Read Online Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books
Read Online Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books
Download As PDF : Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books
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.
Read Online Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books
"I'm not necessarily an SNL aficionado, though I came of age in the Eddie Murphy era, when I distinctly remember falling off to sleep unless Eddie was on the screen. Other than that, I would catch the show in reruns or, these days, on YouTube. But I'm interested in the dynamics of Hollywood (though this was NYC, it's still Hollywood). The book is well researched and incredibly objective - so much so that I was surprised to read in the liner notes that Hill had interviewed dozens of insiders, including most of the cast as well as Lorne Michaels. Normally when that happens, favorites develop, some people become angelicized, some demonized, but I always felt Hill was being as objective as possible with everyone, and showed their good sides and their not so good sides. Considering that SNL was a creative frenzy, a cornucopia of ideas from high strung, highly emotional, highly talented people, it's not surprising that there were many arguments, and many fists through walls, and many crying sessions. I felt Hill was fair to everyone - delineating their temper tantrums as well as where they may have been genuinely treated unfairly.
If anything, I think it's a good reminder to anyone in a creative field (or even a corporate field) who has a passion and is trying to get the world to give that passion the props he/she thinks it deserves - there are always those who just flat-out won't get you, or who won't give you a chance for whatever reason. John Belushi and Dan Akroyd had to watch while the less talented Chevy Chase became a star before they did. Eddie Murphy, electrifying as he was, got sidelined for two years before he was able to break out. Lorne went through mountains of trouble with thick-brained executives who simply did not get his vision. Don't let the bas***s get you down."
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Tags : Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live [Doug Hill, Jeff Weingrad] on . 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,Doug Hill, Jeff Weingrad,Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live,Untreed Reads Publishing, LLC,1611877091,BIOGRAPHY AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment Performing Arts,Biography / Autobiography,Biography arts entertainment,Comedy,Entertainment Performing Arts - General,Performing Arts Comedy,Performing Arts Television - History Criticism,Performing Arts/Comedy,Performing Arts/Television - History Criticism,Television - History Criticism,PERFORMING ARTS / Television / History Criticism
Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books Reviews :
Saturday Night A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live Doug Hill Jeff Weingrad 9781611877090 Books Reviews
- I'm not necessarily an SNL aficionado, though I came of age in the Eddie Murphy era, when I distinctly remember falling off to sleep unless Eddie was on the screen. Other than that, I would catch the show in reruns or, these days, on YouTube. But I'm interested in the dynamics of Hollywood (though this was NYC, it's still Hollywood). The book is well researched and incredibly objective - so much so that I was surprised to read in the liner notes that Hill had interviewed dozens of insiders, including most of the cast as well as Lorne Michaels. Normally when that happens, favorites develop, some people become angelicized, some demonized, but I always felt Hill was being as objective as possible with everyone, and showed their good sides and their not so good sides. Considering that SNL was a creative frenzy, a cornucopia of ideas from high strung, highly emotional, highly talented people, it's not surprising that there were many arguments, and many fists through walls, and many crying sessions. I felt Hill was fair to everyone - delineating their temper tantrums as well as where they may have been genuinely treated unfairly.
If anything, I think it's a good reminder to anyone in a creative field (or even a corporate field) who has a passion and is trying to get the world to give that passion the props he/she thinks it deserves - there are always those who just flat-out won't get you, or who won't give you a chance for whatever reason. John Belushi and Dan Akroyd had to watch while the less talented Chevy Chase became a star before they did. Eddie Murphy, electrifying as he was, got sidelined for two years before he was able to break out. Lorne went through mountains of trouble with thick-brained executives who simply did not get his vision. Don't let the bas***s get you down. - If you want the most detailed account imaginable of the first 5 years of SNL (and the disastrous 1980 season), this is DEFINITELY the book to get. I found it incredibly compelling and entertaining, and provides a much greater appreciation of the show itself. I actually enjoy reading about the backstage goings on more than the show itself!
If you aren't into minutiae and backstage info specifically about the producers and writers, you might be better off getting "Live from New York", an equally fun book that tends more towards fluff. - 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. - The authors did their homework, obviously having spent a huge amount of time and energy getting to their sources, creating a balanced accounting wrapped in a wonderfully readable style. I was stunned to learn how much pressure there was on everyone (from actors and writers to set builders), how little everyone was paid at first, and thrilled to read about Lorne Michaels' gallant battles to stay true to his concept, regardless of the obstacles repeatedly brought by "the man" (corporate NBC). Lorne's doggedness in pushing the censors' comfort zones was a thrill to read about, not just because of his ultimate triumphs, but because those triumphs came at the price of hours of protracted and continual phone calls with "Standards" officers, and called for intriguing strategy, as well as for stamina. By turns, I admired the actors and writers, felt sorry for their landing in a world that at once feeds and preys on the vulnerability among those in their profession, disdained that part of their insecurity that led some of the most successful to insufferable self-aggrandizement, and -- once I learned how high the stakes were for each of them to succeed every week -- ultimately pulled back from my own self- indulgence of passing arm-chair judgment. There are many factoids and anecdotes that give the book the underpinning of its fine texture, which are then taken to the next level by a writing style that has its own personalty, as well as an apparently even hand.
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