that the pot and cocaine usage was even more prevalent than was reported?This is not only a terrific SNL history, it is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at some of the vicious wars that go on in show biz and how sudden fame affects people. (Not well). It's also very much about the generational and culture clash between the counterculture and the "establishment." Lorne Michaels in particular deserves credit for having a vision of what the show could be and for having the stones to fight (and wear down) the censors. Having read about the Letterman/Leno fiasco extensively, this seemed to fit neatly into that genre. Note - this book ends in 1985. So I think there may be other books if you're interested in what transpired since then.

Reviewer: JS
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Long
Review: The content seems unorganized, but it's been interesting. Too many references of people from the studios - unless your in the business, the normal reader has no idea who these people are. Nor would they care.

Reviewer: Kim Davis
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Surprised by how much I liked this book
Review: It was written in the mid-80's, but still feels fresh today. It's got lots of behind-the-scenes stories, some I'd heard, some I was very surprised by.But besides the stories of how hard it was to sell this show, how broke and hungry the writers and players were, the egos, the excesses etc, there was another undercurrent that I found fascinating: How success changes people. It changed literally everyone involved in the book, but some were able to pull themselves together and, well, deal with their success with some modicum of humility, relatability, compassion. Some were definitely not able to do that.It made me think a lot about people I know (myself included) and how we all deal with success and failure, how easy it can be to "believe your own hype", and how very important it is to not take ourselves too seriously. To be grateful. To be humble. To remember where you came from. To enjoy the hard times on the way to success, and recognize those happy little nuggets along the way. For those reasons, this book was well worth reading.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Si, comme moi, vous y étiez, des la premiere heure ce livre est une nécessité. Plaisant a lire, je me retrouve a rire fort dans le métro... Excellent livre.

Reviewer: Kalooki
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A perfect mix of production detail, interpersonal information, and contextual TV history. A must for every SNL or TV aficionado.

Reviewer: Jeff Anthony
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I would have paid more for this. This was a great, entertaining read on a show I religiously watched and admired.

Reviewer: Jojo Allen
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great book if you love SNL.Full of things you didn't know, no matter how much you thought you knew.A history of the first 10 of the astounding 40 years the show has been on American television.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A great history of SNL and the growings pains associated with the show, it's people (in front and back of the lenses) and the ones who took a chance in broadcasting this now iconic program.