Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music

I must admit I no longer watch SNL diligently as I did back in the 1970s and 1980s. It is more a matter of wanting to go to bed earlier rather than losing interest. I will always be a fan of SNL.

So it was with great anticipation that I settled in last night to view this retrospective, highlights from 50 years of SNL. I didn't think I'd stick with it, I figured there would be little programming time and lots of commercials.

I was happily surprised that the first full 15 minutes was program, then a rather brief 3-minute commercial. I thought to myself, "This is good. I can tolerate three minutes of commercials every 15 minutes." However, that didn't last long. Oh, the commercials stayed at just a bit over three minutes but the content between commercials kept shrinking as the night wore on until I had to give up at around the two-hour mark. Just too many commercials for the amount of content.

I was disappointed but I do appreciate the retrospective that I did watch. It was done very well and it was nice to see most of the musical groups featured. I found the rap and hip-hop rather tedious, I never did care for any of it. But the legitimate musical acts were all interesting.

So, the next day I found the program streaming on Peacock so I was able to finish it with only a few one-minute commercials. I am glad I did, the last 30 minutes or so are the best, in my view, lots of famous guests and singing groups are showcased and it drives home how influential SNL has been in the music industry.

Thanks NBC for putting this together.

Watched this again for the second time before deciding to delete. It was very enjoyable looking back at most of the musical guests that appeared on "SNL" during the past 50 years though I was a little disappointed that most of the acts that were booked by Dick Ebersol when he was in charge were limited to the beginning montage. Still, he was also there when the punk rock band Fear appeared which was done to entice former cast member John Belushi to do a cameo that night. That resulted in perhaps the most chaotic of performances when unruly fans came on stage causing Ebersol to tell director Dave Wilson to fade to black. Also glad to finally see Eddie Murphy agreeing to do these specials of his former showcase talking about when Prince first appeared or when he and Joe Piscopo, who also appeared, did their version of "Ebony and Ivory" with Murphy as Stevie Wonder and Piscopo as Frank Sinatra. Also, nice reminiscence from Jimmy Fallon when he did Mick Jagger in front of him for a mirror bit. In summary, I highly enjoyed "Ladies & Gentlemen...50 Years of SNL Music.

This two-hour special, curated by Questlove and company, celebrates Saturday Night Live's legendary musical history. It's a fun watch-but the biggest drawback? The commercials. There are a lot of them. The special is structured around these breaks, disrupting the flow and making it harder to stay fully engaged. I even had to split my viewing over a couple of days.

That said, the behind-the-scenes stories are fascinating-just brief. With SNL's deep well of musical moments, I wanted more. Still, what's there is enjoyable, offering a glimpse into the fast-paced world of making these performances happen. It truly takes a village to pull off a live show like SNL, and the fact that they've done it successfully for 50 years is undeniable.

The opening and closing segments are particularly well-edited. Questlove and company really brought the musicality here-as they should! The scale of talent that has passed through Studio 8H is staggering-and yet, even with two hours, this special only scratches the surface.

Hopefully, one day, we'll get a full docuseries that dives deeper into SNL's musical legacy. It's a fascinating subject. And, of course-it's live!

TL/DR: Worth the watch-but brace yourself for a ton of commercials!

What a great documentary on music. Questlove did an amazing job with this. The intro alone is one of the best remixes I've ever heard yet seen. The love of music is all over this. And the performances blow your mind. There was so many people. I didn't realize that were on there. I'm hoping that we have access to all the performances separate at some point that would be really great. Love all the interviews of all the diverse individuals. This was one of the platforms of live music on television. Some amazing artist that I've been able to see live, this definitely influenced me seeing them. Check it out!