What makes this show uniquely satisfying, however, is that it has significant original programming, including remarkable new material from Billy Crystal, Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Mike Meyers, Robert Smeigel, various "Weekend Update" anchors, and the Eurythmics.

There's also a fascinating montage on the production of a typical episode of SNL. True, this segment is in some ways cleverly-edited eye candy, but to my knowledge, it's the only SNL-produced filmed exposition of the backstage process at SNL. (There are three press bits on the DVD-version of the product which greatly amplify one's appreciation of the show, but SNL itself has still not produced a significant exploration of its own machinations.)

It is a difficult thing, I would imagine, to make an anniversary show where so much material already exists. The temptation for Lorne Michaels was probably to air many more clips than his staff ended up including. For every bit that was included, there were at least five that I personally might have included as well. What Michaels and company were going for, though, was not an anthology, but an anniversary party. And that's what they ended up with. The show is in no way like the "Best of [insert performer's name here]" series that SNL has recently been releasing. You won't find this to be a exhaustive record of any aspect of the SNL experience. You won't even find that many complete sketches here. And you certainly won't discover anything but oblique references to the show's colorful off-screen history. Rather, _SNL 25_ very much feels as though they've gathered a few hundred of their closest friends (some of whom pointedly refused to show up) and have said "Hey, remember when we did this?"

Happily, not only do we remember how good they were, this anniversary special lets us see how good they still are.


A Funny Retrospective   April 5, 2000
Shawn Weil (Columbus, OH)
33 out of 36 found this review helpful

How many Saturday Night Live alumni can you think of right off the top of your head? How many of their skits can you remember? How many movie-spin offs? If you are like many Americans, you can probably rattle off many of these figures. After 25 years, it is quite an impressive resume.

This 25th anniversary retrospective is filled to the brim with star power. From Chevy Chase to Molly Shannon, all generations of SNL personnel were represented in person, along with frequent guest-hosts like John Goodman and Steve Martin.

You won't find your favorite skits in their entirety in this compilation, nor will you see the same tired episodes of the famous recurring characters. Instead, there are five extended montages of each five-year period since SNL's initial broadcast. The skits are edited down, but in many cases, that is a blessing - we all know that some of them go on a lot longer than they should.

Along with these montages come the memorial segments. For each departed cast member, a skit highlighting his/her work was presented in its entirety. They were truly funny people. Also included in this retrospective were highlights from "Weekend Update" and some of the most memorable commercials.

The funniest new moments of the evening came during Bill Murry's lounge style introduction, and Billy Crystal's "mavalus" chit chat. It is hard to work an audience of your peers, and they did it better than the rest.

If you missed this when it was aired last fall, this is a must see.


classic snl   January 14, 2000
brian beirne (elmhurst, new york USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

Being a semi-regular viewer of SNL, and having missed this when it was broadcast, I jumped at the chance to get it. It is classic SNL, from the begining with Bill Murray as a host at an Indian Casino, to the intro by Chris Rock who has the funniest line about SNL and movies, this is non-stop laughs. The show is broken up in 5 year segments with cast members from those years introducing them. There are retrospectives of the deceased cast members with touching intoductions, the best by Jon Lovitz, followed by a favorite skit. The Weekend Update with all the anchor's was great. The audience is star studded. A well done very enjoyable program. A fitting tribute to a show that has been on the air for 25 years. Billy Crystal is hilarious interviewing audience members.


A Great Retrospective   May 26, 2000
David E. Lobosco (Glenshaw, PA USA)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

Saturday Night Live has had its share of bad skits,lackluster performers, and just plain awful seasons, but I highly recommend this Saturday Night Live video more than any other. Pratically every member of the cast showed up, with the exception of Eddie Murphy. Also, many of the guest hosts return such as Heather Locklear,Alec Baldwin, and John Goodman to name a few.

From the early genius of Gilda Radner to the so-so years with Billy Crystal to the rebirth with Adam Sandler and Mike Myers, it's all here. A couple highlights include: Bill Murray redoing his lounge singer character to perfection, some twenty years after he originally did it, and also a tearful tribute to Phil Hartman by Jon Lovitz and Jan Hooks. If you are a fan of SNL then buy this video. The only thing you'll regret is it wasn't longer...


Saturday Night LAME....   May 16, 2001
22 out of 26 found this review helpful

Let me start by stating that I am a huge fan of SNL. The DVD is funny, at times very funny, but there are some problems. The skits that they show mainly last about 15 seconds. Just when you get rolling with your favorite skit, and start remembering it they shoot to the best scene of another skit, not giving you a chance to enjoy them. Another problem is that this was taped in front of a large audience of today's stars (Tom Hanks, Sarah Michelle Gellar etc.) and when they are playing the clips from past episodes the laughter from the audience TOTALLY drowns out the sound of the skit resulting in alot of missed words and "what did he say"'s. This in my case is very dissapointing, especially due to the fact that as I mentioned earlier the skits last 10-15 seconds, and when you miss 5 seconds of a skit due to laughter it doesnt leave much more to enjoy. When making the DVD they should have surpressed the live audience track alot, but I am not sure if thats possible. All in all its not a bad DVD, but surely not what I expected. I dont plan to watch it again :-(