I like to watch documentaries, or some documentary-like explorations. I happened upon Saturday Night on Netflix, about the last hours before the first SNL show, and then set in on a number of the 50th anniversary documentaries on Peacock.

Saturday Night plays like a bit of a biopic, following Lorne Michaels and the first cast and crew as they hustle NBC execs and affiliate representatives, try to finish building the set, and settle on the contents for the first airing of the new show. Throughout, they're unsure how to describe the show is based in the inability to decide on the content which is exacerbated by some of the last-minute activities, antics, and conflicts of everyone involved. The movie plays out in more-or-less real time, starting a few hours before the show begins, and lasting about that long, ending as the show starts. Especially as someone who knew about the show earlier (I was 8 when it first aired, and wasn't allowed to stay up that late at night), but didn't get into it until later (my first real, purposeful exposures were during the "weird" 1985 season), it was interesting to see this portrayal of some of the stories I'd heard.

After watching that, I found the Peacock documentary series SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night. This four-part series runs through the five-minute audition process, highlighting a number of stars who made it and some who didn't; a peek inside the writer's room, including insights from comedians who got their start as writers whether they made it to the screen or not; a deep look at the widely-accepted "best sketch," More Cowbell, with the fantastic performances by Wil Ferrel and Christopher Walken and the others; and that miserable rebuilding year, 1985, in season 11 of the show; where Lorne Michaels was brought back, hired a new crew, and the show tried to re-invent itself. All four episodes were a nice peek inside what has allowed this show to endure, through great and bad guests and artists and cast and sketches.

Kicked in on auto-play, with timing that made me think it was part of the other series, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music started a 2-hour finale to my days-long documentary trek, looking at a number of the musical guests, and a lot of the two-second intros by the hosts.

Because of all of this, the SNL series was suggested by Peacock. Having watched the documentaries, and not sure if I'd ever seen the early episodes outside of some of the bits and pieces in other collections, I watched the first handful of episodes. They aren't what we're used to, that's for sure.

Especially after the Saturday Night biopic, where they showed some of the bits out of order in a frenzy to convince NBC to allow them to air, and because some of the bits had been replayed elsewhere, I recognized about half of the show. It was pretty rough, and the quality of the recording zipped me back in time to watching television as a child, although in a weird flashback as I watched it on my 70-inch 4K television. A weird cold-open skit, previewed in the documentary, played just like in the documentary (so they nailed that). George Carlin delivered a few chuckles. The other skits were pretty quick and raw (in a sense of practice, not content).

I recall other variety shows on television that we'd watch when I was a kid. Shows like Hee Haw existed, but many more surrounded people, like Carol Burnett or the Osmonds. Those shows were clearly more polished, and were clearly not performed entirely live, even if recorded in front of a live audience. This was similar but different. Old me now could see an old me passing on this in 1975, but maybe a younger me settling in a little differently, especially since it airs at 11PM in our time zone. That's pretty late to start watching television, even on a Saturday night.

I watched the second episode, which seemed very heavy in its host Paul Simon, and other musical numbers, and a bit lighter on skits, with a big chunk of it on a little bit of a weird collection of people goofing in a film by Albert Brooks. A nice reunion of Simon and Garfunkel might have been lost on me if I hadn't been aware of their music as a kid. This struck me as a lot less of a comedy show, and more like the Osmonds or Dolly Parton would have.

The third episode, hosted by Rob Reiner, was pretty sketch heavy, with Rob in very many of the skits. A couple musical numbers by ABBA, set on the Titanic for some reason and not just singing. Another (maybe too-long) film by and with Albert Brooks attempting coronary bypass surgery ate a lot of the show's time. John Belushi performs a musical number for the first time, in a mocking reenactment of Joe Cocker's energy as perhaps a person struggling with some form of palsy, including a collapse to the ground in an apparent seizure; except for that hard press, it was well-done.

In the last early episode I binged, host Candice Bergman blended into a few skits, but most of the performances featured the cast. We were introduced to the land shark, a bit of another prolonged Albert Brooks bit, and the music of Ether Philips, which I skipped through a bit.

I decided I might revisit the series occasionally, but probably won't do a three-or-four hour binge, even if I have the time. In all, the documentaries and biopic are all well-done, informative, and entertaining, and if you have the services or can access them on the web, they're worth a watch.