Saturday Night Live On Demand (And Yours To Keep) UPDATED (AGAIN)

As you may or not be aware NBC and Apple plan to release SNL episodes and/or individual sketches for sale on the iTunes Music Store. Of course those of us in Sweden (and many other places) are not going to be able to get in on the action, but wow is this big news for SNL fans.

I was a huge fan of Saturday Night Live all through the 90's. Back when it was funny, as they say. I've seen just about every episode from the 70's and 80's as well, due purely to the amount of TV I watched as a kid. And for like the last, let me count, 12 years, I have been complaining about the fact that you can't get about 99% of SNL's backlog on video/DVD. In fact the issue became so absorbing that I began to try and figure out how they could even do it. Would they release entire seasons as box sets? Those would be huge and cost a fortune. Would they release best of sets for each season? Who's to say what's the best? How about each episode on it's own? There are too many. It would be it's own section at the store. Hmmm...I was beginning to see why NBC hadn't released more than a couple best of individual actors DVD's. But, it looks like they have found a logical way do to it in the end. The only question is what are we gonna get and at what price?

Yes, these will be sized to be played on an iPod, not your television. But, I don't care, I want my SNL.

TV shows over on the iTMS are currently selling at the standard price of $1.99 an episode, or about 15 SEK. There are a couple of exceptions to this, some Conan O' Brian specials are at $9.99 etc. When SNL eventually shows up for purchasing and downloading how will it be handled? Will they, as it seems in thecommercial NBC aired, offer individual sketches? This has it's positive side to it, there are memorable sketches on terrible episodes. And I really don't need that much Dennis Miller. But, $1.99 for a two minute sketch? Seems steep. Even $0.99 is steep if you like SNL and plan to download all your favorite sketches.

Or will they offer entire shows sorted out by host? These I could deal with for $1.99. That's more than an hour of entertainment, without the commercials. But, I can't see it happening. The legal aspects of it are too complex. Unlike most shows, SNL is based around a new actor/actress each week, which means they need their consent to release the show for sale. And then there is the issue with having a new musician each week and covering that.

What I think is going to happen is that we, the obsessive SNL fans, are going to have to wait a little longer before we can finally own all the shows and sketches we want. My guess is they are going to put up a number of famous sketches, probably the crap ones, for $1.99 a piece. (No Action Cat's commercial, Bad Doctor, orCheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger.) I could be wrong. And I hope I am. They may also put up entire recent episodes, which isn't going to do anyone any good, because, let's face it, the show has seen better days.

What will it be? I guess we'll find out any day now. And if it is better than I think it will be, I am going to really start complaining about the Swedish iTMS. And trying to find a way to get a US bank account.

K. Panda

****UPDATE**** Well, we have the answer. And I think it is quite interesting as it seems to focus more on older content then newer. As of today you can download all of the best of series, ie best of Will Ferrell, best of Chris Rock etc. at $1.99 a piece. You can also download individual classic sketches at the same price, they also have a section of commercial parodys (yet no Action Cats...). You can check out the page on the iTMS here. Hmm...now I really will have to find a way to get a US bank account...this was actually somewhat better than I expected, as it definitely means more is to come.